Govt wants us to make more babies.
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Govt has been quite concerned about citizens not having enough children. Yes, the population has been aging fast and the birth rate, esp among the Chinese, has been declining (though it picked up a little around year 1990). However, people have more than enough reasons not to support this campaign.
Personally, like most Singaporeans these days, I have more reasons not to have children. Living expenses are getting higher every year. GST increase by 1%, bus fare increased over the last few years, etc sound insignificant to some. But to those who have a house/flat/apartment to maintain, a slight inflation to the power supply bill can be impactful. If we put all the expenses together, it can actually rip off a big portion of a person's salary.
To make things worse, Govt encouraged wage cut during bad times and even company restructuring (which is a nicer word for retrenchment). Some media keep reporting that the economy and job market are forecasted to pick up this year. But many employees are still not sure if they can keep the job the next day, if they do not lose the job today.
Having children is a big investment of a lifetime. In situation like this, nobody will want to make this kind of commitment. It's like making a huge investment, knowing that it's going to fail.
What if the parents lose their jobs tomorrow? What's going to happen to the children? Get help from community chest? Will the govt do anything if a child has no pocket money for school? Govt has suggested having child care centres for younger children (age less than 2 years old). Currently all the child care centres only accept children above 2 years old. This, no doubt, does help the working mothers. But still, Govt has not addressed the most essential part of bringing up children - MONEY. Baby bonus is just a one time thing. The money may seem attractive. But raising up a child costs a lot more than that.
And nobody has so far asked this question: Who benefits from citizens having more children? The parents or the govt? -
For your reading pleasure, a similar topic as per the link below.
http://www.sgforums.com/?action=thread_display&thread_id=67697 -
ask them to employ foreign talents who's good in giving birth to help increase the local population bah...
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The country.
Erm...
It's actually a pretty serious problem. Well, the effects of this campaign would only be seen around 25 years later. It has to do with the countries economic competitiveness in the future.
From what I heard from my friend's dad, there's a "another" reason for this birth campaign. What is worrying the government is actually the fact that Chinese people are having less babies. Looking at other races, you will find that their birth rates aren't that low (this I'm not too sure). I wouldn't want to state "the reason" for worry because it's sensitive to some people.
Regarding the economic pick up...It might be true. Well, at least PM Goh felt it in his bones. Hahahaha. Economy might be picking up also because DPM Lee is stepping in soon.
One thing that's hard to change would be the way some employers think. -
Any pea brained pigeons can tell u that to have more babies in times like this is slow suicide!
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this is not the first time gov mention it
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More sg babies so that next time when they grow up they can form the base of the pyramid so that foreign talents can come and order them around.. and trample on them while the ft's climb their way up up and up and also to fight for them and do NS for them... smart move eh.
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I want to make leh, but no one wan to make with me
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actually there is a catch over here when it comes to this campaign..in 15-20yrs time..mass withdrawal of CPF monies when more ppl retires..which means excessive liquidity (money Supply) in the economy..will bid down exchange rate of singapore dollar..possible inflationary effects could be felt due to excess liquidity in the market..when exchange rate bidded down..will lead to government( the MAS) to try to buy back all this excess singapore dollars in the forex market using our 80 billion foreign reserves (which is USD) to bid up exchange rate once more...well..it goes on.pretty long story.cld well be a long thesis..
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so the moral of the story from govt's point of view is maybe to have more babies so that there will be more singaporeans contributing to the CPF so that the govt can have surplus funds to monitor the exchanage rate (which has wider implications such as long term competitiveness in our exports and imported inflation as well...etc).when govt have the CPF monies..they can use it to purchase US dollars with our monies and use them to make investments overseas (previously such as suzhou industrail park ..etc a;; by the GIC)..not only that..they can also use the CPF monies to regulate the exchange rate by reinjecting more or less liquidity into the economy by buying or selling SGD over the forex market
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as much as i would like to make babies in future with the woman that i love..i wld rather hold back my decision and probably help the economy by having more "fun"
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Yes.. amazing isn't it... in times where lots of cut backs are being enforced, certainly it would be financial suicide to have more babies.
Even more ironic is the push to make its citizens more finacially independant and responsible by cutting on CPF etc which to me says plan your own future carefully... live on what u can earn whilst saving for yr own retirement and health needs.....and yet they encourage its people to commit virtual financial suicide by having more babies.... Doesn't seem financially viable to me.
All the same I will not give up trying for the cause as I strongly encourage the act of making more babies (more sex !!!).... but strictly with the best birth control pills or condoms!!!! -
Honeybunz,
You know, it appears we can gripe all we want, but our government will still stick to their "we know what's good for you" attitude.
I think things will change when they've to eventually implement a new campaign - called the "Citizenship Retention Bonus".
Apart from high costs of living, the education system here is a nightmare. To top it off, what jobs are we left with when our kids finally graduates from the University???
