Quote:
Originally Posted by SeijiSensei
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.
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It's not because older generations haven't fought for families being subsidized in other times that it gives them the right to leave scraps for young families to feed upon when the situation has very different parameters.
With all due respect, I'd bluntly call that selfishness and a pathological lack of consideration for the future. Each and everyone of us will be reminded that we are past our due date;from the looks of it, many people in Japan need this wake-up call no matter how harsh it will be.
Either way, anything (mindsets, policies, etc.) that doesn't help future generations is just fundamentally plain wrong when numbers are on the table to prove how bad the issue is getting at without a more serious course of action here.