Inconceivable?

As China relaxes its “one child” policy, and nations in Western Europe facing population declines, can anyone beat these exciting offers?

Sail with Germany’s TUI Cruises on Mein Schiff (“My Ship”) for your honeymoon cruise.... and if you get preggers (better be a woman, right?!), Das Boot will pay for your trip (a full refund)! Good to know that Germany has a plan to deal with their declining population.

Have a kid in Japan, and the newly elected government is proposing to pay you $3,400 per year until junior graduates from high school. Let’s see if this new “stimulus package” can pass the legislature!

Japan is struggling with an uncooperative citizenry, noting that raising a little one in a land of small living spaces and an exceptionally high cost of living has resulted in an expected overall population contraction (sorry, bad pun) of 15-20% within the next decade or two. Not exactly open to immigration – Japan prides itself on its homogeneity – the nation is developing a whole slew of new “service capable” robots to replace the expected shortage of workers in the next generation; they even have one that can feed the elderly at the old-folks home!

The Sept. 7^th DailyFinance.com notes: “At present, approximately 25% of the country's population is above age 65; by 2050, it could reach 40%. This dynamic could strain medical and social services, limit the employment pool and constrain economic growth.” Sex is patriotic! “Serving” your country!

Meanwhile, the earth’s population is soaring, mostly attributable to birth rates in the developing world. The most popularly held beliefs are that these “primitive peoples” just don’t know how to limit births, are promiscuous and otherwise short-sighted. Yeah well, try this concept on for size – where size truly matters: where there are no “retirement programs” or “social safety nets,” people take care of their “golden years” by having lots of children to support them. Where infant mortality rates are particularly high, it’s good to have a “few extras” to make sure you are covered.

And since in developing nations, females tend to marry and support their husband’s family, better have even more kids to make sure you have enough sons! You’ll notice in places like India and China, there are more males than females in the birth statistics… parents are literally terminating female births for economic reasons, and as young men in these countries grow older, unless they can make enough money to support a wife, there really aren’t enough “wives” to go around.

So I thought you might want another view on this Labor Day. And remember, practice makes perfect.

I’m Peter Dekom, and I conceived of this message.