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I worry that the divide between child/childless people with regards to work issues, obscures a larger problem. Women pick up not only childcare, but also care of other family members and in some cases friends and neighbors. Maternity leave is important, but so is the time one might spend with a dying parent or sibling. Work has become inhospitable to people caring for others and the debate around children can often be counterproductive to these larger issues.

Another issue that seems to be obscured in the discussion around taxes and environmental issues is societal reproduction. Whether or not you have children, it benefits you that people do have children. The economy needs people to reproduce, that's how the economy grows and how retirement benefits get paid.

posted 2 years, 7 months ago
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While this may be an "unprecedented economic situation," we need to start thinking about long term solutions. We need to make a committment to education and not to tax cuts or rebate checks. What's a better stimulus package than healthy, well educated children? Even if you do not have children, your future depends on today's children becoming working adults who pay Social Security and make the economy grow. We may be in a crisis now, but education always seems to be in one. This is a crisis of priorities, not merely of economics.

posted 3 years, 3 months ago
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