• Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    A replacement birthrate leads to a more stable society

    Only if you assume that the amount of production for a hour of labor stays the same. Workers today accomplish much more in a given time period than workers 65 years ago. The problem is that value is horded instead of being made available to the people that created it.

    • Samskara@sh.itjust.works
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      5 days ago

      Feeding an elderly person, washing them, changing their diapers takes the same amount of time as it did 150 years ago. Due to better health care and longer lives, the total cost of elderly health care and pensions eat up a lot of that productivity gain.

      • Tad Lispy@europe.pub
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        5 days ago

        That’s certainly not true. We now have washing machines, dishwashers, refrigerators, kitchen machines, gas or electric stoves, food delivery services etc. All this makes carrying for others easier. Plus being more efficient at paid work could be translated into less working hours, thus more time to care for others instead of more money captured by capitalists.

      • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        Nope. Absolutely wrong. You can cook food faster than you could 150 years ago using microwaves, induction cook tops, non-stick pan and other advancements in kitchen tech. Modern care aids reduce the time it takes to wash a person, and allows them to wash themselves much later in life before they need partial or full assistance. Modern adult diapers come off easier, seal better, and absorb more, so they have fewer blow-outs and it takes fewer wipes to clean up a person.

        Edit: let’s also add that better productivity in other areas enables fewer people do more work, which (should) free up a larger portion of the population for elder-care.

      • faythofdragons@slrpnk.net
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        5 days ago

        You realize 150 years ago was the year before the telephone was invented, right? Most houses didn’t even have electricity back then.

        I was an in-home caregiver before COVID, and we certainly didn’t have to warm water on a wood fired stove to bathe the clients with. I didn’t have to scrub the laundry with a washboard, we had a laundry machine. I could call 911 without interrupting CPR, which wouldn’t have been possible even 50 years ago.