Meantime, yada yada yada yada....keep on rollin' bros! -
They want us to make more (babies) with less (money)?
Does that make sense?
They can exhort all they want, and tell us what joy a baby will give, but in the end, if potential parents do not see a good life for themselves and their offspring, which is a very real possibility here in Singapore, few will listen.
The fact is that costs of living and asset values continue to remain high if not continually climbing, the young are saddled with debt (some of their own making, some not) from a young age while prospects diminish, paychecks shrink and quality of life suffers even as the value of Singapore citizenship is devalued by government policies, the birthrate will only head in one direction. And its not up
My wife and I plan to have kids all right, 2 in fact. Just not in Singapore. -
I truly hope the government comes in here, and read all these postings between the lines, and come up with a solution that is more financially sensible, and make all other necessary amendments. Unless it is revenue that's more of a concern to them.
Looks to me, it's a daunting task for them, as this doesn't just concern money, but the general costs of making a living and all the other policies that are sending birth rates down hill in a very swift fashion.
When people are saying they are going to have children in some other country, it should be VERY CLEAR to them what the problem is.
C-O-S-T-S!!!!!!!! For crying out loud!! -
How to if we got no porn to learn from?
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so porn should be unbanned for the sake of future generations...Originally posted by ditzy:How to if we got no porn to learn from? 
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The cheapening of sex to a purely physical act by pornography will end up lowering, and not raise the birth rate as people become more loose and treat such activity as a norm without all the trappings of a stable relationship in which a child can be raised. Of course, all the social problems associated with reckless sexual behaviour that come with the right to be perverse is also another thing to think about.
Tightening controls or the abolishing of abortion is a far more effective solution, after all, 30,000 plus babies are murdered in our nation every year, more then enough to plug the birth gap. -
Its not just costs Shutterbug, its the quality of life that the average Singaporean with no connections/affiliation to the Party. Its the attitudes of the so-called "silent majority" which is often used by the Party as an excuse not to move beyond their 1960s/70s mentality.Originally posted by ShutterBug:I truly hope the government comes in here, and read all these postings between the lines, and come up with a solution that is more financially sensible, and make all other necessary amendments. Unless it is revenue that's more of a concern to them.
Looks to me, it's a daunting task for them, as this doesn't just concern money, but the general costs of making a living and all the other policies that are sending birth rates down hill in a very swift fashion.
When people are saying they are going to have children in some other country, it should be VERY CLEAR to them what the problem is.
C-O-S-T-S!!!!!!!! For crying out loud!! -
Of course, if general costs of living in Singapore can be reduced in any percentage, just so long as it is downards, quality of life will improve - but only as much as the reduction allows. But I don't see that this is something very likely to be possible.
It is the stress of making ends meet here in SG that turning people uglier by the year. How to be Gracious, when bills are piling up faster than you can work to pay them? How to be Courteous, when you need to be in the habit of beating others to stay competent in the professional world? After so many years of Courtesy Campaign, do we see commuters standing aside for passengers to alight from the MRT before boarding themselves? No. It's me out first, and me in first. All at once!
This just simply shows, how people are molded by the No Second Chance policies we have to live by here, in SG.
The saying; "You are what you eat." can be this similarly modified to; "You are, the type of government you have/support." By saying this, I do not mean that I don't appreciate what our government has done for us; housing for all, medical facilities, and the low crime rates as well as the ability to walk around at night without the need of a registered hand gun for self-protection like in New York. All I am saying, is that some policies they have in place can do with some adjustments. And contradicting as it may sound, I am glad to be living safely in Singapore, but then again, I wish I am elsewhere where making a living does not give me high blood pressure and all the other illnesses that comes with too much stress.
I could go on rambling, but it will be more or less the same old Top 10 song we're all singing here with regards to Birth rates and life in Singapore.
Regards to all... -
Are YOU going to take care of every Single one of them? Where did you get your statistics from?Originally posted by SingaporeTyrannosaur:Tightening controls or the abolishing of abortion is a far more effective solution, after all, 30,000 plus babies are murdered in our nation every year, more then enough to plug the birth gap.
30,000 sounds far too many given the fact that our female population 15-30 is probably about 750,000. -
it is not a slow suicide.Originally posted by Skinhead:Any pea brained pigeons can tell u that to have more babies in times like this is slow suicide!
it might be the demise of the human race but then again who said that it's a bad thing?
http://www.vhemt.org/ -
Making Babies is the Easy part.
We, the newer generation, are smart enough to realize that Taking care of babies is the difficult part. -
AzReal,
Yeah - because of the COSTS.
I still say it all boils down to costs, apart from those policies, and the maternity Benefits for working mothers.
These don't change, they will have to turn to Foreign Talents for more babies. I bet! -
perhaps government shd considering start pegging promotion with babies in civil services as an example for private co to follow jus like procreation incentives and oso give incentives to co with higher babies rate