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I suspect that quite a few miners, and others in dangerous professions often feel very different about the compensation-to-risk ratio that their job entails once they get married and start a family, but feel trapped because they know that they can't make the same wages anywhere else, and have financial committments that preclude any kind of a career change.
I agree with your assessments; except the one above. I only pause at the assumption of getting trapped and not being able to make the same wages somewhere else. These are choices people make. Some decide to have kids before shaping their lives and careers around this decision. Some folks make financial commitments (I assume you mean take on debt) that were perhaps imprudent. Hey, we're all human. But lets not remove the individual decision making from the system that might later make a person feel trapped. I know you already know this, and my comments are only a small refinement on your commentary...