OT: Affordability of having kids
In conversation with my parents at the weekend, my mum made a comment that I was the product of a large payrise (made me squirm a bit thinking they were celebrating!) My dad got a very good payrise as a state employee, and so they realised they could afford to have a second child (good news for me!)
This was in the mid 70's in the UK, and it made me realise how much times have changed - now for many people having children is seen as a way to get more money, but also as 'their right'.
What happened to supporting your own family? At what point did the welfare state, supposed to help those who were falling through no fault of their own become a lifestyle choice? If we went back to the more draconian ways, would the teenage pregnancy rate drop off dramatically?
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I blame governments for this
I blame governments for this nonsense. It is like one big friggin' divorced family where the government has some guilt (for whatever reason) and has ceased to expect anyone to be accountable for themselves. Seriously, no personal responsibility. It is everywhere. Don't want to work. Go on welfare. Don't want to be married. Get alimony and CS. Spill hot coffee, sue the coffee maker. Criminies, I saw the other day that a woman who was DRUNK tried to feed a friggin' bear at the zoo, had her fingers bitten off (DUH!!) and wants to sue the zoo. And she'll probably get a big fat settlement for being a dumbass! I remember when being on welfare was EMBARRASSING! Not anymore. Now it is actually looked upon as a triumph that you can live high off the hog without working.
Makes me so friggin' mad because I have many relatives living off my tax dollars pumping out kid after kid that they can't support and dh and I are spending tens of thousands of dollars to try to have a kid.
"A pessimist complains about the wind, an optimist counts on the wind changing, a realist adjusts his sails"
I do believe it would drop
I do believe it would drop or if not, men and women would be getting married and figuring out a way to make it work...My dad always made it perfectly clear that if we got pregnant while in his care (which honestly was almost impossible), we would be forced to get married and/or get the heck out of the house and support ourselves...
On the other hand my cousins, whose parents divorced and "mommy" was a friend, who took "daddy" to the cleaners in cs BOTH ended up with kids at age 15...then they got ticked off at my uncle when child support stopped when they got married...you see, they couldn't qualify for welfare based on parent's income, so they figured they'd marry and have parents still "support" them...sure...
Right now I live close to two idiots...a guy who obviously is an idiot (nice guy, had a bright future and got girl preggo) and a loser girl who just wanted to be a mom and do nothing else and is about 4mos preggo and claims she can't do anything around the house...she claims she can't work outside the home either...she's even having people come over to clean her house cause she just can't do it...but just got internet access and is only 19 or so...hmmm...heard her talk about how excited she was to get WIC, she'd be able to get her favorite cereal, etc...are you kidding me? sigh...
Unfortunately by trying to
Unfortunately by trying to get the best for the child, you have to give support to the parent(s) - and there are definitely ways to work the system if you know what you're doing.
The flip side of this is that if you work hard to support your kids, then run into trouble later on (lose your job because of cutbacks, have a teen hit trouble etc) you're at the bottom of the list to get support because of those who've chosen to live their life on hand outs.
"God never gives us more than we can cope with, I just wish he didn't have such faith in me!"
Yep. Both my parents
Yep. Both my parents busted their asses for 40 years. They're both cancer survivors but had to retire early from their labor jobs because of the treatments, appointments and difficulties. They can't collect any "government" benefits and have to pay for their own health insurance, but my mom's sisters never worked a day in their pathetic lives (and neither do their children) and they all have monthly checks coming in and have health care coverage through Medicaid.
"A pessimist complains about the wind, an optimist counts on the wind changing, a realist adjusts his sails"
My wife used to be a
My wife used to be a Medicaid auditor and my best friend is a Medicaid data manager. Both of them sneer when the dinner conversation comes around to social programs and how much fraud occurs.
They both assure me that that there are countless hundreds of $Billions spent uneccessarily on people who do not even qualify. Denying those fradulent claims is such a political hot potato that the ball-less policitos will do nothing about it. It costs $Billions just to administrate the programs which results in nothing more than much of the effort focusing on providing jobs for people who could otherwise be in the job market actually doing something.
The taxpayers and those that follow the rules get screwed.
Best regards,
Success is rarely final. Failure is rarely fatal. It is character, courage and consistency of effort that count. Vince Lombardi (with some minor Rags modifications) To each according to their performance, screw Karl Marx. (Rags)