FacebookTwitter
Hatrack River Forum   
my profile login | search | faq | forum home

  next oldest topic   next newest topic
» Hatrack River Forum » Active Forums » Books, Films, Food and Culture » Land for Babies

   
Author Topic: Land for Babies
Godric 2.0
Member
Member # 11443

 - posted      Profile for Godric 2.0   Email Godric 2.0         Edit/Delete Post 
While we've been discussing hypothetical restriction on reproduction, an Austrian village is offering free land for those who promise to reproduce:

quote:
Plots of 800 and 900 square metres (8,611 to 9,687 square feet) are up for grabs at Rappottenstein, near the Czech border, to both singles and married couples who pledge to have at least one child in the next 10 years.
What happens if the couple turns out to be infertile? Do they have to pay for the land, then? Or can they adopt to fulfill the conditions?
Posts: 382 | Registered: Jan 2008  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
adenam
Member
Member # 11902

 - posted      Profile for adenam           Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
Singles also have get married. Other conditions stipulate that the new owners have to build a house on the plot in three years. If the conditions are not fulfilled, the owners will have to pay 12,000 euros (15163 dollars).
Don't you read you're own news stories?
Posts: 399 | Registered: Dec 2008  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Godric 2.0
Member
Member # 11443

 - posted      Profile for Godric 2.0   Email Godric 2.0         Edit/Delete Post 
Maybe I was unclear... My questions were meant to mean: What constitutes unfulfilled conditions? If a couple turns out to be infertile, it would seem to be a government sponsored offer discriminating against applicants based on genetic factors. I have no idea what the laws of Austria are like, but surely this would be illegal in the USA, no?
Posts: 382 | Registered: Jan 2008  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
rivka
Member
Member # 4859

 - posted      Profile for rivka   Email rivka         Edit/Delete Post 
I don't think it would be, no.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Godric 2.0
Member
Member # 11443

 - posted      Profile for Godric 2.0   Email Godric 2.0         Edit/Delete Post 
Also, what about a miscarriage? I assume it wouldn't fulfill the conditions, but then it would appear to punish the couple for their pain were they to unsuccessfully have a child by the end of the allotted time.

This just seems like such a bizarre idea to me. And, I think, highlights how dicey things get when the government starts trying to regulate reproduction (either limiting, or in this case, seemingly encouraging it).

Posts: 382 | Registered: Jan 2008  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
rivka
Member
Member # 4859

 - posted      Profile for rivka   Email rivka         Edit/Delete Post 
They do allow 10 years.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
scifibum
Member
Member # 7625

 - posted      Profile for scifibum   Email scifibum         Edit/Delete Post 
It's a little dicey, I guess. Doesn't seem overly problematic to me. In principle it's not different from child tax credits in the US.
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Annie
Member
Member # 295

 - posted      Profile for Annie   Email Annie         Edit/Delete Post 
I imagine they have contingencies built in for the minority of cases in which the couple can't conceive a child.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Mucus
Member
Member # 9735

 - posted      Profile for Mucus           Edit/Delete Post 
The village has an amazing 1,760 people. Methinks that this is more of a publicity stunt than a carefully weighed plan.
Posts: 7593 | Registered: Sep 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Lyrhawn
Member
Member # 7039

 - posted      Profile for Lyrhawn   Email Lyrhawn         Edit/Delete Post 
It's no different than the incentives Russia has been offering their citizens to have more children, in fact I think it's even less extreme.

At least one US state, North Dakota, has offered a number of incentives to get people to stay in or move to North Dakota due to a fairly large migration of people out of the state. Granted I don't think any of those incentives deal with reproduction, it still has to do with offering carrots to alter demographics that naturally some people will and won't be able to partake in.

I don't see anything wrong with this. People would know before they attempted it what the terms of the deal are, and if some sort of hardship befalls them, they knew the risks going in. Tragedy doesn't absolve you of responsibility when you knew that such a thing was possible. And as far as fairness, I don't really see what the argument would be. Offering incentives to have children isn't unfairly discriminatory to the infertile. If something requires a specific kind of person to perform a specific function, like that a stripper needs to meet certain body qualifications, it's not unfair to exclude obese people for not meeting them, because they couldn't do the job (well, maybe at SOME strip clubs).

