Singapore Sucks at Fixing Low Birth Rates
Wow what a massive improvement. Not
The Singapore Government is about to give 70 thousand dollars of childcare subsidies, per child. That sounds like a lot, no it isn't. Because just for a typical middle-class lifestyle, assuming you provide for the child until he's about age 22. Raising a child costs 300 to 500 thousand dollars.
So yea I doubt these additional measures will make much of a difference. I mean it's better to have it, it makes parents' lives suck slightly less. But not by much.
These recent childcare subsidies only cost about 1 billion a year. The Government has to spend way more money if you actually want to affect behavior. And that will only happen, if instead of 1 billion a year, you spend 5 to 10 billion a year on childcare.
That will actually be a dramatic improvement that will decrease your child-raising costs by 60 to 80% (instead of needing 400 thousand for a child's life , you'll only need to spend 150 thousand. Instead of having to spend 15 thousand a year, you just have to spend 5 thousand).
But the Government will never be able to afford 5 to 10 billion a year, unless they either increase taxes to the rich, or remove National service and cut military costs by half. Doing those things could generate at least 10 billion a year each. But no Singaporeans have the balls to propose that (except me). So the low birthrate problem continues.
And yes, you definitely should not have a child, until you're financially independent with a happy job. Even if you're rich, but you're rich because you're stuck in a miserable, overworked job, don't get kids. Miserable life breeds miserable kids.The experience of raising a kid then stops being an experience that brings you joy, but becomes a burden that increases you and your kids' suffering.