Tim Worstall

Yes But No But….

I’m agin the basic idea, here. That someone other than the parents of the children going to school should pay for the books. Look, someone has to pay, there really ain’t free books out there. It can be paid from tax, sure, or it can be paid by breeders to educate their own children.

Given that said breeders are winning the Darwinian race, the purpose of life, seems a bit off to insist that they shouldn’t pay more than others to educate the little darlin’s.

This bit does resonate though:

What is even worse than this is that there is very little culture of “second hand” in Portugal (something that maddens me).

I’ve long been a fan of recycling…..Oxfam shops, Thrift Stores in the US. Someone doesn’t want it anymore, but I might for a couple of $. Great!

Which leads to, yes, most Portuguese, but (where appropriate) support these guys.

Exacto.com.pt.

In

7 responses

  1. lucy p Avatar
    lucy p

    you’re right, tim, that breeders should be paying… but paying what we can, don’t you think? €500 for a year’s books for this breeder’s offspring, and many of this breeder’s friends, would be ok, manageable, a minor pain in the arse or a major pain in the arse in lean years, but if it were the equivalent of a whole month’s salary in a single income family? Even in the tacky suburb that my village has become, there are a lot of low income kids around. which is why i get so pissed that “second hand” ain’t the done thing….. but you know all that.. 🙂

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  2. Ian Bennett Avatar
    Ian Bennett

    “breeders should be paying… but paying what we can, don’t you think?” (lucy p)
    No, paying what it costs. I factored the cost of catfood into my decision to get a cat, knowing that Tesco wouldn’t take account of my ability to pay. Why do so many parents expect other people to subsidise their children?

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  3. lucy p Avatar
    lucy p

    ian bennet, do you mean that only people who can afford to have kids and pay for books should be breeding? sorry, but you can’t equate owning a cat with repopulation.
    unless of course, you just mean that the poor can’t expect to be given as reasonable an education as the middle classes. I think that argument’s been had, too, hasn’t it?

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  4. Ian Bennett Avatar
    Ian Bennett

    lucy p; I mean that one of the determiners when considering whether to breed should be the cost of raising a child, and that those who blithely assume that a significant part of that cost will be borne by others are supremely selfish. Claiming a need to repopulate a world whose population already doubles every forty or so years seems somewhat straw-clutchy. Whether acceptance of these facts manifests as not breeding or accepting lower standards of education (and/or health care, etc) is not my decision. One should cut ones coat according to ones cloth, in this aspect as in others.
    Incidentally, I spelled your name as you published it; please return the courtesy.

    Reply
  5. lucy p Avatar
    lucy p

    My apologies, Ian Bennett.

    Reply
  6. david Avatar
    david

    As a breeder I would be happy to pay for the books and education as long as my children don’t end up paying for the care of the barren when they are elderly and have no children to take care of them. The answer here, of course, is to reduce the orgy of bloated statism that leads one into these types of arguments. Tax consumption and not productivity and keep the government nailed to the job of internal and external security and all these questions disappear.

    Reply
  7. Ian Bennett Avatar
    Ian Bennett

    Absolutely, david. As one who is voluntarily childless, I would be happy to pay for my own care in my dotage were it not for the fact that I have been charged for the books and education of other people’s children.
    (To head off any potential argument along the lines of ‘We all benefit from educating the young’, if I did indeed benefit, I would pay voluntarily; the mere fact that I have to be forced to pay indicates that I don’t benefit.)

    Reply

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