When Ester Blandford was born, 18 months ago, the Swedish state did all it could to ease her way into the world — and encourage her parents to have even more kids. Her mother, Therese, 29, a children's librarian in the small southern town of Nyhamnsläge, took 15 months off work, most of it at 80% pay, to care for the baby, her first child. She now works part-time. Ester's dad, Christian, also 29, a physical therapist, stays home one day a week to help out. He too gets 80% pay from the state for the day spent with his daughter.
80% for fifteen months?!
A state that is willing to bankrupt itself to try to get it's people to perpetuate the species.
And the result?
A whopping 0.21 increase in the Swedish general fertility rate from totally catastrophic to merely disastrous: 1.5 children per woman in 1999 to 1.71.
Yep.
That's socialism.
I don't understand your attitude about this.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it so important that the population has to increase, rather than stay the same?
Not being sarcastic. I really don't understand.
It's fine that it stays the same.
ReplyDeleteGrowth would be nice, considering the coming crisis of greyhededness.
But it's doing neither.
It's plummeting like a Yorkshire sheep.
But Hilary, maybe the problems is not *enough* socialism. They haven't yet tried 100% pay for 15 years for both parents.
ReplyDeleteChimera:
ReplyDeleteYou know all that money you've been paying in taxes, pension fund contributions, national insurance, etc, etc?
Here's some news for you. It doesn't exist. The Government has spent it all.
That means that any pension you may receive, plus your health care, fuel subsidy, TV license, free bus passes, nursing home care, etc, etc, etc, is going to be paid for by all those youngsters rushing off to work each day and paying their taxes, pension fund contributions, etc. etc.
IF there are any youngsters.
That's just one reason why population implosion is a bad thing. There are plenty of others. (Like: who's going to grow the food, deliver it, sell it, etc, to all us oldies?)
I'm sure you realize that creating a general panic about demographic decline and exacerbating it by mass immigration of criminals and other undesirables is merely a prelude to state controlled reproduction.
ReplyDeleteWhen countries like Sweden create 'procreation farms' where genetically pre-screened 'perfect' people will be encouraged/forced to live in perfect luxury so long as they impregnate each other as randomly as possible and give up all their children to state run orphanages, I won't be surprised.
If Hitler could come up with it, I'm sure they will too.
Oh for heaven's sake.
ReplyDeleteZPG took hold in the West almost entirely out of snobbery.
All that needs to happen now is for people to get to feeling superior about the number of children they have. I know I certainly feel superior.
More seriously, God is being gracious and warning us well in advance. All we need to do is heed the warning and have babies! This is not hard. I think I'll start another one RIGHT NOW, if you'll excuse me. - Karen