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Babies a drag on the economy, report says
http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,27753,24134255-5017313,00.html ^

Posted on 08/06/2008 1:42:02 PM PDT by traumer

FORGET those plans to have a third child for the country because further increases in the birth rate could harm the economy, the nation's productivity watchdog has warned.

A major analysis of the nation's increasing fertility rate said it was at its highest level for 25 years - but the Productivity Commission yesterday warned further increases may aggravate rather than solve the problem of the ageing of the population.

This is because it will shift women out of the workforce while they care for babies, depressing labour supply and reducing the taxation base as our population ages, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The small number of extra babies born would make little difference to the rate of population ageing, the commission said.

And the women having the babies would be exacerbating the financial impacts on the government of the ageing of the population because the tax breaks offered to parents to have children occur up front, while the cost savings of a bigger working population and bigger tax base from extra children are deferred until they are of working age.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...


TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: abortion; australia; birthrate; clueless; drag; economy; moralabsolutes; populationcontrol; productivety; prolife
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1 posted on 08/06/2008 1:42:02 PM PDT by traumer
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To: traumer

Isn’t socialism grand.


2 posted on 08/06/2008 1:43:46 PM PDT by KansasGirl ( b/c Obama is just creepy.)
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To: NYer; wagglebee; monkapotamus; All

Wagglebee I think this story be in your pro life list


3 posted on 08/06/2008 1:45:48 PM PDT by SevenofNine ("We are Freepers, all your media belong to us, resistence is futile")
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To: traumer
This is because it will shift women out of the workforce while they care for babies, depressing labour supply and reducing the taxation base as our population ages, the Daily Telegraph reported.

It's always about the revenue...

4 posted on 08/06/2008 1:46:21 PM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner ("We must not forget that there is a war on and our troops are in the thick of it!"--Duncan Hunter)
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To: KansasGirl
Gotta have all adults in the family slaving away to pay their “fair share” of taxes —never mind about creating and nurturing future tax payers —naw, we need in the work force NOW! We need to confiscate 50% of your income NOW!

We need to give the money to those poor, underprivileged SAHM on welfare, doncha know....after all, their vote counts as much as yours, slave...

5 posted on 08/06/2008 1:46:47 PM PDT by duckbutt (Those who pay no taxes have no check on their appetite for services.)
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To: traumer

Have some cheese with that whine!!! Argh!!

It would be much BETTER for our economy if there were more babies and moms staying home. The government will have to adjust. This country is FOR the people, not FOR the government.


6 posted on 08/06/2008 1:46:55 PM PDT by TruthConquers (Delendae sunt publici scholae)
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To: traumer

Demographics decides the victor.


7 posted on 08/06/2008 1:47:20 PM PDT by Brian S. Fitzgerald
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To: traumer

Funny how governments stand behind a woman’s right to choose when it comes to abortion, but not when it comes to a woman’s right to choose to have more children.


8 posted on 08/06/2008 1:48:37 PM PDT by Sergio (If a tree fell on a mime in the forest, would he make a sound?)
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To: Brian S. Fitzgerald

Idiots! Soon the gov. won’t even HAVE a tax base if everyone raises one child or none at all.


9 posted on 08/06/2008 1:50:37 PM PDT by Pete98 (After his defeat by the Son of God, Satan changed his name to Allah and started over.)
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To: traumer

This is insanity. Sure, women out of the workforce might affect labor availability, but raising those babies costs money that is spent in the economy—clothes, medical, food, etc. I’ve never heard of anything so stupid in my life.


10 posted on 08/06/2008 1:51:10 PM PDT by DallasDeb ((a.k.a. USAFA2006Mom!))
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To: traumer

When these people look at you, they see an annuity, not a person.


