I'm curious how Mr. Vance intends to make seniors give up their retirement to provide daily childcare for free. It is actually hard work, and grannies did it back in the "good old days" because there wasn't social security and Medicare.
I find it odd that there's no data for Indiana. I live in the state and there are daycare centers everywhere in my area - the kind run out of someone's home. Could be they're flying under the radar and the state doesn't know they exist?
Think of it like a billionaire:
- taxpayer funded = I am a taxpayer and therefore will now be poorer (bad)
- bank loans = invest in bank, childcare shows up on credit side = asset = I am now richer (good)
This is the entire thought process and motivation behind school vouchers too.
From 0-5, my wife and I spent $120,000 on childcare. For one kid. This does NOT include medical, groceries, diapers, extracurricular activities. Just daycare tuition (and summer day camps)
We did not send him to a fancy daycare. Our costs were very typical according to other parents we know. We live in Minneapolis, so probably more expensive than other parts of the country, but cheaper than the big cities (NYC, Chicago, Bay Area, etc.)
I've looked at prices before and it's just mind boggling. I'm right outside the twin cities so maybe lower than your area? It shouldn't cost this much especially when the workers don't even get good wages!
2019-2024 (he just started Kindergarten). One caveat; since he was an infant during COVID we had a nanny for 8 months, which definitely was more expensive. But once we restarted daycare it was $1800/mo until he turned 3, then $1700/mo. We also did a few camps during times the daycare was closed…
Oh! My son is only a year younger! What luck right? Having a little guy and then bam! The plague?? As if having a child isn't hard enough, let's up it to nightmare mode 🫠
And then prices all go up and shortages and a whole mess... I hope it's at least a little easier now for you guys
Really wish national Democrats could make a serious effort to pay for everyone's childcare. That's the kind of home run working class proposal that we just don't push right now.
When my kids were little, daycare was 7$ a day. For fantastic daycare. That’s because they grew up in Quebec. I worked a low-wage job but I was able to get by, went back to school, got a career and we’re all thriving. When a society looks after it’s citizens, everyone wins.
The answer is clear: corporations can provide this service for you to ease the burden. In return, you must accept lower pay and work more hours, with less autonomy.
We need to rethink Early Care and Education as a "public good". Most families cannot afford the rising costs in this broken system. Imagine what K-12 would cost families if there wasn't support/system for education as a "public good".
Man we needed new data on this? This has been true for at least a decade. Parents choose 1 kid when they realize they're basically paying for 2 apartments. America is never gonna fix this. They're gonna let robo taxis run over childcare providers instead. Sigh. 4 years of this shit.
This isn’t really new. My kids are 20 and 24. When my oldest was 2 my wife went back to work. She was a vet tech at the time. The daycare bill was more than her full time take home pay. We basically worked 1 of our jobs just to pay for daycare until the kids started school.
It's crazy to me that we're nearly 25 years later and the cost of childcare hasn't been addressed. We tell young couples that they not only both have to work, but they also can't have kids or they need to find a third income somehow to aford babysitting...insanity.
Comments
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/jd-vance-solution-childcare-crisis-is-to-have-grandparents-do-it-for-free?srsltid=AfmBOoqiTS81eaJg01GyArXt216ujf6D5LlrokBYL7dacFfz9dvWpYoo
https://www.route-fifty.com/management/2024/08/how-new-mexico-made-child-care-free-most-families/399064/
Our government printing dollars to pay for healthcare?
Or parents taking out a bank loan to pay for healthcare?
Or, to be more specific, parents using their income to pay for healthcare, and having less of a down payment for a mortgage or car loan?
- taxpayer funded = I am a taxpayer and therefore will now be poorer (bad)
- bank loans = invest in bank, childcare shows up on credit side = asset = I am now richer (good)
This is the entire thought process and motivation behind school vouchers too.
I've looked at prices before and it's just mind boggling. I'm right outside the twin cities so maybe lower than your area? It shouldn't cost this much especially when the workers don't even get good wages!
And then prices all go up and shortages and a whole mess... I hope it's at least a little easier now for you guys
Seems impossible and deeply broken.