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FMLA: Once again America is rather behind the times


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There are people of all sorts. Last year's massive amount of foreclosures and repossessions demonstrate that for some, having luxury goods outweigh good, solid financial habits. America has a huge amount of credit card debt. Some of it is built up from necessity, such as large car payments or medical bills (I have a classmate who is 27, not married, a flutist in Atlanta, and although she doesn't make a lot of money she has still saved up almost 15,000 to buy herself a new car, with no debt. Bet you guys say she's not poor at all, huh, because she's able to save? Maybe she's a fucking middle class thinker?). A lot of it is built on the idea that credit cards are some magical device wherein you don't have to pay the full balance off every month and you can buy stuff you can't afford.

This way of thinking is so naive and prevalent enough that Saturday Night Live did a skit about it. It's called Don't Buy Stuff You Can't Afford. Money can be found, even if it's just a few dollars every week. A few dollars is better than nothing. And it adds up. Too many people don't even consider five dollars to be anything these days. Five dollars can get you a meal at a restaurant. Doesn't have to be a great restaurant, but it's still a restaurant. Or it can be put away for a different use. It doesn't matter what class you are, how much you earn, as long as you have the mentality that it can be done. Some people claim they can't afford to have children, then suddenly they have a child. Well, they're going to have to find a way to pay for that child now, whether it's through national government programs that the US provides, or if it's from their own pocket.

Last month Forbes ran an article on maternity leave in the US. There are already states that are doing something similar to what Filippa says Poland does. I asked Schnee about his company. He happens to work for a company that is one of the best in the US for women's benefits. If he were a woman, he'd get 8 weeks fully paid maternity leave. But since he isn't, he gets 2 weeks paid paternity leave. This kind of perk attracts more women to work at his company. Too bad I can't work at his company, it's a nice place.

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Uhm, why should I shut up about something I think is politically obvious? I am completely open with approaching this from a social liberal/social democratic perspective. Since I do, it is also obvious that this IS Middle class thinking.

Even people who are poorer seem to sometimes not grasp what class does, but that doesn't mean that those of us who do should be silent about it. Class and background, to me, are extremely important. The older I get, the more concious I get about how important it is. Plus it is not about helping the needy, it is about justice and social stability. Helping the needy is charity, social safety nets and justice are social democracy.

So yes, to me it is impossible to separate the political from the personal, just like with feminism. :) The personal IS the political.

Wait, so only middle class people think this way, not rich or poor people? What you're saying blows my mind. Because of income, not lifestyle, not environment, people will think this way? Unless you are equating class values with actual class. All it seems to me is that you're more left. Quite a few college kids think exactly the way you do, but they're squarely middle class.

I'm just going to have to tell myself things are different in Europe. If I asked around here, I'd get all sorts of answers from all sorts of people making all sorts of incomes.

Edit: I mean, shit, I grew up poor same as you, we are in similar situations, and clearly we do not think the same.

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Lyanna,

Of course, we all know that it happens anyway, and that trying to force poor people to not have kids is both inhumane and totally retarded. Hence your solution is not practically enforcable and you need to think up an alternative that is.

How many children should the Government (and by extension the general public) be willing to support a poor person having via Welfare? If Octo-mom decides to get another 8 baby artifical insemenation should she be able to look to the public dime to support her? Eventually, if we give public support to all births there is going to be a cut off point which will equate to Government determining how many babies people can have. Is facilitating people's choice to have babies or telling people they've had enough children really a role you want to give government?

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