People in Germany really need to start having more sex.
Otherwise they are really going to need Death Panel for Grandmas, you know, when there are no more young people to take care of the old people.
That was my first thought when I saw this chart.
On second thought, sex does not necessarily lead to pregnancy, unless you are having it in the back of your parents’ car. Or your very first beat-up old clunker. Even better if you are drunk.
So my revised word of advice:
Germans need to have more drunken sex in the back of their parents’ car, or get more clunkers.
Then I saw this other chart, comparing government sponsored “Cash for Clunkers” programs in several countries:
.
.
Hold on a second, while I take a mental note…
Note to self: Great cocktail conversation tidbit – “Do you know the U.S. is not the only one, and definitely not the first one, to come up with the ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program?”
Note to self, again: Scratch that. Someone is bound to say, “Exactly. Those are all socialist, or Facist, countries, or whatever, European! countries. That’s why we should object to it loudly. Preferrably bring a loaded handgun with you to town hall meetings.” And then the cocktail party, if I were ever invited to one, would go downhill from there… So, NOT A GOOD IDEA! Ok. Fine! Scratch the entire Note to Self 1.
When I saw this second chart about Cash for Clunkers program in other countries,
Eureka! I thought.
See how the government in Germany spent $7.1 billion on their “Get Rid of Clunker” program?
There you go, my friend. That is why the birth rate in Germany remains the lowest.
_SHAANNK
Interesting. Except that in other countries, the incentive rule was different. Other countries required safer emissions which would help the country as a whole, while the US required better gas mileage (still not sure why they did this in US).
Cash for Clunkers in the US doesn’t really help the environment, it just boosts the auto industry. The fact that our cars have to be trashed and can’t be reused at all actually -harms- the environment by making a huge amount of trash.
That’s my cocktail conversation bit but maybe I’m too much of a critic~!