• ameancow@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    It used to be when the population was spiraling out of control faster than infrastructure and economy could keep up. A new middle-class of sorts rose up and people stopped having kids like everywhere else in the world. So now they have raised the limit to three and are throwing in a bundle of incentives and benefits but even that’s not increasing birth rates.

    A lot of countries are facing aging populations and a smaller young workforce and it’s going to wreck economic production for literally everyone. There’s a reason for the huge push for robotics in elderly care across much of Asia. But the US and EU will be feeling the crunch soon enough also.

    This is a problem that’s being co-opted by right-wing nazitards like Elon Musk who are making it about race, but it’s really a global issue without a lot of clear causes or solutions.

    • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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      2 days ago

      This is a problem that’s being co-opted by right-wing nazitards like Elon Musk who are making it about race, but it’s really a global issue without a lot of clear causes or solutions

      Its really only an issue in the context of capitalism. Capitalism relies on growth. No growth or negative growth means capitalism collapses and all of the hoarding that the rich and powerful have been doing was meaningless. Capitalism grew out of Mercantilism which was an extremely similar economic theory but Mercantilism largely assumes that any trade is bad because someone is “winning” and someone is “losing” meanwhile capitalism learned that trade is good because the same money can be spent more times by more people.

      The short term solution is to create significant financial and other incentives for people to go into healthcare, particularly CNAs because a larger aging population than the working population will require lots of CNAs to care for the elderly. Right now these workers are woefully underpaid and largely abused by both their patients who lack the mental faculties to know what they’re doing and their workplaces which are increasingly frequently owned by private equity

      • alternategait@lemmy.world
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        25 minutes ago

        abused by both their patients who lack the mental faculties to know what they’re doing and their workplaces

        Oh theres a number of patients who are of fully aware of what they are doing who are happy to have a chance to abuse someone they see as below them (either because of classism or racism or sexism).

      • ameancow@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Its really only an issue in the context of capitalism.

        I mean, yes but also a massive portion of our entire society is propped up on the back of capitalism whether we like it or not, we can’t pull the rug out from the hospitals, the services, people’s food and so on. There are a lot of people who think that a population crash will be good for us but if system crashes too fast, it won’t be an issue of not having new iphones and labubu’s, it will be an issue of not having antibiotics and rubber products like the washers in syringes and the company that makes the single bearing you need to keep your heater on in winter closed their doors years ago and the grocery store is almost empty and you haven’t heard any noise from your elderly neighbor’s house in three days, and is that gunfire again? It’s not an apocalyptic event but a withering of life and progress.

        The damage that a collapse can cause can outweigh any long-term benefits and even last too long and hard for any better systems to even have a chance of taking root. Our logistics network is simultaneously the most impressive thing we’ve ever built and the most fragile, and it’s also what we rely on to a degree that should have scared everyone when a single cargo ship blocking a canal almost brought the world to a stop.

        I am just trying to say that it’s a real issue that every nation is going to have to start bracing for with the same gravity as climate change because the consequences can lead to a lot of unnecessary suffering. I wish more people other than the very worst people were taking it seriously and preparing for the strain.

        • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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          11 hours ago

          Oh absolutely without actual government action the overall population decline will be catastrophic. Basically if it’s handled the way that climate change has been, our kids/grandkids/great-grandkids will be screwed because it’s a similarly significant world-wide challenge for humanity that like climate change will require some changes to how people live and run the world. However, unlike climate change, population decline won’t necessarily kill off humanity entirely, because it will self-resolve one way or another, either by society collapsing due to the medical system collapsing or by actual social change to adapt to the normalizing population level

      • ameancow@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        There are people who move to China to become “professional white guys” where you hang out with socialites and drink and make them look good by being their “white associate” which is a big deal in some social circles. Literally that’s all you do.

        The catch: you need to be really familiar with China, fluent in the language, and fluent in the culture and have some connects. You should probably also be somewhat attractive or at least know style and be fit.