Quote:
Originally Posted by DonQuigleone
I find it odd that the Japanese can't swing pro-children legislation past it's senior citizen voter base. Seniors tend to skew conservative, and pro-family legislation tends to be a conservative cause. Furthermore, don't Japanese seniors want to have more grandchildren?
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I would imagine it depends on how the issue is portrayed. If subsidies are discussed in "zero-sum" terms, suggesting that money spent on families would mean reductions to old-age pensions, then it's not hard to imagine pensioners would not be interested in expanding support for families.
Then there is always the notion of whether those being subsidized are "deserving." Presumably if you are from a generation when having children was not subsidized, you might find it hard to sympathize with young families today. I bet few Japanese people have a clue about that $77,000 figure the Times cited. I suspect if asked in a poll what it costs to raise a child over the first five years of life, the answers would be half that figure or less.