Let's take the beautiful state of Massachusetts where I live. For foreigners: it's a liberal mecca, a pocket of Americans with a yearning for european lifestyle. Let's look at the government from a systems perspective and say that we prioritize individuals based on dollars spent on them, shall we?
- How much does the state spend for a pre-k child? <10k/year/child
- An incarcerated inmate? >100k/year/inmate
- Drug-use rehab? >50k/year/user-seeking-rehab
- How much does that leave parents to pay? >30k/year/child (again average, any place where there's a job it's closer to 50k pre-tax)
We don't prioritize children and our societies are actively hostile towards them in terms of dollars spent. As simple as that.
I find it really hard to buy that this is the reason people have 0 kids. Less sure, but if youre worried about cost youll just have 1 instead of 2 or 3. Seems to me that some people are just less interested in having kids now because theyd rather do other stuff.
- How much does the state spend for a pre-k child? <10k/year/child
- An incarcerated inmate? >100k/year/inmate
- Drug-use rehab? >50k/year/user-seeking-rehab
- How much does that leave parents to pay? >30k/year/child (again average, any place where there's a job it's closer to 50k pre-tax)
We don't prioritize children and our societies are actively hostile towards them in terms of dollars spent. As simple as that.