When there were too few babies

Morose article on the consequences of China's one child policy more than thirty years later. Reads like a zero sum game of trading one form of misery for another. In other words, the challenge of managing population was never successfully overcome.

Those who in their easy living conveniently forget that eventually children by design or accident become your pension plan just need to look to China.

An old friend story about divorcing her husband forces me to leave the forest for the trees. So much of what she told me was was about how to successfully cope with old age and sickness especially when she felt that she couldn't count on her kids. These days many of them could barely look after themselves notwithstanding their parents. People will learn the hard way that retirement was the privilege of demographic luck that had just ran out. Most of us will have to be economically active for as long as possible. I hope you enjoy your work till the end, otherwise it is still a lesser evil than joblessness.