Althouse: If you have to ask...

July 22, 2014

If you have to ask...

... the answer is "no."

15 comments:

Wince said...: Can You Really Afford a New Child?

How much is a child likely to cost you? Estimates range from more than $240,000 (in today's dollars and excluding the cost of college) for a typical child. Add $1.4 million to $2.4 million (including government expenditures such as Medicaid) for a child with a disability such as autism.

Somebody should ask this to Obama in reference to the southern border.; 7/22/14, 9:32 AM
rhhardin said...: In the early 60s a co-worker was upset that his wife was pregnant.

Remembered lines :

"I know just when it happened, too."

"It costs $200,000 to raise an 18-year-old. For $200,000 you can buy a hell of a nice 18-year-old."; 7/22/14, 9:33 AM
Henry said...: From the article: For example, a $500,000 universal life-insurance policy...

Read no further. Anyone who recommends universal life insurance for healthy working adults cannot be trusted on financial matters.; 7/22/14, 9:41 AM
Anonymous said...: Can you really afford a new child?

No, but you can afford lots of other people's children, especially those crossing the southern borders. Free housing, free food, free education.; 7/22/14, 9:55 AM
tim maguire said...: WSJ is asking the wrong question. If you wait until you can afford to have a baby, you will never have a baby. Financially ready is meaningless--if you are emotionally ready, then you are ready.

(The $240,000 figure is just for rich white people.); 7/22/14, 9:57 AM
chillblaine said...: "How much is a child likely to cost you? Estimates range from more than $240,000..."

This is what Cecile Richards would have you ask yourself rhetorically. Why educate when you can aspirate? From the Progressives, who claim to believe in "Science." A twenty week old fetus probably can't feel fear or pain, probably.

The Progressives like to remind us that these costs are eventually socialized. Which is how we get from here to the government nurseries in "Brave New World."; 7/22/14, 10:28 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Those who take the trouble and have the aptitude to do the math and who are also self-controlled enough to refrain from procreative sex or to competently use birth control every time are going to have very few if any children.; 7/22/14, 10:44 AM
Birches said...: His monthly costs went up $200-$300 a month after the birth of his child?

What were they feeding him? Formula laced with gold?

That whole article can be summed up as rich people problems...; 7/22/14, 11:08 AM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: $ cost of each child * # of undocumented minors admitted each year = hey, math don't matter, you racist! Embrace the Dream!

Or is that = pay for those lifetime Dem. voters, jackass, three generations' worth?; 7/22/14, 11:38 AM
Sarah from VA said...: Eh, once you have one child, you've already got all the stuff. Pile them on and tell them they have to get scholarships and jobs. Cheaper by the dozen and all that.

It's worked for my in-laws. They have five kids -- one autistic -- and while I wouldn't say they're financially AHEAD of the game, they haven't exactly suffered, either. They've always saved a lot and live below their admittedly impressive means (he's a brilliant engineer). But compared to a nicer house or more vacations, five beautiful, intelligent, hardworking children and 2.5 beautiful grandchildren thus far is a pretty good trade-off, in my estimation.; 7/22/14, 12:30 PM
Saint Croix said...: I think this was the primary motivation of .Roe v. Wade. Money, money, money, money, money, money!; 7/22/14, 12:55 PM
southcentralpa said...: I must echo Sarah.

Nearly everything in life is about trade-offs. (I'm always amused by coastal liberals who sneer at "those tea partiers tearing up their paved roads instead of investing in their infrastructure, haw, haw, haw..." From the perspective of the residents of rural townships, though, they have a choice between driving 60 MPH every where they go or having a few hundred more dollars in their pocket every year -- unsurprisingly, they choose the extra cash.)

Parenthood is giving generously of one's self. That may mean meat one or two times a week. It might mean living in not as nice a house. It may well come to one parent staying home costing less than child care would.

But against a warm, loving home life, the unconditional love of children, and having many children who can share the "burden" of taking care of you in your advanced years ("But you don't need children ... the government can take care of you ..." "And where will this hypothetical government get resources if no one has children"). Making a difference to the future of society.

I can all but guarantee that while you may have to give up some things, almost anyone can find the money to have another child. You'd be amazed the things that you think you can't live without that you really can live without...; 7/22/14, 1:06 PM
Sam L. said...: Get a used one!; 7/22/14, 1:39 PM
Deirdre Mundy said...: But if I get a used one, it might not have all the features I've come to expect.

I'm really waiting for the solar-powered, self-changing models, though.

Those will be game changers.; 7/22/14, 2:40 PM
RKS said...: My father, the midwestern adman and state J-school graduate, would gag at the headline. A "new child?" As opposed to what?; 7/22/14, 9:28 PM