[Paleopsych] LRC: Sabine Barnhart: Germany's Population Decline

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Sabine Barnhart: Germany's Population Decline
http://www.lewrockwell.com/barnhart/barnhart31.html
5.4.29

    Contradictions occur when truth clashes with thinking that purports to
    be rational. It results in behaviors whose consequences are opposite
    from what a policy or a thought process originally intended would
    happen. This is also known as the "law of unintended consequences."
    The policy maker or planner often compromises with societys misguided
    ideas by endorsing behaviors that are actually damaging to society.

    Societies will pressure its elected representatives into legitimizing
    lifestyles that often have a reverse affect on the productivity of its
    nation. People feel then entitled to receive its cake which the
    politicians have baked, but yet continue to bemoan the system when
    there is no delivery and continue to bemoan its taste and keep sending
    it back to the kitchen for another try upon try.

    Their short-term vision cannot see future failures of their
    philosophy. Governments, who are placed on their throne by the will of
    the people, will enforce these irrational policies on its citizens.
    Government policies in cooperation with the majority voices of its
    society create more poverty and hubris with their legislations if one
    takes a closer look at statistics. The data is a visible outcry of an
    alarming crisis in their economic and social arena of their countries.

    Germany is currently finding itself in such a crisis. With a birth
    rate of 8.45 per 1000 people in 2004 (down from 9.35 in 2000), its
    82.5 million population is aging quickly. Along with its higher death
    rate than birth rate, Germany finds itself at a net population drop of
    143,000 people in 2004. Even if Germany intends to fill the gap with
    an influx of immigration from the East through its attractive welfare
    system, it cannot keep up with the reality that people are not
    reproducing at a rate that would keep their social security system
    from breaking apart.

    Although attempts are made to import highly skilled workers, Germany
    is currently finding itself in an immigration mess which places
    Germanys Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, under pressure due to his
    lax visa regulations allowing thousands of immigrants from Ukraine to
    enter the country in 2000 through 2003. His political opposition is
    claiming an increase in illegal workers and rise in criminal activity.

    Unemployment, which in February 2005 stood at 10.4%, presents an
    additional obstacle for those people who wish to start a family. Job
    stimulation is restricted by governments interference of placing too
    many demands and high taxes on its businesses. Social welfare has to
    be supported as well as the motivation to increase population. And
    yet, the businesses and industries that could provide employment for
    its people is being punished and restricted by labor laws and labor
    unions, forcing businesses to move to countries in the East where
    taxes are lower.

    Capital that is essential for economic growth, is diverted to support
    policies that in the long run will drain it further and suffocate any
    chance for a substantially growing economy, thus endangering the
    incentives for production and damaging the chances of those stuck on
    the bottom rung of the economic latter. The uncertainty of this shaky
    policy instills a fear in every second German of losing his job with
    an increase of mental depression in its population.

    The German government has spent already over 150 Million Euros on
    family issues trying to raise the birth rate. Since 1964 the birth
    rate fell from 1.4 Million to 700,000 each year showing a consistent
    40-year pattern that the government has not been able to break with
    policies. Its incentive to financially reward average income parents
    with two children by adding approximately 2000 Euros each year to
    their paycheck is not enough to instill the desire to marry and have
    children.

    Another consistent pattern appears in a study done in 1998 showing
    that approximately a fourth of all children born in EU countries are
    born out of wedlock which in 1980 was only at 10% of all births.
    Countries that show the highest numbers of out of wedlock births are
    Italy at 8.3%, with Sweden (3.6%) showing the lowest desire to marry.
    Even Germany shows this increasing trend each year where almost every
    fourth child is now born outside the union of marriage.

    Renate Schmidt, Bundesfamilienministerin (Federal Minister of Family
    Affairs), also finds this trend very alarming. A recent study by
    Unicef concluded that 40% of all German children in single parent
    households live in poverty. Unicef defines poverty as living in a
    household with less than half of the average income. Her Social Party
    Democrats (SPD) intends to solve the problem through stronger
    financial funding by increasing the monthly child support to 140 Euros
    for single parent households.

    Every tenth child in Germany is now classified as living in poverty by
    government standards and has become the burden of its society. It is
    willingly removing the responsibility of those individuals who have
    engaged in behaviors that are freely being endorsed by society at
    large. Its consequence falls on the wallet of the state that rewards
    the behavior of its citizen through financial aids money paid by the
    tax payers. Pity is not a policy that can change behavior when its
    vicious cycle burdens the productivity of its society.

    The left-wing voices of society in most Western nations are now urging
    the Church to lower its standards by embracing behavior that is
    contradictory to a healthy society. The recent appointment of the new
    Pope, Benedict XVI, has received this opposition in its native Germany
    because of his orthodox stance on church dogma. However, evaluating
    the statistics above, one can see the loud voices of irrational
    thoughts do not conclude a healthy outcome for their society.

    A healthy society consists of man and woman and their children within
    the sanctity of marriage by providing a nurturing family environment
    that raises productive and healthy children. It is in this union where
    genuine care is being extended. Children see that they were wanted for
    the sake of love and not for the sake of being an integral part of the
    social security program to support a retired populace. Their existence
    becomes a personal and loving choice and not a financial one, since
    government only desires its offspring for additional taxing.

    It is in the union of marriage where children learn to love and
    receive the foundation of moral teachings. Endorsing any other
    behavior outside this context of truth will result in consequences
    that have become a social disaster that only furthers a continued
    decline of living standards. Frau Renate Schmidt should see that
    family consists of values, and that values can only be instilled by
    parents and by adhering to moral codes that cannot be rewarded when
    transgressed. The transgression of a law demands a retribution, which
    courts of law are to determine. The Church can teach its spiritual
    rehabilitation that no secular policies can mend.

    Contradictions will cease when truth is accepted as reality. This is
    when the scales will fall from peoples eyes and they will recognize
    that they have been blinded. Germany knows the basic principals of
    that reality, because its small communities were once founded on moral
    behavior. Commitment for improving Germanys situation does not start
    from the top down, but starts from within and a change of thinking in
    its people. The new Pope may have his hands full by re-introducing
    this concept to his parishioners. Government cannot replace what God
    and family can offer. If Germans can shed the false sense of security
    of their government and its socialistic policies, it can rejuvenate
    itself again into a thriving culture and healthier society that is
    still strongly present in its traditions. All it needs is freedom from
    its irrational policies so people will want to marry and have children
    that can be provided for by the fruits of their own labor.

    Sabine Barnhart [[9]send her mail] moved to the US in 1980 and lives
    in Fort Worth, TX with her three children. For the past 15 years she
    has been working for an international service company.

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References

    9. mailto:SabineMaria2003 at aol.com
   10. http://www.lewrockwell.com/barnhart/barnhart-arch.html