Call for more babies as China turns to grey | Hacker News Reader

Call for more babies as China turns to grey

timesonline.co.uk

19 pointstokenadult10 comments

Seems fairly obvious; one child per family/couple will result in the population decreasing over time (it's not even enough for replacement). Added to the cited 119 to 100 ratio of male to female children, it's a pretty major issue.

Not to say that decreasing populations are a bad thing, of course.

Decreasing populations are a bad thing if your social insurance program is a Ponzi scheme.

Most are.

All are, even the traditional family is a "Ponzi Scheme" in that new investors (babies) pass money up to old investors (the elderly). Unlike most Ponzi schemes, however, the old investors are seeking modest gains, and for a very limited time.

The problem is when the pyramid goes upside down (4 grandparents, 2 parents, 1 child). In that case, policy doesn't enter into the equation. You're effed no matter what.

I don't know what kind of family you live in, but in mine the flow of money has passed in the opposite direction for generations.

That's mainly true because we (now-a-days) treat anyone under 24 as an invalid, needing constant subsidization. In reality, the only people who need welfare are: actual cripples, young children, and the elderly.

Cutting off the gravy train to young adults would have zero systematic effect.

I think you may have misinterpreted the point the parent was making -- some of us have families where the elderly leave wealth to the next generation when they pass on.

Except this is China. In general, the elderly do not have money. There is also a strong cultural ingrained into youth that it is their responsibility to support their parents and grandparents when they start earning money.

nah, not a problem, if you only have 4 grandparents, 2 parents, 1 child, you simply have to put more pressure on the 1 child to get into Harvard. Problem solved ;)

The SSA has a rather nice refutation of the claim that there's any real analogy between Ponzi schemes and Social Security:

http://web.archive.org/web/20041001-20051231re_/http://www.s...

Why don't we just give them some of ours.

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