11 posted on 08/06/2008 1:55:22 PM PDT by LearsFool ("Thou shouldst not have been old, till thou hadst been wise.")
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To: traumer
You are obsolete!!!
12 posted on 08/06/2008 1:56:08 PM PDT by 4yearlurker (Any day above ground is a good day.)
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To: traumer

A drag in the immediate term perhaps, as they consume a lot of resources and produce nothing. But what would happen to the economy in the long term if everybody stopped having kids?


13 posted on 08/06/2008 1:57:05 PM PDT by lesser_satan (Cthulu '08! Why vote for the lesser evil?)
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

Well, it’s about the revenue,

AND

the destruction of the traditional family, of course.


14 posted on 08/06/2008 1:57:40 PM PDT by MrB (You can't reason people out of a position that they didn't use reason to get into in the first place)
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To: Jersey Republican Biker Chick

Freerider ping?


15 posted on 08/06/2008 1:57:50 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows (~ ~ FREE LAZAMATAZ! ~ ~ [Shipping and handling charges may apply.])
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To: traumer

Why don’t the members of the Productivity Commission put their money where their mouths are.


16 posted on 08/06/2008 2:00:03 PM PDT by dfwgator ( This tag blank until football season.)
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To: MrB
The destruction of the traditional *Christian* family, of course.

What will fill the void? Starts with an "I"...

17 posted on 08/06/2008 2:00:21 PM PDT by Brian S. Fitzgerald
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To: traumer

Australian government busybody should study the cost and carbon footprint of faulty government studies.


18 posted on 08/06/2008 2:00:23 PM PDT by bajabaja
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To: traumer
Productivity Commission yesterday warned further increases may aggravate rather than solve the problem of the ageing of the population.

This might be the stupidest thing I've ever read.

19 posted on 08/06/2008 2:00:28 PM PDT by TheWasteLand
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To: traumer

Damn morons!


20 posted on 08/06/2008 2:01:35 PM PDT by gridlock (Barack Obama is the Sanjaya Malakar of American Politics...)
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To: lesser_satan
But what would happen to the economy in the long term if everybody stopped having kids?

I think Japan will show us in 20-30 years.

21 posted on 08/06/2008 2:02:01 PM PDT by dan1123 (If you want to find a person's true religion, ask them what makes them a "good person".)
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To: duckbutt
never mind about creating and nurturing future tax payers —naw, we need in the work force NOW! We need to confiscate 50% of your income NOW!

YES! Nanny government needs to get on the stick and make it mandatory that all children are born already 16 years old and ready to work (pay).

22 posted on 08/06/2008 2:02:31 PM PDT by subterfuge (BUILD MORE NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS NOW!!!)
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To: duckbutt
never mind about creating and nurturing future tax payers —naw, we need in the work force NOW! We need to confiscate 50% of your income NOW!

YES! Nanny government needs to get on the stick and make it mandatory that all children are born already 16 years old and ready to work (pay).

23 posted on 08/06/2008 2:02:52 PM PDT by subterfuge (BUILD MORE NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS NOW!!!)
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To: traumer
This is because it will shift women out of the workforce while they care for babies, depressing labour supply and reducing the taxation base as our population ages, the Daily Telegraph reported.

As if your sole purpose for existing is to make money for the government to take !

Up theirs !

Have lots of children, families are the only thing in life really worth having.

24 posted on 08/06/2008 2:02:57 PM PDT by Red Boots
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To: traumer

Note that this analysis assumes that the worth of a person in society is completely summed up by the amount of tax revenue they pay. The purpose of the individual, in this analysis, is to support the state, and nothing more.

This is an accurate reflection of what the modern socialistic state thinks of the citizens.


25 posted on 08/06/2008 2:03:57 PM PDT by gridlock (Barack Obama is the Sanjaya Malakar of American Politics...)
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To: Red Boots

Consider your children to be arrows in your quiver.

