The current most-read article on nytimes.com is about the Dutch Welfare state (check it out here.). Yeah, reading, ho hum, until:
I have two daughters, you see. Every quarter, the SVB quietly drops $665 into my account with the one-word explanation kinderbijslag, or child benefit. As the SVB’s Web site cheerily informed me when I went there in bewilderment after the first deposit: “Babies are expensive. Nappies, clothes, the pram . . . all these things cost money. The Dutch government provides for child benefit to help you with the costs of bringing up your child.” Any parents living in the country receive quarterly payments until their children turn 18. And thanks to a recently passed law, the state now gives parents a hand in paying for school materials.
***counting to ten***
I know this is not about the U.S., but you've got to admit we've got some similar financial policies in place (tax deductions anyone?). This is what makes me lean Libertarian. Privatize everything.
How do I say this without offending anyone? ...shit, impossible:
I do get some of the arguments for how things are now re kids: it is in everyone's interest to have an educated population, therefore, public education. Or, I went to public school, so now my tax dollars are paying for those 12 years. Or you're Bristol Palin and never had a choice and we'd rather have you and your offspring fed and sheltered than out on the streets.
But in general, having children is a choice. If you cannot afford one, perhaps do not have one. It continually baffles me that those of us in the default state, which is not married/no kids, get societal disadvantages. Shouldn't it be the other way around? If we are all equal, why incentivize choices?
This is a primary reason I am vehemently in favor of gay marriage. Hell, if we get special privileges via marriage, anyone should be able to marry anyone, I say. Back when I had a male roommate with a kickass corporate job and I was a waitress, I begged him to make me his domestic partner so I could get health insurance. How messed up is that?
I guess the thing that irks me the most is that this is one of those "third rail" issues -- my friends who don't want kids, for instance, are forced to whisper their opinions because it's not socially acceptable to even have a discussion on the societal impacts of children, families, marriage. Or get dismissed with "You'll feel differently when you have kids." It's the American Dream for heaven's sake! Don't criticize! Smile and help the lady carry her stroller up the damn subway staircase!
I apologize for the stream of consciousness here; I know my string of logic is not NYT Op-Ed worthy. But really - any thoughts out there on all this?
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My knee-jerk reaction is to completely agree with you and say that if you can't afford to have kids then don't have the damn things. The same way my knee-jerk reaction to illegal aliens is to tell them to eat a dick if they get sick and can't afford medical attention. However, the world being what it is, it is to all of society's benefit to help the chirrens to get an edumacation and to treat the infected unwashed before they unleash a plague upon us all. I think Cheney came up with a mass extermination plan to really deal with this in an effective manner but the commies at the ACLU put the kibosh on it so I guess we're stuck.
ReplyDeletehey k, thanks for reading. i see the logic that makes the point, and yes, this post is very conservative of me -- the whole personal responsibility slant, probably a remnant of my conservative christian days.
ReplyDeleteso, more realistically, human condition = shit happens, so i guess the true discussion is: where is the line between cleaning up your own and gov't funded scoopers?
Was I supposed to be whispering my opinion all these years? I'll gladly help a lady carry a stroller, just as I would hold the door for her. I just don't want to PAY for said stroller (especially when they're double-wide and trying to enter my restaurant 10 minutes before we open for brunch).
ReplyDeleteWould be more than happy to put that money towards health education, free birth control, or mandatory sterilization though.
I'd much rather have a country pay every parent a small, quarterly stipend for their children than to live in a society that awards poor choices with money, food and medical benefits. The way our welfare system is set up, it actually benefits families for moms to stay unemployed, stay single or lie about being married. I completely understand that the system was put in place for people who truly need help for a period of time while they put their lives together. But, that is not the way it works the majority of the time. Too many people are allowed to cheat the system.
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