Thread

1. pydry · 1790806507 · focus · HN ↗

   this is their third attempt at a government run dating service I think :/

   it's low key kind of funny how they keep reaching for the quick fix to their collapsed birth rates instead of changing the things that would cost real money or make them less desirable to foreign investors.

   1. aw4rzs · 1790808660 · focus · HN ↗

      What things could Singapore change to fix their birth rates? Empirically, nothing that any country is trying is working.

      1. PorciiVorbesc · 1790809893 · focus · HN ↗

         >nothing that any country is trying is working.

         Because most countries aren't actually trying anything nor can the government do much in that regard when the issues are cultural and emotional.

         The low-birthrate couples who can't/don't want kids aren't suddenly gonna want them if you give them 3 months of paid maternity leave and a monthly stipend or other such welfare perks.

         And those who do have kids because of government welfare perks, were having kids anyway, they're now incentivized to have even more.

         1. mrguyorama · 1790898569 · focus · HN ↗

            I know a fuckload of women who would happily bear children if you gave $15 an hour for 40 hours a week for it. The only thing stopping me personally from taking that deal is a lack of a uterus, and I don't even want to have kids.

            Reagan spent years screaming about "Welfare queens" who were supposedly doing just that for a pittance in comparison, so it sure is funny how many people now insist that it can't even be possible, since so many people were so convinced it was happening for $400 a month in food stamps, at scale.

            I also know a lot of women who wanted kids but couldn't afford it without, essentially, a tech industry husband. Or people like my sister, who has made raising kids her life's work since she was 16 but couldn't afford to have kids herself until she fell ass backwards into a nearly free house, from her now husbands family.

            Everyone in my large friend group who wanted to start a family, literally wanted the traditional family structure and setup and "being a dad", had to wait a decade to get a home and a career that supported it. This includes the fact that having a child without good enough healthcare to support it or getting unlucky means medical bankruptcy.

            It's not culture that people with lower understanding of finances and risk have kids still when having a kid is a serious drain on your finances. It's "duh".

            If you want people who have an educated and mature understanding of risk to take that risk, it has to be worth it. Suck it up. You don't get to benefit from an uneducated populace anymore.

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.