Courtesy of Mish.
China now encourages childbearing to keep the economy humming and to stave off a demographic decline. Will a new baby boom do the trick?
Please consider China Seeks Baby Boom to Counter Low Birth Rates.
Chinese authorities are looking at ways to encourage people to have more children, less than 18 months after dropping the country’s contentious one-child policy in a bid to boost birth rates and stave off a demographic decline.
The Communist party introduced the one-child policy in 1979 to tackle population growth. It was scrapped in late 2015 following years of warnings from demographers over low birth rates and an aging population.
“Women’s attitudes towards childbirth have undergone a fundamental change. It’s no longer the traditional view of ‘more children means more happiness’,” said Jiang Quanbao, a professor at Xi’an Jiaotong University’s Institute for Population and Development Studies. “Women are pursuing their own education and career development. The opportunity costs of having a second child are large.”
Population aging poses serious challenges for China’s economy and society in the coming years. The population aged 15 to 64 peaked in 2013, and the ratio of children and elderly to working-age Chinese began rising in 2011. China’s pension system is severely underfunded given the payouts due to the coming wave of retirees.
Baby Boom Ponzi Scheme
The latest Chinese proposal is nothing more than a baby boom Ponzi scheme. Too many people are already fighting over scares recourse, unaffordable housing, food, and energy resources.
All of a sudden, China now wants more people when it cannot find work for those already alive.
How else does one describe this other than a Ponzi scheme? Unfortunately, it’s not just China involved in this madness. Forces in the US and Germany want more immigrants and population growth to deal with similar demographic issues.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
