Biden can make a country proud

[billvon 2,426]

>where's the evidence that one parent becomes a stay at home parent?

That's the simplest case, one I chose for ease of explanation. The more complex case is the case you listed, where a declining working population (made up of single people, two-working-parent and one-working-parent families) supports an increasing number of retirees, some of whom survive a long time, some of whom don't.

In your example, 1 person might support 6 people (2 parents, 4 grandparents) assuming that all 6 people survive. They won't survive indefinitely, of course, at which point that 1 person has to support 5 or 4 people. The average retirement age vs. the average age of death will determine what that actual ratio is.

It should be mentioned that this problem persists only until the population stabilizes, at which point the system eventually returns to a steady state.

Overall, though, China's one-child policy will be a good one in terms of the long term health of China, although it has some pretty serious implementation problems (like support of retirees.)

[kelpdiver 2]

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Overall, though, China's one-child policy will be a good one in terms of the long term health of China, although it has some pretty serious implementation problems (like support of retirees.)

Yes, for all the horrible consequences, inaction would have been much worse.

Hopefully the US never gets to the point where we must contemplate such action.

[Gravitymaster 0]

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>The math.

4 parents -> 2 children.

Those 2 children grow up. 1 works, 1 gets married and raises children. 4 parents retire.

Result - 1 person supports 4 retirees.

Then they could start looking the other way when illegals from Vietnam and Thailand start sneaking accross the border looking for jobs the Chinese don't want to do.

[JohnRich 4]

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>The math.

4 parents -> 2 children.
Those 2 children grow up. 1 works, 1 gets married and raises children. 4 parents retire.
Result - 1 person supports 4 retirees.

It's not that simple.

For example, let's say a person works from age 18 to 65, whereupon he retires and lives for another 10 years to age 75 before he passes away. At age 20 lets say a couple have their rationed one child. First of all, there's no law saying that both parents won't work, just like many parents do here in America. Next, when the child reaches age 18 and begins to work, he's not supporting his parents - one or both of them are still working alongside him. And once the parent(s) complete their 47-years of working life, the child only has to support them for a remaining 10 years. And many of them will die off before they ever reach retirement age. So, because of all this overlap, there's actually a large work force, supporting a much smaller amount of retirees. There is no 1:4 ratio. Even with a one-child policy, it's still more like 4 workers to 1 retiree, because of the generational time spans involved. 47 years of one-child workers are supporting only one generation of retirees at a time.

[kelpdiver 2]

that 47 drops to 42 or 43 - college. And the 10 years of retirement is a bit light as well. Plus add those who stop working earlier due to disability.

Every older nation is facing this problem. America is better off than most because of all the immigration. But still SS is a ponzi scheme, and that's without the limitations of a 1 child policy undermining substitution.

[DanG 1]

All of you assume that every pair of people has a child. I'm sure there are many people who don't have children, for whatever reason, but still retire at some point.

JohnRich's math is even worse than Biden's. If JohnRich were right, Social Security in the US would never face any problems maintaining funding.

- Dan G

[piisfish 135]

They should send the people over 50 at the Soylent Green production plant
Problem solved.

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[JohnRich 4]

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[kelpdiver] that 47 drops to 42 or 43 - college. And the 10 years of retirement is a bit light as well. Plus add those who stop working earlier due to disability.

Every older nation is facing this problem. America is better off than most because of all the immigration. But still SS is a ponzi scheme, and that's without the limitations of a 1 child policy undermining substitution.

Yeah, like I said, it wasn't as simple as billvon portrayed it. I added some of the additional complexities, but certainly not all of them. Only about 15% of kids go to college in China, and I'm sure that many of those that do work to support themselves while attending school, just like American kids. The 10 years retirement period I based upon retirement at age 65 and average lifespan to 73, which I looked up, so I don't think that's "light" (In the U.S. it's 78). I don't know if China provides income for their disabled citizens. Social Security in the U.S. has become much more than just a retirement plan, and it pays for all kinds of things. Furthermore, the politicians raid the SS funds and don't leave them in-place for their intended purpose.