New Mexico is first state in US to offer universal child care • Hacker News Board

Re: New Mexico is first state in US to offer universal child care

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Post by gwbas1c » Fri, Sep 12, 2025, 1:47 PM UTC

SilverElfin wrote: post #427

gwbas1c wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stayed at home with my mom until I was old enough for school. My wife and I sent our kids to daycare. Our kids are fine. Turns out kids need a lot of time with other kids.

It turns out that kids raised by their parents still get a lot of time with other kids though. Their parents don’t just keep them at home. They meet with friends. Go out and play. Their parents take them to classes and activities. Your view is “our kids are fine”, but most parents may say that about their own kids without knowing what the alternative could be. I’ve experienced both situations myself and also observed…

> I think most childcare is a lot more of a free for all than parents think, rather than some sort of well designed experience.

That's important and healthy. Kids need time to play, and part of that is being a "free for all." (As long as kids aren't parked in front of a TV all day.)

I even remember my preschool being mostly a free-for-all with some short lessons in between. It was great.

Re: New Mexico is first state in US to offer universal child care

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Post by ujkhsjkdhf234 » Fri, Sep 12, 2025, 3:17 PM UTC

xp84 wrote: post #305

ujkhsjkdhf234 wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You aren't wrong but calling it being "Student #642 in a government childcare facility" the wrong way of looking at it. Children grow up best when they are allowed to play with other children. Modern society robs kids of that and helicopter parents are bad for society.

I agree with you vigorously on both those points. I am skeptical however that NM will be able to create a lot of healthy, play-based environments for so many kids. The market already has incentives to create them -- a ton of good places have waiting lists nationwide, showing unmet demand even at the current price. This suggests the price will need to go higher to attract enough people to do this job. It seems their "…

I don't know where you live but where I live, the cost of daycare is extremely high and there is a waitlist on most places.

Re: New Mexico is first state in US to offer universal child care

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Post by bongoman37 » Fri, Sep 12, 2025, 4:16 PM UTC

scoopdewoop wrote: post #248

bongoman37 wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of the Persian Gulf GCC nations essentially had a form of generous UBI since the early 80s. It has certainly made people far less enterprising and productive. Inflation hasnt happened since they import the vast majority of their requirements. It has led to increased religiosity etc since people are freed up to engage in religious activities all day long and don't necessarily have to develop skills like social co…

In a world where we produced so much that we have caused climate change and mass extinction, I can't imagine people being less enterprising and productive being a truly bad thing.

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Re: New Mexico is first state in US to offer universal child care

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Post by stackskipton » Sun, Sep 14, 2025, 3:01 PM UTC

Ajedi32 wrote: post #339

stackskipton wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure and under income taxes, Couple B probably pays much less since US income tax structure is gives massive benefits to couples with single income. It may not be enough to offset joint income. As with most economic changes, there is massive web of things.

> US income tax structure is gives massive benefits to couples with single income It gives massive structural advantages to couples with low income, in the form of a lower marginal tax rate. Does it really discriminate between single and dual income though? I wasn't aware of that.

It does. If you look at the tax brackets, https://www.irs.gov/filing/federal-income-tax-rates-and-brac... Married Filing Jointly is good for anyone where income is vastly different.

Let's say you made 150k and partner made zero. If you were filing as single, high tax bracket you would get is 24% at everything past 100k. Married filing jointly, 22% at 94k. Also, you could borrow your spouse standard deduction as well to help reduce the tax requirements.

Re: New Mexico is first state in US to offer universal child care

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Post by kortilla » Sun, Sep 14, 2025, 9:04 PM UTC

notahacker wrote: post #654

kortilla wrote: post #639

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I mean, if there is some stay at home parent that finds looking after their own children during the daytime such a burden they "need" an extra $1k per child per month to do it... they should probably just use the free childcare. The fact that you argue for daycare workers to be paid but not parents is honestly astonishing. “No, we will not give you $100/day for your kid but we will happily give $100/day to BabyCorp…

> The fact that you argue for daycare workers to be paid but not parents is honestly astonishing. I think it's even more astonishing that you are arguing that it's normal for parents to have so little love for their own child they should bill the government for time spent with them. If my stay-at-home mum was like that, I'd definitely have preferred the full time daycare. It was even possible for her to send me to da…

I didn’t argue that at all. If money is being given to help raise children, it should go directly to parents. They can choose to spend on outsourcing their rearing (like you seem to advocate for), or they could use it to buy things to make raising their own child better (educational tools, etc).