Tax System Explained in Beer

[Doggy Styles]

Every day, I get more and more in favour of selective human culling.

I see zeity's cunning plan to win hearts and minds is working...

[ASB]

Disclaimer: I have no idea as to the accuracy of these figures (but if they're on the interweb they must be true...)

Gingerbread report the following statistics



That's under 25. Lets say 50% are teenagers, and of those, 50% actively set out to become pregnant as a 'lifestyle choice' (what a load of tulip - how many of us rationally mapped out our future at 16?) That's 3% of all single parents.



Making life harder doesn't appear to be the answer to the problem. Maybe making life better is worth a try...

I take some issue with those figures - though I am sure they are accurate it is very easy to misuse them. In terms of young people getting pregnant by choice to boost their accomodation chances undoubtedly it does happen - though I have no idea how much. You certainly cannot attempt to extract them from those numbers. Why? A substantial portion of single parents do not start off that way. They become single parents due to relationship failures.

[Not So Wise]

There are lots of studies show how mum and dad being married, (even if they don't actually live together) helps the children become more rounded individuals, achieve better in life etc. as compared to single parent families where the kids are off the rails, generally poorer health, shorter life expectancies, achieve less etc. etc.. These are statistical measurements, so some individuals will buck the trends.

So in general getting single people to pay for married couples is more like getting the criminals to pay for the damage they do to society.

Those types of studies, if looked at closely, are normally done by people trying to promote "traditional marriage", thus highly questionable. Marriage in this day and age is little more than a piece of paper, no different from a couple living together and raising the kids

Kids are turned into "well rounded individuals" if one or more parents has both the time and interest in raising such, nothing more nothing less

[Platypus]

Marriage in this day and age is little more than a piece of paper,

huge I.O.U.

To be cashed in whenever the missus feels a bit neglected