". . .all I asked was that more parents try to wrap their heads around the idea that everyone isn’t lining up to shower “cho-chweets” upon their offsprings and that the responsibility for monitoring their child in a public place rests with them.Technorati Tag: childfree
This should not be a difficult concept to grasp. But we live in a society where boundless love for children is taken for granted and where people who are very conservative in most things don’t hesitate to ask invasive questions about why a couple hasn’t had a child yet (sometimes even offering suggestions on how to hasten the process).
Naturally, then, if you have the temerity to show discomfort when a child strays into your space, the vibes you usually get from its proud parents are: “But…but…but it’s the fruit of my loins and everyone HAS to love it — how dare you be apathetic to it, you sub-human!”
. . .
In fact, as one of the more sensible commenters on my blog pointed out, “Parents who are capable of respecting the fact that other people may have different points of view, are more likely to be good parents in the first place — the sort who will respect their children’s personal choices in future even if they don’t understand them.”
On the other hand, there’s the anonymous vermin who left this gem: “hey a child is a blessing and BTW when u r old and grey its my child’s taxes that will pay u’r pension and other govt freebies .. kids r the future ..people who dont have kids are selfish and self centred” (sic). I’m suddenly very worried for the future of his children.
Friday, September 12, 2008
The parent rap
Business Standard (New Delhi)
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2 comments:
Dude, when (if) I retire, if social security and my pension remain in place, I will fucking DESERVE to be paid out on them because I'm contributing to them every paycheck NOW, by involuntary deduction, and not collecting a single cent for at least 30 more years. I'm paying my dues now, and if I collect when (if) I retire, it will be because I will have spent a career funding the system and now it will be the system's turn to fund me.
So spare me the sanctimonious crap about my owing your kids my retirement (uh, there's also this thing called my 401k, which will be about a million times bigger than any pitiful amount of government money I might get). I will have paid the government for my own retirement a thousand times over by the time it comes to pass.
And what happens if your precious snowflake ends up a deadbeat, or in jail? Do I get a refund on all that tax money I wasted on your public schools and child tax credits and parental leave? What if your kid wants to work but can't find a reliable job, which is (cluebat incoming) what happens where there are too many damn people around and labor is cheap? They won't be paying my pension so much then, huh?
And by the way, your kid has more food, more clean air and water (while it lasts), more time with her teacher, more of everything, because MY kids aren't clogging up the planet and weighing down the system, because they don't exist. You're welcome.
This reading of how SSI works is completely inaccurate.
It was set up by design so that each generation pays for the older generation. That's part of the problem. We boomer-age people have paid into SII all our lives, and that money is being drawn on WWII and Korean War generation elders who didn't pay much at all into the system. We are footing their retirement. Not our own. Why don't people understand this basic fact about Social Security????
It's not a problem in my book, at least theoretically--it represents what's supposed to be an intergenerational transfer of wealth. The problem is, this elder generation, and the oldest Boomers, had nothing but prosperity. We at the tail end of the Boom are expected to pay both for three generations of elders AND Gens X and Y. As well as ourselves.
Don't count on your 401k. There's an assets grab going on that will allow giant corporations and the richest people on the planet to basically sail their mighty pirate ships into all our bank accounts, retirement savings, and other savings. Using bailouts, deflation, inflation, recession, and depression.
Just more reasons not to breed.
Ecto
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