Kelowna minimum living wage now $18.42

[Captain Awesome]

http://WhyYouRePoor.com/

[JLives]

Are we calling children a luxury? They are kind of our purpose for existing. Procreating and biology and all that. We are fortunate that some of us make the choice not to have them, not too long ago it wouldn't have even been a consideration.

[delSol97]

Are we calling children a luxury? They are kind of our purpose for existing. Procreating and biology and all that. We are fortunate that some of us make the choice not to have them, not too long it wouldn't have even been a consideration.

They've apparently forgotten about who will be wiping their butts clean and doing bypass surgeries on them when they are old and crying for another day of existence.

[Captain Awesome]

I don't know about everybody, but calling kids luxury is somewhat degrading in my eyes. It's not a hot tub we're talking about, it's human beings. Besides, my parents and my parents' parents weren't having kids because their lives where so awesome and full of prosperity.

[JLives]

It's kind of weird actually.

I know in my circumstances I was raised by a young widow. You can't plan for that.

[MAPearce]

Havin kids keeps me at home instead of the pub....

You're ALL welcome....

[Atomoa]

I also saw the conversation being steered slightly towards "kid=luxury' and also perhaps "should only the well off have kids?", which has and still is occasionally suggested by some politicians. I do not agree with this sentiment.

[Rwede]

At one time only 1 parent needed to bring in an income, while the other looked after home and was there for the kids.

In my opinion both jobs were important. Wonder where society would be if this was still the case.

[

In a better place than we are now.

Good post. It points out a major symptom of the greater disease.

I wonder where we'd be if women (typically the stay-at-home parent of the 1970s and earlier) hadn't entered the workplace en masse and helped build the economy, which also helped to fund the social programs we've all come to appreciate in Canada.

Canada has always suffered from worker shortages. What would that be like if we didn't send both parents out into the workforce? Would we be forced into massive immigration to fill jobs and generate the tax revenues to fund what we demand?

[Silverstarqueen]

Should people have children they can't afford to raise properly? Should they have four or six if they feel like it, when they really can only afford two or one? Yes, we are talking about human beings, which is exactly why I wish more people took seriously the huge cost they are incurring instead of just presuming that they should, or worse not even considering whether they should have children, when maybe they can't possibly afford to raise their children. Yes, rarely unforseen circumstances occur, such as one parent dies, without life insurance or adequate savings. That is not what we are talking about because that is a very small percentage of the population. We have many families where they manage to raise their children because both parents work, a few families that are rich enough to have one parent at home (at least part-time). All this is wonderful. The problems arise when you have families which are not rich enough, thinking that they should have the luxury of a parent at home, or two or three children, and then say, daycare is so expensive, someone else should help us pay all these bills, we can't make a living on one wage.

[Captain Awesome]

Life in general is a huge cost. You have to pay for rent, you have to buy food, why bother living if you can't afford it.

May be people should only live 30 years and once things get expensive off themselves.

[matai]

Life in general is a huge cost.

Heck, you even have to pay to die. How much does a funeral cost? LOL

[WeatherWoman]

They've apparently forgotten about who will be wiping their butts clean and doing bypass surgeries on them when they are old and crying for another day of existence.

Their incomes when they are adults will help contribute to our CCP when we retire. We need them!

The falling fertility rate may be expected to lead to higher taxes to support old-age pensions; a shrinking labour supply, and slower technological and organizational innovation.

On Tuesday, the agency reported that the total fertility rate in Canada has declined for a third year in a row, falling to just 1.61 children per woman in 2011. And while that represents an increase over a decade prior, when the rate plummeted to a historic low of 1.51, it’s nonetheless consistent with the long-term trend of multiple children becoming a rarer phenomenon.

In fact, Statistics Canada shows we haven’t met the population replacement level of roughly 2.1 children per woman since 1971.

“This isn’t an issue of anyone trying to force people to have kids who don’t want to have them. But it is a long-term concern,” said Derek Miedema, a researcher with the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada. “As the baby boomers retire, we’re not going to have enough people coming into the workforce to pay taxes to support our social safety net.”

minimum 2.1 children per woman that’s needed to maintain the economic health of this country

[monroe]

I read an interestig book a few years back; America Alone (Mark Steyn). Interesting stats re global birth rates. He makes a good case for keeping our own birth rates up.

Im sure some could interpret his message as racist, elitist, whatever, but he makes a good point.

North America being somewhere near the bottom in terms of birth rates.


A country without kids is a country where Temporary Foreign Workers become Permanent Foreign Workers PDQ.

[Captain Awesome]

North America being somewhere near the bottom in terms of birth rates.

And here's an interesting thing. In countries where people are more prosperous and well off (all of North America and Europe) birth rates always go down. At the same time countries where life is tough birth rates are through the roof. So, it's not that kids are expensive, but people simply lose interest in having them when life is good - why have kids when you can travel, enjoy yourself, and play with your toys. At the same time, poor countries are pumping out babies like crazy without much thought on how much babies cost.

[monroe]

Agreed but i also think there are other factors at play such as the emphasis some cultures place on keeping the family blood line going. Other things like education re birth control play its part as well...