Psa 127:3-5


26 posted on 08/06/2008 2:08:07 PM PDT by MrB (You can't reason people out of a position that they didn't use reason to get into in the first place)
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To: traumer
babies aren't a drag on the economy. Of course if your talking about babies born to teenage sluts who have babies out of wedlock to go on welfare that's another story. But none of them wanted to work for a living anyway.

The other problem is that liberals don't want new jobs and apartments to be created because it will spoil the environment. So now we have a surplus population with no place to go.

They should replace the title, Democrats are a drag on the economy. That would sound more logical.

27 posted on 08/06/2008 2:08:49 PM PDT by mainestategop (MAINE: Come in and get taxed)
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To: TruthConquers

the article is about australia’s economy.


28 posted on 08/06/2008 2:09:35 PM PDT by Crystal Cove
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To: MrB

“...it’s about the destruction of the traditional family, of course.”
_________________________________
Of course....(sigh)


29 posted on 08/06/2008 2:10:16 PM PDT by cowdog77
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To: traumer

With few exceptions, those having more than two or three children are the very poor who are not working anyway.....


30 posted on 08/06/2008 2:11:17 PM PDT by WhyisaTexasgirlinPA (It's the Vast Wright Wing Conspiracy - labeling all whites as racist.)
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To: traumer

I was thinking about the post-feminist effect of women in the work force. It would seem to me that the overall effect has been to depress wages for families making it generally harder to maintain two parent families. Economic stability is not just based on the ability to find cheap labor and provide a tax base. That is the flaw of socialism. It is not about increasing quality of life it is about increasing the available funds to the growing bureaucracy and those who control the bureaucracy. Any bureaucrat that sees growing his or her tax base as their function should be dealt with harshly.

I have four kids and I consider it my finger to the modern world to have even more. I’ll make as much money and have as many kids as I want. My wife stays home and home schools not because she has to but because we together decided it was better for the kids. I’ll teach each of those kids how to shoot and how to be skeptical of those who want to raise taxes and grow government. Fighting the collective should be the badge of honor for every red blooded conservative. We do not have to accept the idiocy of those who’d have families fatherless and fathers emasculated. The world does not have to be the way it is becoming. Weakness is not a virtue. Being a victim is not a blessing deserving of compensation from those who did not victimize.


31 posted on 08/06/2008 2:11:20 PM PDT by Maelstorm
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To: lesser_satan

nowhere in the article does it say people should stop having kids.


32 posted on 08/06/2008 2:11:46 PM PDT by Crystal Cove
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To: Crystal Cove
the article is about Australia’s economy

Well yeah that explains it but I thought Australia and other "enlightened" countries were going into decline. So what's with that?

33 posted on 08/06/2008 2:12:05 PM PDT by mainestategop (MAINE: Come in and get taxed)
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To: cowdog77

More people need to recognize this and CALL THE LIBS ON IT.

The thing that makes me the maddest about the whole con/lib and culture war is our capitulation to fighting it on their terms -

letting them fight their battle under cover without exposing what they are trying to do.

This allows them to say that THEY are in the “neutral” position while WE are the “extremists”.


34 posted on 08/06/2008 2:16:50 PM PDT by MrB (You can't reason people out of a position that they didn't use reason to get into in the first place)
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To: traumer

But jihad babies from Muslim polygamists in the UK would still be OK?


35 posted on 08/06/2008 2:17:01 PM PDT by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
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To: Maelstorm

A dad after my own heart.
Handshakes to you, brother.


36 posted on 08/06/2008 2:19:39 PM PDT by MrB (You can't reason people out of a position that they didn't use reason to get into in the first place)
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To: traumer

Children are a complete waste of time. After you start on them they aren’t doing anything useful for at least 18 years. Sure at around ten years they can check your tire pressure, but even then they aren’t all that useful because they are more likely to deflate your tires and waste gas than to check it properly. < /sarcasm>


37 posted on 08/06/2008 2:21:48 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (Whale oil: the renewable biofuel for the 21st century.)
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To: Jersey Republican Biker Chick; Allegra; Tijeras_Slim

FreeRider Ping?


