A recent poster raised an objection to paying taxes that benefit children, when she herself is childless. She stated that the costs of raising children should be borne by the people who decide to become parents.
Raising healthy, productive children requires resources that a lot of parents just don't have. No child gets to pick his/her parents so it is not fair to say that kids should only get the kind of support that they can afford. Education of children is important to the well being of all citizens and profitability of all business. My youngest is now a senior in High school, so I could easily join the chorus of people who oppose spending money on Other Peoples Children. I expect and hope that my kids will be productive and generous citizens. However, I don't expect my own kids will personally take care of my needs for they next forty years. I will have to rely on Other Peoples Children for that. That's true of all of us, whether we bacame parents or not. Lets consider an extreme situation in which public education is not provided at all, and the laws requiring young people to attend school are repealed. Wealthy parents would be able to send their kids to a nice private school. Poor parents could use their kids to help earn a living. Their kids could clean chimneys, walk dogs, pick up garbage, and help work in the farm fields. As time goes by, we would have greater and greater numbers of adults who can't read, have no knowledge and no skills, and cannot help produce the wealth of society. Every child is born broke, and with no ability to earn a living. Do we want to be a society where the future of every child depends on the family he is born into? If you are an adult with no children, do you want society to have increasing numbers of ignorant and unproductive citizens? When you're 60 or 70 years old, and you need a doctor, or a carpenter, aren't you going to depend on somebody elses kid to take care of you? Businesses need customers who can afford to buy products or services. They need employees who can read, write, calculate and communicate. For my money, I can't think of a better investment than educating the next generation to the best of their potential. I want them out there looking for cures to the diseases I might get. I want them able to earn enough money so that they can take care of me in my old age if I am unable to care for myself. -- Bob Treumann, Saint Paul Please Note: Replies to this email address all go to the trash except where the subject line contains a recognized mailing list identifier, such as [TCMETRO],[StPaul], MP-N ... _____________________________________________ To Join: St. Paul Issues Forum Rules Discussion Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/
