this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2025
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[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 10 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I find it funny to watch these countries having issues with people not wanting to have babies.

There are core reasons behind this, one large one being "raising a child is expensive and all the world's money is being sucked up by billionaires, there is nothing left for children". Another one (for certain countries like Japan and South Korea) is the "work 80 hours a week and never see that family you're supposed to raise"

And governments go like "sooooo, if we cover child birth, you're good, right? What? Still nothing? We tried nothing and we're all out of ideas, how oh how can we solve this?"

Fuck the rich, end the rich. That will get births back to a healthy 2.1

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 5 points 13 hours ago

officials have already expanded maternity leave benefits and housing subsidies to encourage couples to have more children.

Seems like they’re trying multiple things. Meanwhile we’re over here trying to say middle school kids can be paid less than minimum wage, operate dangerous machinery and work late on school nights. If you can’t afford kids, might as well exploit them

[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 3 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

And then they help pay the roughly $15,000 usd per yr per child it costs to raise a child right?

Becauae it would be really bad if China helped pay for a ton of kids to be born that can't be provided for.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 2 points 12 hours ago

Kids can pull themselves up by the bootstraps... factories are hiring...

/s

[–] PumpkinDrama@reddthat.com 4 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

This seems like overcompensating for the child limit. Are they going to be like a yoyo, swinging from one extreme to the other until they find a balance, like all things should be?

[–] Triasha@lemmy.world 4 points 16 hours ago

No country has increased birth rates sustainably without major coersion. China is still using soft coercion and offering incentives.

[–] tym@lemmy.world 0 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

the ROI is they get future foot soldiers

[–] veni_vedi_veni@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

They already have a glut of military aged males with no marriage prospects, if they were serious about invading Taiwan, they could only do it now (also aligns with the fact that America has become more isolationist, Japan hasn't a serious standing army yet etc.)

If they are planning for the future, it's not military, it's societal.

[–] Railcar8095@lemmy.world 25 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's great, but I had kind of assumed it was already in place.

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 32 points 1 day ago (6 children)

China has a far weaker social safety net than a lot of people assume.

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

That also apparently depends a lot on the particular region's policies. Which aren't as centralized as everyone in the West imagines.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Especially considering the pedestal it lives on on Lemmy.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

with tankies, they salivate over any news of china, but they would never live there themselves.

[–] SpookyBogMonster@lemmy.ml 2 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Idk I'd live there if I had the chance. The trains seem neat ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 2 points 12 hours ago

Yes the public transit is better than the US. (in Guangzhou at least)

However, the actual apartment building I used to live in as a kid, it was so shitty and its deteriorating... I hated that place.

Its like... if you make a lot of money and can afford a good place to live, it's fine, but if you are poor, its miserable.

The difference between my area and just a 10 minute walk away to the nearby mall area, was so fucking massive, like decades of development apart, as if you time travelled. Its like: the mall was facing the street so itlooked so nice, then you walk 10 minutes, it looks worse and worse. Literally looks worse than Kensington, Philly (well probably minus the drugs thing, cuz illegal drugs are impossible to get in China, I'm talking aboit how clean the streets looked and how stable the buildings are). Its not like tourists are gonna wander into some alleyway and see what horrible place people actually lived in. It's urban hell.

I live in Philly now, which is regarded by many as a very "slummy" city, but where I live now... this place still looks less bad than where I used to live in Guangzhou.

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