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A comment on India's surprise baby bust is a warning to the world. Parent comment

Re:India's surprise baby bust is a warning to the world by Spooky23 on Friday June 05, 2026 @03:29PM (#48417068)
Kids are cheap when you are poor because you aren’t seeking status. A home in a highly desirable suburban school district won’t support 12 kids in the lifestyle that people demand in those places.

Whoever has custody of the kids is fine. The social services benefits scale. They won’t get rich, but they’ll eat. People will be OK. The only people who lose are stupid men who have multiple children with multiple women.

Once you have a little cash, the formula changes completely.

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Re:India's surprise baby bust is a warning to the world by WarmWash on Friday June 05, 2026 @03:41PM (#48417184)
You also have the state which pays for most of the top line expenses of having kids. Once you start making money, those benefits don't fade, they instantly disappear entirely.
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Re:India's surprise baby bust is a warning to the world by bombcar on Friday June 05, 2026 @11:59PM (#48421254)
If you're at a certain income, additional kids is additional income as more and more gets taken care of.

And that certain income can be surprisingly high, as it's often a multiple of the poverty level which is calculated based on family size.

eg: https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/badgercareplus/fpl.htm

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Re:India's surprise baby bust is a warning to the world by Spooky23 on Saturday June 06, 2026 @10:12AM (#48425324)
Yup. And it tends to cluster around rural and sectarian lines.

When people start having 6+, the formulas get weird and vary by state and sometimes county.

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