Paying people to make babies is a losing strategy

This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a Presidential parade of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. Sign up here. The world is not makin’ enough whoopee [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a Presidential parade of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - The world is [not makin’ enough whoopee](. - The climate crisis means [we’re gonna need bigger carbon vacuum cleaners](. - Buyer’s remorse will start to hit [leveraged loan owners](. Can’t Buy Me Love Japan offers a textbook example of how falling fertility rates are creating an aging society. It’s a global phenomenon, with women marrying later in life and couples choosing to invest more money and time in fewer and fewer kids. But government spending on increased family allowances [is unlikely to reverse the demographic trend](, argues Gearoid Reidy. Even where child care is widely available — one in six households in Singapore employs a domestic helper, for example — fertility rates are poor. Addressing gender imbalances doesn’t seem to help, with Taiwan’s replacement rate below Japan’s even though it “hails itself as the most gender-equal society in Asia,” Gearoid says. And wealthier societies don’t encourage bigger families: While South Korea’s per-capita gross domestic product beats Japan’s, it has the world’s lowest fertility rate. “Japan, and the countries that inevitably go down the same path, cannot just hope to happen upon an unlikely policy cure-all that will restore fertility to baby-boomer levels,” writes Gearoid. “Spending should focus on preparing society for changes now inevitable — whether that’s in immigration to ease the decline in the labor force, or concentrating policy on helping those families who do desire children have as many as they want.” Vacuuming the Skies Direct air capture sucks carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Earlier this year, Switzerland’s Climeworks AG provided a certified carbon removal service to corporate clients — Microsoft Corp., Spotify Technology SA and Stripe Inc. — at its plant in Iceland, injecting the carbon dioxide several hundred meters underground into nearby basaltic rock formations where it will be permanently turned to stone. “Like other carbon removal technologies, DAC is no silver bullet, but it will be [an important technology for cleaning up legacy emissions](once we’ve managed to halt the flow of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere,” argues Lara Williams. Right now, reducing emissions is far more important than removing them, Lara notes. And DAC faces several challenges, including its high demand for the energy needed to run the facilities, the impact of high heat and humidity on the machinery and the upfront cost of building the plants. But in the long run, carbon removal will play a key role in addressing the climate crisis. “At the moment, there’s still a gap between what we’ll need and the capacity that’s currently in the pipeline,” Lara writes. “Scalability is on the carbon removal industry’s mind.” Bonus CO2 reading: Mother Nature has [the best climate-fixing technology](. — Amanda Little Telltale Charts As ultra-cheap money drove a manic hunt for yield in recent years, debt investors competing for a piece of new deals accepted [ever-weaker safeguards in loan contracts](. “Now is the time to start regretting this behavior,” argues Paul J. Davies. “Sharply higher interest rates and slowing economies are putting pressure on the cash flows of many of companies. Debt refinancing problems and complicated workouts are likely around the corner.” Further Reading [China’s debt noose]( risks strangling Pakistan. — Mihir Sharma Russia is losing in Ukraine. [But so is China](. — Minxin Pei [Nikki Haley’s endgame]( is obviously the White House. — Jonathan Bernstein Europe is where [ChatGPT gets regulated, not invented](. That’s something to regret. — Lionel Laurent ICYMI Russia and China have a stranglehold on [global food security](. [US President Joe Biden visited Ukraine](and has met with his counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv. International atomic monitors in Iran have detected [uranium enriched to 84% purity](, just below nuclear weapons-grade. Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. is launching [a subscription service called Meta Verified](that will include a handful of additional perks and features, including account verification badges for those who pay. Kickers Sacre bleu! The cost of preparing France’s traditional coq au vin dish has [risen to a record](. Goths are back. [Allegedly](. Notes:  Please send whoopee and complaints to Mark Gilbert at magilbert@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( | [Ad Choices]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022