Lessons of Russia's Depopulation Disaster

NewsMax.com ^ | Thursday, Feb. 6, 2003 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[dirtboy]

Actually, I think in a pandemic he'd be taking his chances with the rest of us...

Actually, Ebola would be a lousy candidate for causing a pandemic, because it can only be spread by direct contact with an infected person who is blowing out bodily fluids. In a way, Ebola is limited because of just how horrible it is.

[Tailback]

Well, my wife is Roman Catholic so we are in ongoing "negotiations" as to how many children we plan to have. The problem is, as other posters have pointed out, do we want to have children that will have to go to public schools, that we may not be able to afford to send to college, and that we will essentially either lose our house over or will force us into home confinement. Right now after our mortgage (for a modest 3 bedroom home on a very small lot), utilities, car payment (for the Honda that replaced our 12 year old chevy), student loan payment for the wife, insurance payment, and groceries, we have approximately $300 of discretionary income. I could go into a long diatribe about why housing is so expensive here in Oregon but I'll save you the experience. Essentially if we have a child, we lose our discretionary income, if we don't have a child we continue to scrape on by. The kicker is that our total gross income is over $50,000 which means the government thinks we are rich and should be heavily taxed. It's a no win situation for us. If we had never married and Shawn (my wife) had had a child out of wedlock she could get foodstamps, WIC, welfare, subsidised housing, etc. ad nauseum. If I had elected to stick around with the mother of my child I would have paid less in taxes. Is that logical? We would love to have children especially if we could afford to send them to private Catholic school and then college. Unfortunately that is unlikely to ever happen.

[null and void]

I didn't say ebola. There are plenty of natural and unnatural diseases that are good pandemic candidates in a jet age small world.

[dirtboy]

The kicker is that our total gross income is over $50,000 which means the government thinks we are rich and should be heavily taxed.

Welcome to no-mans land - higher marginal rates have kicked in, but you're still paying FICA. However, you should do your taxes twice this year - once for just the both of you, and once as if you have a child, and see how much the child credit and the extra exemption/deduction lowers your taxes, and then decide the total hit to your discretionary income. Also, lobby to have FICA lowered by two points - the SS Trust Fund is bogus - and that would give you another grand in your pocket each year.

[dirtboy]

I didn't say ebola.

So9 did, that's why I mentioned it.

[bert]

.....The historic eastern boundary of Russia (and Europe) is the Ural Mountains......

I was thinking of the trumpeter of Krakow. This time it may be diferent. Maybe there will be a trumpeter of Brussels. There will be no trumpeter of Paris, they'll blow right through France.

[Darlin']

Exactly. We might have had an opportunity to determine if So9 genuinely held those beliefs or if he simply wanted to encourage discussion. Unfortunately, in this medium we're all guilty of overstating our case from time to time. For instance, I sincerely doubt you believe I'm defender of genocidal maniacs. I am not but I'm not all that fond of chest thumpers either.

[null and void]

Unfortunately that is unlikely to ever happen.

I fear you are right.

It would require a major (probably disasterous) change in our entire society.

[null and void]

I could go into a long diatribe about why housing is so expensive here in Oregon

I'm doing my part to help you. I plan to stay in California...

[Chemist_Geek]

Perhaps the real problem is that we have created a society where people have to work so hard for so little that they feel they cannot responsibly afford children until they are almost too old to have them, and their fertility has fallen almost completely off the charts? Perhaps the real problem is that the average guy cannot make enough money to afford to provide for a wife and children until he is well into his thirties, if then?

Hmm... My observations are along those lines, as well. Even with minimal comforts, it's not easy to provide for a couple, let alone some children, on the husband's pay alone.

[friendly]

Exactly, get rid of the marriage penalty and reward MARRIED COUPLES for having children instead of single mothers. This isn't rocket science.

Yes. And this means married couples, as in MAN and WOMAN, procreating children. No Rosie O'Donnells, Village People, or Perverts sexually involved with ther beloved Llama Esmeralda.

[SunkenCiv]

Ping.

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from about five years ago. Maybe Putin lurks on FR. ;')

[george76]

“Next time you’re in a rundown diner and the 17-year-old waitress is eight months pregnant, don’t tut “What a tragedy” and point her to the nearest Planned Parenthood clinic.

Leave her a large tip instead. She’s doing the right thing, not just for her, but for all of us.”

[SunkenCiv]

17 years old and pregnant? I guess she *is* a good date...

/ducks and covers

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I think Ethiopia is mainly Coptic...early Christian...

[george76]

you are very brave,

8-)

[forkinsocket]

Ethiopia is a Christian country, though with a substantial Muslim population.

[Marie2]

“Why is depopulation a disaster?”

I think because human beings are, on the whole, more of an asset than a deficit to this world.

[Marie2]

The difference is, the pregnancy isn’t the bad behavior. The extra/premarital sex was. Once a girl is pregnant, I don’t see the point in “punishing” her. I don’t want her to abort the baby to hide things.