38 posted on 08/06/2008 2:22:38 PM PDT by Hoodlum91 (I support global warming.)
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To: traumer
"Babies a drag on the economy"

-Productivity Commission, 2008

"Jews a drag on the economy"

- Wannsee Conference, 1942

I wonder if the Aussies might have a final solution in mind.

39 posted on 08/06/2008 2:28:08 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: Crystal Cove

It says kids are a drag on the economy. My point of contention is that NOT having kids is a BIGGER drag on the economy, at least long-term.


40 posted on 08/06/2008 2:29:07 PM PDT by lesser_satan (Cthulu '08! Why vote for the lesser evil?)
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To: traumer

What a load of tripe. I am willing to bet the study was conducted by people either too repulsive or too socially inept to procreate.


41 posted on 08/06/2008 2:36:59 PM PDT by GulfBreeze (Vote for John McCain along with Tom DeLay, John Cornyn and the majority of conservatives.)
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To: Allegra; JimWforBush; martin_fierro; Jersey Republican Biker Chick; najida; Tijeras_Slim; ...

FREERIDER PING!!!!


42 posted on 08/06/2008 2:48:41 PM PDT by Jersey Republican Biker Chick (Some days it is not worth chewing through the restraints.)
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To: traumer

White Christians having that third child (or more) gets in the way of the Muslim demographic takeover the Left seems to yearn for. Why would that be? After all, Muslims are seemingly against most liberal causes (like equal rights for women & gays). The answer, quite simply, is that Muslims are more easily led than freethinking peoples. If an Imam can convince someone to be a suicide bomber, convincing them to pay higher taxes should be a piece of cake.


43 posted on 08/06/2008 3:05:00 PM PDT by rbg81 (DRAIN THE SWAMP!!)
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To: traumer; SevenofNine; 230FMJ; 50mm; 69ConvertibleFirebird; Aleighanne; Alexander Rubin; ...
Moral Absolutes Ping!

Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.

FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
[ Add keyword moral absolutes to flag FR articles to this ping list ]


44 posted on 08/06/2008 4:05:19 PM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: traumer

This is really amazing, considering that during some of the most prosperous decades in American history, most women *never* entered the work force and the average family had more children than it does today.

Oh and where’s the study showing the much larger carbon footprint for a woman in the labor force than being home with her children? Where are the libs with that info? (crickets chirping...)


45 posted on 08/06/2008 4:20:14 PM PDT by Zechariah_8_13 (The golden rule can't operate through a government program, it can only work between people.)
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To: WhyisaTexasgirlinPA
With few exceptions, those having more than two or three children are the very poor who are not working anyway.....

Do you have a source for that?
46 posted on 08/06/2008 4:23:19 PM PDT by Zechariah_8_13 (The golden rule can't operate through a government program, it can only work between people.)
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To: WhyisaTexasgirlinPA

I wouldn’t say *few* exceptions. I know a fair number of families with more than 3 kids and they’re all hard working productive members of society.

That being said, the government needs to stop paying welfare for babies once the women get past one. Cut off the cash flow and you’ll see the number of welfare babies drop like a rock.


47 posted on 08/06/2008 4:26:37 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: traumer

I try to be charitable,but I guess this is one of those times when my sense charity is failing.

What a %^$#ing idiot.


48 posted on 08/06/2008 6:08:37 PM PDT by RKBA Democrat (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!)
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To: dan1123

Japan? Look at Italy today, and the rest of EU.


49 posted on 08/06/2008 6:47:24 PM PDT by huldah1776 ( Worthy is the Lamb)
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To: Zechariah_8_13

Sure - here is one: http://www.cis.org/articles/2005/back1105.html


50 posted on 08/06/2008 8:57:16 PM PDT by WhyisaTexasgirlinPA (It's the Vast Wright Wing Conspiracy - labeling all whites as racist.)
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