Stay at Home vs. Work Debate

I don't disagree with most of your post. The upper income people can afford exceptional childcare if they so desire, or have one spouse sah. The dual working middle class family are squeezed on whether a job or sah is more cost effective in regards to their family, in re emergency funds, adequate health insurance, college savings, retirement funds or otherwise just making ends meet.

I am unsure about your last point. Why would the working poor who need subsidized childcare and housing get more "free time"?

"The poor get free child care, free health insurance, free housing, free money, and they get free time."

While child care, health insurance, housing, etc., are free/low cost for the poor, I wouldn't call any of them high quality and the choices are much more limited than either the middle class or the upper class has. And I don't know where the poor would get free time. They spend all their time getting from one place to another. They go from dc to work to dc to the corner store (because there isn't a grocery store near them) to the laundry mat several blocks away because their apt building doesn't have a laundry room. And all of this using public transportation because they don't have a car. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/17/AR2009051702053.html

Chris

I am not sure the poor get as much free stuff as you think they do, and you have to be really poor to get any free stuff, as far as I know. There are plenty of people who do not qualify for any assistance, or for very limited assistance (like maybe CHIP for the kids), and who have trouble paying for childcare.

Other than that, I agree with you that many people are being seriously squeezed and that many women who choose to SAH do so because it simply would not pay for them to work and shell out for DC or because the DC they can afford is sub-standard.