Does anybody need more than one child? Let's slash child benefit!

[Parvo]

Noticed in the newspaper yesterday that China is about to scrap their ' one child only policy'. Didn't read the article only the headline so don't know anymore about it.

 

Saw news short on telly about this last week or so. As having girls is 'less desirable' than having boys, people were fixing it that there one offspring was a boy (or the single pregnancy was twins) this has caused there to be a big imbalance between the sexes. the example shown was 2 girls out of a class of 20. Somewhere where this is happening (but can't remember where) girls were being kidnapped to be married-not good.

I think the maths of one child only are right but society hasn't evolved enough socially for it to work-sadly-for all

I mean world society not just China-they were at least brave enough to do the sums and have a go at keeping humanity going(and the world as we know it)

[Ms Macbeth]

Has anyone had their letter?

 

From the BBC

 

I don't know if they've had their letter yet, but a member of my family is going to lose their child benefit. I have mixed feelings as to the removal of one of the last universal benefits. No one cared how much people earned in the past, 'family allowance' was for us all.

 

As the high earners pay large amounts of tax and NI, the government are getting it back anyway. However, it seems very unfair that a couple who both earn just under the limit of £50k each don't lose any.

 

It appears we are moving towards means testing every benefit. I just hope when they decide to remove the pensioners' travel passes or winter fuel payments they use a similar figure of £50k.

[Parvo]

It appears we are moving towards means testing every benefit. I just hope when they decide to remove the pensioners' travel passes or winter fuel payments they use a similar figure of £50k.

 

great point that.....

have to say though 50k is a lot of money. nearly twice the average wage...wish i earnt that much

[Vague_Boy]

What is this "exponential" rate of population growth in the UK?

 

The population of the planet is growing exponentially

 

The 9 billion-people question

 

 

We've been able to feed all these extra mouths due to improvements in mechanized agriculture and the use of artificial pesticides and fertilizers.

 

Artificial pesticides are made from oil byproducts, a finite resource.

 

Artificial fertilizers are synthesized from natural gas, again a finite product.

 

You can't make artificial fertilizer or pesticides from sunlight (solar power) or wave motion (tidal).

 

And of course the more people there are in the world, the faster finite resources of all kinds are used up.

 

Agent Smith: I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area.

The Matrix, 1999

[Mecky]

The population of the planet is growing exponentially to the point where there are now more people alive today than have ever lived in the past. We all know the damaging implications of population growth!

 

So, here's an idea for discussion. It's a 3 point plan for the UK ...

 

1. In the spirit of the Chinese One Child Law, child benefits are limited to one child only. If you want any more children then you pay for them from your own means. That also goes for tax credits, housing and all the other state handouts. The cut off is one child.

 

2. The upside is that the state can offer optional but free sterilisation for those who have their one child and have no need of any more.

 

3. Those couples who don't have any children, and therefore have less need of state funds can then have a tax rebate and increased pension provision in return for having no child to care for them in old age.

 

Well?

 

1) So you want a two-tier system where only the rich can afford to have kids? What happens if a rich person suddenly stops being rich but has five kids to feed?

 

2) You mean compulsary state-enforced sterilisation of the poor?

 

3) Who is going to pay for it?

[Conrod]

1) So you want a two-tier system where only the rich can afford to have kids? What happens if a rich person suddenly stops being rich but has five kids to feed?

 

2) You mean compulsary state-enforced sterilisation of the poor?

I like your thinking.

 

3) Who is going to pay for it?

It's worth paying for from central taxation, as the next-generation benefits savings would be vast.

[XXTickerXX]

My brother has 5 kids.Every penny of child allowance went into a bank account for the kids when they are 18.

He is probably saving money with the tax reduction for the top earners anyway.

[Parvo]

the ideal is that nobody rich or poor has more than one child-we need to drastically reduce world population if the world as we know and love it is to survive-the alternative may well be something of a bloodbath too i suspect

[Conrod]

the ideal is that nobody rich or poor has more than one child-we need to drastically reduce world population if the world as we know and love it is to survive-the alternative may well be something of a bloodbath too i suspect

Absolutely.

 

There are many wonderful species becoming extinct every year because of human over-population. It's about time we accepted that there's nothing special about human life - we're little more than an infestation on a beautiful world.