Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

More Americans say they’re not planning to have a child, U.S. birthrate declines

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 71 posts

Re: More Americans say they’re not planning to have a child, U.S. birthrate declines

#61

Post by mikem170 »

holonomically wrote: post #57
mikem170 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps people who think like you, and that would include me, should pool our time and money and sponser immigrants. I wonder if we could. I think doing so would make the world a better place. But I believe it is wrong to force people who disagree to participate via taxes. I believe it's wrong to impose on other people like that.

Do you suppose we could pool enough money to start a community college? Or do you suppose it would be better to utilize existing public school infrastructure and make it better at addressing the educational needs of potential immigrants?

Or maybe adopt them into a house, with people who have time to help them acclimate, while they take immigrant/english classes? Doesn't need to be a big production. Don't volunteers already do things like this?

Re: More Americans say they’re not planning to have a child, U.S. birthrate declines

#62

Post by holonomically »

tomatofarmer wrote: post #60
holonomically wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you suppose we could pool enough money to start a community college? Or do you suppose it would be better to utilize existing public school infrastructure and make it better at addressing the educational needs of potential immigrants?

I wish you success

A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.

Re: More Americans say they’re not planning to have a child, U.S. birthrate declines

#63

Post by holonomically »

mikem170 wrote: post #61
holonomically wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you suppose we could pool enough money to start a community college? Or do you suppose it would be better to utilize existing public school infrastructure and make it better at addressing the educational needs of potential immigrants?

Or maybe adopt them into a house, with people who have time to help them acclimate, while they take immigrant/english classes? Doesn't need to be a big production. Don't volunteers already do things like this?

They do, I have friends that are hosts for people/immigrants from Afghanistan.

I was just trying to gauge your commitment and sincerity to what you were saying.

Re: More Americans say they’re not planning to have a child, U.S. birthrate declines

#65

Post by mikem170 »

holonomically wrote: post #63
mikem170 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe adopt them into a house, with people who have time to help them acclimate, while they take immigrant/english classes? Doesn't need to be a big production. Don't volunteers already do things like this?

They do, I have friends that are hosts for people/immigrants from Afghanistan. I was just trying to gauge your commitment and sincerity to what you were saying.

I'm in a state of flux for the next few months, on the road a lot. But this is a great reminder, something I've thought of getting involved with in the past. Nothing beats people helping people. I wish all of us had more time to do such things.

Re: More Americans say they’re not planning to have a child, U.S. birthrate declines

#66

Post by lalaland1125 »

jl2718 wrote: post #23

Anecdotally, the problem is much worse among those that contribute more in taxes than consume in public benefits. This is the real problem. Low-skill high-fertility immigration will not solve it. Child tax credits will not solve it. Welfare programs will not solve it. These problems all exacerbate the problem by growing the population below the net-income line. You may say that these people are more necessary or usef…

> The minimum guideline is 33% of income for a single child, non-deductible. US/CA taxes take ~55%, so that leaves 12%.

This is flat out wrong. California child support payments are done out of "disposable income", not total income. So you would pay 15% in child support and be left with 30% of your income (actually you would pay less as California allows you to deduct things like health insurance and other necessary expenses in addition to deducting taxes).

Re: More Americans say they’re not planning to have a child, U.S. birthrate declines

#67

Post by TheGigaChad »

tomjen3 wrote: post #16
diego_moita wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> one day, just like in Rome, immigrants outnumber the natives and tell them to disappear. Really? Wow, when did that happen? I went to Rome 3 years ago and the overwhelming majority of people there were Italians. Even many of the tourists in the Vatican were from other parts of Italy.

> Really? Wow, when did that happen? Importing barbarian fighters to swell the declining rank of the empire is one of the theories of the decline and fall of the Roman empire. > I went to Rome 3 years ago About 1600 years too late to be relevant for GPs example. And for the record, he is wrong about it being relevant to emigration to the US today. Despite having Senators in the Senate on the Capitol hill (Rome had Se…

YOu are a brain damaged subhuman idiot. I hope you did not procreate.

Re: More Americans say they’re not planning to have a child, U.S. birthrate declines

#68

Post by vmception »

dionidium wrote: post #38
vmception wrote: post #18

Finally one of these surveys that even allows for the answer that people just aren't interested. It is always hilarious how this sociology field only attracts people that think children are the most fulfilling thing they ever did and everyone else must want that so there must therefore be some other problem like economics. Turns out the onion satire article was spot on https://www.theonion.com/study-finds-american-wo…

I can't read that article, because I don't have a WaPo login, but previous evidence indicates that people are having fewer children than they'd like to. See here: * https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/13/upshot/american-fertility... Matthew Yglesias also touches on this in this interview about his book, One Billion Americans, which argues (in part) for more pronatalist policies: * https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/21449…

Its a funnel which hasn't been considering the subset that just doesn't want them. It doesn't quantify the size of that subset. It takes the answer with the most externalities (economy, debt, cultural ability to provide) and elevates that as the answer.

Re: More Americans say they’re not planning to have a child, U.S. birthrate declines

#69

Post by tomjen3 »

jl2718 wrote: post #23

Anecdotally, the problem is much worse among those that contribute more in taxes than consume in public benefits. This is the real problem. Low-skill high-fertility immigration will not solve it. Child tax credits will not solve it. Welfare programs will not solve it. These problems all exacerbate the problem by growing the population below the net-income line. You may say that these people are more necessary or usef…

>Low-skill high-fertility

Are coming the to US with the hope of parents everywhere: that their children will live a better life than they had the chance to do. Most of those immigrants dream is to see their children graduate university and to be safely middle class.

Re: More Americans say they’re not planning to have a child, U.S. birthrate declines

#70

Post by jl2718 »

tomjen3 wrote: post #69
jl2718 wrote: post #23

Anecdotally, the problem is much worse among those that contribute more in taxes than consume in public benefits. This is the real problem. Low-skill high-fertility immigration will not solve it. Child tax credits will not solve it. Welfare programs will not solve it. These problems all exacerbate the problem by growing the population below the net-income line. You may say that these people are more necessary or usef…

>Low-skill high-fertility Are coming the to US with the hope of parents everywhere: that their children will live a better life than they had the chance to do. Most of those immigrants dream is to see their children graduate university and to be safely middle class.

>>Low-skill high-fertility >Are coming the to US with the hope of parents everywhere: that their children will live a better life than they had the chance to do.

(In their native country)

> Most of those immigrants dream is to see their children graduate university and to be safely middle class.

Versus US parents, who obviously don’t believe this is realistic with a large family.

Same ‘dreams’, different standards. Frankly, the data show that there is not a lot of space at the top.

Post reply on HN