There are too many real forms of modern unfair discrimination out there that deserve real attention, like the disparity in pay between women and men (and a host of other women related occupational issues), racial discrimination, or the lack of equality when it comes to paternity leave versus maternity leave after couples have a baby. That last one might be low on some peoples' scale of importance, but it bothers me personally so I tossed it in there.

Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
theamazeeaz
Member
Member # 6970

 - posted      Profile for theamazeeaz   Email theamazeeaz         Edit/Delete Post 
In the 1800s when the US was "giving away" land out west for settlers, you had to improve it in five years. People who failed to do so were kicked off that land. One famous example was the Wilders in the First Four Years.
Posts: 1757 | Registered: Oct 2004  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
beleaguered
Member
Member # 11983

 - posted      Profile for beleaguered           Edit/Delete Post 
I sure would like to find a deal like this. Is there any of this happening in Southern California by chance? . . .
Posts: 135 | Registered: Mar 2009  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Mucus
Member
Member # 9735

 - posted      Profile for Mucus           Edit/Delete Post 
I'm told that Detroit has land *plus* a house for the price of an episode of House on iTunes.
Posts: 7593 | Registered: Sep 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
fugu13
Member
Member # 2859

 - posted      Profile for fugu13   Email fugu13         Edit/Delete Post 
Yep. Of course, many of those properties have issues that would involve spending a lot of money for other purposes, but the purchase price would be low.

There are towns in Hokkaido (the northern island of Japan) offering people free land if you put up a house and make it your primary residence.

Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Lyrhawn
Member
Member # 7039

 - posted      Profile for Lyrhawn   Email Lyrhawn         Edit/Delete Post 
Yeah, you can't actually live in any of those $1 houses, but there are quite a few of them.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Raymond Arnold
Member
Member # 11712

 - posted      Profile for Raymond Arnold   Email Raymond Arnold         Edit/Delete Post 
Okay, am I missing something with this Detroit thing? I'm assuming it's a joke but I've seen it in multiple threads now.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Lyrhawn
Member
Member # 7039

 - posted      Profile for Lyrhawn   Email Lyrhawn         Edit/Delete Post 
I guess it being funny depends on who you are, but it's real. There are homes around here for sale for a dollar. Granted they're in a state of disrepair and would require a bit of money to make them habitable, but they are here and for sale. $2,000 can probably get you a home that you could live in, but it wouldn't be in a very good neighborhood.

On the news the other night they were saying that the average home in Detroit in the last 30 days sold for $7,000. It's not nearly that bad where I live, just outside of Detroit, but we get it on the news every night.

Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
fugu13
Member
Member # 2859

 - posted      Profile for fugu13   Email fugu13         Edit/Delete Post 
Also, they often have tax liens against them or the like. The sale price isn't a joke at all, though, and frequently they're still extremely cheap homes, even after the minimum necessary other expenditures.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Godric 2.0
Member
Member # 11443

 - posted      Profile for Godric 2.0   Email Godric 2.0         Edit/Delete Post 
Yep, I think I'd take a home in Detroit for $1 before I took free land for promising to have a baby...

The whole concept is still very strange to my mind.

[Dont Know]

Posts: 382 | Registered: Jan 2008  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
aspectre
Member
Member # 2222

 - posted      Profile for aspectre           Edit/Delete Post 
There's gotta be a catch. 10years is an awfully long time to wait for a barbeque.
Posts: 8501 | Registered: Jul 2001  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
DDDaysh
Member
Member # 9499

 - posted      Profile for DDDaysh   Email DDDaysh         Edit/Delete Post 
I think the catch is that you have to live in DETROIT! Maybe it's just my small town southern mind, but isn't that akin to living in, well, a war zone?
Posts: 1321 | Registered: Jun 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Lyrhawn
Member
Member # 7039

 - posted      Profile for Lyrhawn   Email Lyrhawn         Edit/Delete Post 
Only parts of it.

There's no comparison between Detroit and say, Baghdad. Our Green Zone is a lot more impressive.

Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
   

   Close Topic   Feature Topic   Move Topic   Delete Topic next oldest topic   next newest topic
 - Printer-friendly view of this topic
Hop To:


Contact Us | Hatrack River Home Page

Copyright © 2008 Hatrack River Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classic™ 6.7.2