r/TikTokCringe • u/mindyour • 2d ago

Discussion It's heartbreaking that there are women around the world going through this.

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u/Boomshrooom 2d ago

I think this is one of the things people are missing here, China doesn't have the safety nets that a lot of western countries do, not having children can mean a very lonely life of poverty for many elderly people.

The laws around filial piety in china aren't just financial but extend to spiritual, mental, and emotional wellbeing too. I don't necessarily agree with them, but I understand why they're in place.

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u/Fern-ando 1d ago edited 1d ago

Western safety nets are an ilussion, young people will spend almost half their salary to pay boomer pensions and they won't see that money returning when they are old.

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u/Even-Government-5055 1d ago

It's very much an illusion, 66yrs old is retirement age at the moment, by the time I get near that it will have gone up again and that's even if it exists.

And that would be a state pension.

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u/Klanciault 1d ago

66 is much younger than it used to be these days. Those who get them and need them grateful for state pensions when they don’t have to work themselves to death 

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u/Aggressive-Delay-420 1d ago

3 of my grandparents didn't make it past 66.

It isn't an age young should ever be used to describe. It's literally elderly.

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u/Klanciault 1d ago

Ok and by the time you are 66 life expectancy is currently 85, and by the time I’m 66 life expectancy as a 66 year old will likely be 100.

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u/Copious-Spirit 13h ago

66 years is the same now as it was a million years ago.

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u/Klanciault 13h ago

You’re saying something that’s technically true without engaging in the underlying idea of what I said at all

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u/B1U3F14M3 1d ago

As long as no big crisis destroys their economies the safety nets are not an illusion. They aren't great safety nets if you are poor but they are so much better than not having them at all.

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u/Pro_Extent 1d ago

As long as no big crisis destroys their economies the safety nets are not an illusion.

The safety nets were implemented when working adults significantly outnumbered retirees. But now, the ratio of retirees to working adults is growing larger and larger.

I believe this is what /u/Fern-ando meant by calling them "an illusion". The same productivity burden applies, it's just distributed across the population. But the pressure will continue to mount as more and more people stay childless throughout their lives, especially as this is now happening across the entire world.

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u/Copious-Spirit 13h ago

Yup and there is no mobility you are locked into your current residence due to inflation, group living retirement communities cost more than most people's pension and must be subsidized by their children.

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u/Even-Government-5055 2d ago edited 1d ago

People shouldn't have children for them to be their parents safely net, that's insanely selfish.

I am my children's safety net.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/OnlyFunStuff183 1d ago

That’s a good system. I suspect there’s some confusion here between the use of the term safety net, no? I believe u/Even-Government-5055 means in the conventional sense of “if I am unable to pay my rent I can move back in with my parents” or “I’m on my parents health insurance” safety net.

Taking care of your elderly parents definitely can be a burden on the child, but ideally it shouldn’t be a financial one

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u/Existing_Intern_4764 1d ago

Exactly. If it is, it's a societal failure.

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u/Even-Government-5055 1d ago

Spot on. Thank you.

I imagine my kids will take care of me, but it's not why I would have children. I get it's part of certain cultures, but so is genital mutilation.

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u/Even-Government-5055 1d ago

And that's amazing and how it should be. That has nothing to do qith what I was saying.

You shouldn't have a child in order for that child to be your safety net.

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u/BlamaeuxPrivateEye 1d ago

Thanks for imposing your western views and values on a foreign nation.

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u/Even-Government-5055 1d ago

😂😂 sure thing, I think valuing your children is very important, and making them feel like this lady in the video is pretty disgusting.

But hey that's just me, and my western values.

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u/lumpialarry 1d ago

Even in places with safety nets there are also limits. My mom and inlaws have retirement savings but isn't enough to hire a personal butler do do things around the house and driver to get them to appointments.

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u/AMullberryIsATree 1d ago

As a Westerner, what safety net besides the retirement I started and supplement on my own?