Business Group Urges Japanese to Boink more often, for the sake of the economy

[marmar]

Japanese Must Have More Sex for Economy’s Sake: William Pesek
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Commentary by William Pesek


Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Jim Rogers probably didn’t set out to make 500 bankers blush at a recent conference in Seoul. The well- known investor did just that when he encouraged South Koreans to have more babies.

“Anyone who hasn’t done it, I urge you to get home and get on with it” said Rogers, chairman of Singapore-based Rogers Holdings, who co-founded the Quantum Fund with George Soros in the 1970s. He joked that folks should take a day off, if necessary.

Urging Koreans to procreate is about more than Rogers’s love of parenthood: Korea needs to increase its birth rate for the sake of the economy. So do Japan and other key Asian nations, he said.

South Korea’s birth rate (1.2 children per couple) is the second lowest in the world after Hong Kong, according to a recent United Nations report. Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan all have lower birth rates than North Korea.

Such demographic trends are a widening crack in Asia’s potential. Nowhere is this issue more acute than in Japan. And if Rogers made Koreans blush, he annoyed some Japanese in 2006 when he said: “If the current birth rate, which is the lowest in the major developed countries, continues, there will be no Japanese. Who will pay the enormous debt?”

That question, demographically minded investors like Rogers will be happy to hear, is suddenly getting more traction in Tokyo. Keidanren, Japan’s biggest business organization, is urging its 1,632 member companies to encourage employees to have more sex. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aIHYcaDedTlg&refer=home

[SoCalDem]

1. "It's the economy , stupid"

They have economy issues too..and their society takes care of their elders.. Elders live quite long lives these days, so I can understand why a 30-40-something woman with a job outside the home, who may be taking care of 3-4 old people and a child of her own, may just not be longing to have 2 or 3 more..

[mrreowwr_kittty]

4. Notice how it's nearly always men pushing the pro-natalism. nt

[Nay]

6. Well, of course. They don't have to do any of the work -- before, during

or after the birth.

[ck4829]

2. Well... at least it's not "Borrow and spend! Borrow and spend!"

[panader0]

3. Bankers boink?

[JVS]

5. Maybe it's an issue of technique rather than frequency.

[Art_from_Ark]

7. In Japan, maybe it's more an issue of costing at least $100,000

to raise one child to adulthood (that is, to the age of 20) in usually cramped conditions (an 800-square foot house is considered spacious accommodation). Or maybe it's one of women deciding that they'd rather stay single and continue to work and spend all their money on overpriced junk for themselves. Or maybe men deciding they'd rather stay single and spend their money on themselves. Or maybe a combination of the above.

[Qibing Zero]

8. Well, excuse them for being socially responsible

and not contributing to overpopulation!

Wait, these are bankers we're talking about. 'Socially responsible' - what was I thinking? :rofl: