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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   7932 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 7, 2026

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Yeah, it's a dumb idea. You can't support families in general with redistribution, because for every dollar of help you're also committing at least a dollar of harm. This mostly applies even if you try to target the harm -- if you target the childless, you make their lives more difficult and thus discourage them from having children. Even if you target the old, you end up harming their children making them less likely to have children. There's the old-and-childless, but there just aren't enough of them (and if your policies were successful they'd be self-limiting). If you use a means-tested program (as this is), you're helping the poor have children but making it less likely the wealthier have children.

There are also, of course, the hazards of making people into government dependents. And while the proposal claims to be using existing funds, it seems rather likely that once it is funding both R and D clients it will grow. And it will be used for fraud at a massive scale, like "elder care" and "learing centers".

If you use a means-tested program (as this is), you're helping the poor have children but making it less likely the wealthier have children.

The wealthy are already taxed heavily from what I understand. It doesnt seem to deter them all that much from having kids, depending on how high up the ladder you go. I doubt people in Elon Musks bracket are gonna feel much of general dent. Maybe an argument could be made for the top 9.9% of earners.

The wealthy are already taxed heavily from what I understand. It doesnt seem to deter them all that much from having kids, depending on how high up the ladder you go. I doubt people in Elon Musks bracket [snip]

Elon Musk is the richest person in the world. If you have to go up that high you've conceded the argument.

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