Should US taxes pay for nannies?
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Should US taxes pay for nannies?
| Sat, 02-09-2013 - 9:16am |
I don't know where to start. But a nanny has been caught on a nanny cam hitting and shaking infant. It's upsetting video but I'm really really glad mom shared this publicly:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/07/mamura-nasirova-arrested-baby-smacking-camera_n_2639567.html
The comments are what concern me. From, mom should've taken matters into her own hands. And US taxpayers pay for public schools, social security, welfare, so why not for daycare?
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My concerns: Using tax dollars doesn't necessarily prevent nanny abuse. Or even abuse in a daycare setting with extra eyes on other daycare providers. The comments suggest if nannies were paid more (like a subsidy on top of what moms and dads pay) then more American women would become nannies. It's a cultural bias, that mothers in other countries don't raise children like we do in the US.
I also don't think many educated women even want to be nannies (in the US or elsewhere). It's not a question of pay. It's just hard to trust your child is completely safe in daycare or with a nanny.
Chelsea
"Minds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open."
If daycare was regulated to provide a good minimum standard and subsidized so people could afford it, then it would presumably mean better care for more kids.
What do you mean by this:
"It's a cultural bias, that mothers in other countries don't raise children like we do in the US."
New moms in other countries have time-off paid for by their government or employer. In the US, new moms don't. So it's hard for taxpayers to easily accept a new tax to pay for nannies or daycare.
OK, I see what you mean. But can't you see that this is a rather self-defeating argument? It is like saying that US family policies are so terrible that we can't ever hope to improve them. You could, of course do it without raising taxes, if people were willing to, say, cut defense spending, for example, which is completely out of control in the US. It is a matter of priorities.
It would be self-defeating in the US to force employers or taxpayers to pay for others' maternity leaves + a full year or 2 off after the birth of 1, 2 or 3 etc babies. Plus, there's the loss of a year, 2 years, 3 years (?) etc. of work experience, training and education each time mom has a child. Mom has 3 kids - that's 3 years where she has not worked, multiply that by the # of moms in the US and the US would fall behind in the advances we've made in various fields. Small countries may be able to fall behind, tho too many were not able to come thru this recession unscathed. The US was better able.
And there's no popular support in the US for taxpayers to pay for able-bodied moms and/or dads to take off a full year at others' expense.
A US citizen has only to look at 9/11 to understand US spending for defense. Obama's doing a good job of it.
OK, Denmark is not behind and it has one of the best family leave policies in the world, pretty much. The pay you get during family leave is usually funded through a scheme similar to disability or unemployment insurance. It doesn't actually need to cost all that much. I am also pretty sure that employment percentages for women tend ot be better in Scandinavia than in the US, because women are not forced by high daycare costs to leave the work force.
Why 9/11 would make excessive military spending necessary is a bit beyond me.
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Kitty
"If you can't annoy somebody with what you write, I think there's little point in writing."-- Kingsley Amis, British novelist, 1971 t .
Puss, LOL! But seriously, the US military spending is so far out of proportion to other major powers. Russia spends way less, relative to GNP, and they have terrorists too (Chechnya).
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