Ok, here's my take on this... The declining population in industrialized countries creates opportunities for immigrents which increases their standard of living and at the same time reduces population pressures in their home countries. At the same time, having fewer children allows the "native" (I know, but I can't think of a better word) residents to focus their energies on that one or two children and therefore they recieve a better education and have more opportunities. I see this as the start of a system by which opportunity is more equally balanced across the planet. I also can't help but see a glimmer of hope in reducing population growth worldwide as a good thing.
Firstly, I think its important to note that Germany does actually have a rather large population, even for a rich western EU country. They have 15 million more then the UK or France, and although their economy is significantly better, thats still a large number of people, for the size of land etc. Secondly, my dads around 50 years old(sorry dad ), when he was born, the world had around 3 billion people in it, it had taken all of humanities time evolving to reach a number that large, it took 50 years afterward for that number to double. This is, a population spike. Why people expect the world population to stay at 6 billion baffles me, its been significantly lower for..well, ever. A small afluent nation is superior to a large poor one, or a large afluent one in my opinion too. Small is sustainable.
we could ship over some of our population of non-employable people due to scocial conditioning and amazing benifit scheme to help with their problem
Employment or economy isn't an issue in germany right now monkey, theirs is quite a bit bigger then ours. We also have very low unemployment though, just because the press go on about unemployed people, doesn't mean there are actually all that many of 'em
I am pretty sure Germany has the largest population in Europe at 80million or so. The reason why there is worry over the declining population is economical, the future children is needed to look after the ageing population, with a decline in birth rates, Germany in the future will not be able to cope with it's aged population as there will not be enough "children" to look after the country. It is VITAL that the birth rate is kept close to the replacement rate, so vital that it is right that the German Government is putting this on top of their agenda. Employment specofdust afaik is a problem in Germany, since the Euro came out unemployment has been increasing and there is just under 5 million people unemployed, the economy is stable, but not as good as it used to be. The UK has got very low unemployment compared to most other countries, but a recent report has said it is on the increase again. At one point a few years ago the number fell below a million, it's back up to 1.3 million or so. Immigration will only solve the problem if there is plenty of younger people coming into the country and older people leaving, but then this creates problems elsewhere. So in simple truth, we need more s**ging to keep the world turning...
Definatly not. The EU is just a waste of money imo, especially the common agricultural policy which not only wastes half the EU budget but also is unfair on the rest of the world, particularly Africa. Italy at one point was seriously considering of pulling out of the EU, not sure why they haven't but I think the UK should, they cost us more money than we gain from it, and we have these stupid EU laws. Most barmy ones that weren't enforced was to call all fish by their latin names, banning bendy bananas, banning brown eggs etc. The worst law that has been enforced that I can think of is banning anybody from selling liquids in imperial. Under EU law they must be sold in their metric form (although lots of people put the imperial form on too).
Heh, coming from the country with the largest budget deficit in the world(about 30,000USD per citizen last I heard), and which is having the floor pulled out from under it by china and Taiwan? Heh, sorry, shouldn't start on about the USA, that deserves a thread of its own. I think, for a start, the EU is bigger and more complex then anyone here can fully comprehent. It is usefull in some respects though, it allows its member states to more competitively compete with the US, China, and India, and we need to do this, we're all just that little bit to small to compete on our own. I agree that plenty of the laws that we hear about are stupid, but the EU is about alot more then fishing laws and LCD monitor taxes As for moving everyone over to metric, thats a good idea in the long term, yes, it annoys the old generation, but its about efficieny, uniformity, and simplicity. Metric is definately the system to be using, and in forcing everyone to to label everything in metric, within a generation or two you move everyone over to it, if not sooner. This is a good thing, and something the US was actually going to do, untill, I believe it was Regan decided he wanted to keep measuring things in ounces.
The population thing is hitting every 1st-world nation and also a lot of 3rd-world. People are living longer, with more years in non-productive education and retirement, more health-care needed, and their children aren't prepared to take them into their home and look after them financially. That tradition has long died in the West and is on the way out in places like India. If they don't have a good works pension or private means the State must provide, and that's by taxing the still-working. With a stable re-population it gets more expensive, with a falling birth-rate they're right to worry. And when it's the better-educated (and presumeably highest tax-payers) who are not filling the cracks, it's time to go forth and multiply.
I dont trust the EU, sorry; theres too many radical opinions in Europe, and, without something to form unity, is not going to fare very well I think-and what better a method of unification than a common enemy?
I'm curious by what you mean by this. The EU wasn't really designed to be a big political orginisation, you'll see foreign policy, who invaded iraq for instance, was decided individually by the member states, from what I can tell, its mostly about economy, and domestic welfare, type stuff. If you're worried about demonisation of the US by the member states of the EU, don't be, its too late
