[lmm]

> Should the government increase its already high tax rate from up-to-50% to up-to-90% and take money from the childless to give to parents?

Yes

> Should the government replace your salary if you quit your job to raise a kid (since after-all that is a cost of the endeavor)?

Yes

> If you're just talking about "giving birth", I assure you the cost to give birth is already close to free, the government already covers that, and various cities have local parent stipends which make it "profitable" in a sense.

Yes and no. There are a zillion different support programs where you have to fill out a 4 page form in triplicate and submit to city hall to get $80 3 months later. Childbirth is induced regardless of medical necessity because there's one programme that covers medical costs up to the scheduled due date and another programme that covers medical costs after birth, but if you need medical care after your due date with the baby still unborn then you fall through the cracks. The country badly needs to replace its patchwork subsidy program with simply including childbirth under normal medical insurance.

[Schiendelman]

I will fight tooth and nail against this. Immigrants are WAY more economically efficient than children.

[lmm]

> Immigrants are WAY more economically efficient than children.

In Japan? Doubt. The social cost may be harder to measure, but it's huge.

And even if they are more "economically efficient", why is that the goal?

[Schiendelman]

Are you suggesting that a newborn human has more positive economic impact than an immigrant? What factors are you considering?

[lmm]

> Are you suggesting that a newborn human has more positive economic impact than an immigrant? What factors are you considering?

I'm suggesting they have a more positive lifetime impact yes. Obviously publicly-funded education, healthcare and the like for the newborn until they're ready to contribute financially has a cost, but an immigrant is just massively disruptive - language support in public services alone is a significant cost, but much larger is losing the benefits of a cohesive, high-trust society. If the neighbourhood's kids can no longer run errands alone but now need (or are felt to need) an adult escorting them, you're going to get mothers quitting their jobs to do that; if an unattended shop is no longer viable then those businesses will close; if every business switches to payment in advance because they can no longer trust people to pay their bills then that's a whole lot of friction that slows down all economic activity...