E. Germany: We ain't got dames

The Economist ^ | 6/28/2007

[bruinbirdman]

Young layabouts suffer a drought

A NEW disease is abroad in eastern Germany: Frauenmangel, lack of women. In some towns there are only 75 young women for every 100 young men. In one or two there are as few as 40. The effects are worrying, not only because populations may shrink but also because of the existence of a growing underclass of young men who are partnerless, underqualified and jobless.

A study by the Berlin Institute for Population and Development has looked at Herzberg and Ebersbach, two small towns in eastern Germany. “Even the mayor of Ebersbach hadn't realised this is going on,” says Reiner Klingholz, the institute's director. It is a vicious spiral. Girls are more studious than boys, so they get better qualified and migrate west to find both partners and jobs. The boys lack role models at home, where fathers are often unemployed, and at school, where teachers are mostly female. Young men now account for 65% of German high-school dropouts.

The few women who stay prefer single parenthood to hitching themselves to useless partners—benefits for single mothers are generous. It is women who are now masters of their destinies. The study, which combines reportage with figures, tells of frustrated gangs of youths drinking outside supermarkets and sleeping on their loading ramps.

What can be done? Eastern Germany is now a laboratory for the rest of Europe, says Mr Klingholz, since other places are starting to see the same phenomenon. Better education is the key. “We have to take the risk that the young men will then emigrate too,” he says. At least they will find jobs more easily. The federal government wants to identify two “model regions” where it can spend money on urban renewal and health, education and sports facilities. This smacks of too little too late—it is 17 years since unification. But it is better than the “watering-can” of sprinkling cash everywhere in hopes that something grows.

The despair shows itself in many ways. The death rate among young men in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, in eastern Germany, is twice as high as in the west's North-Rhine Westphalia, mainly because of road accidents (despite there being fewer cars). And the most fertile ground for the extreme-right NPD is now in places with a shortage of women, not high unemployment.

[mamelukesabre]

Why doesn’t Bush give them Z visas?

[Byron_the_Aussie]

Hmmmm. How much is a one-way ticket, to Mecklenberg? I’ve got an unmarried sister who’s hard goods, to shift.

[TheThinker]

The future of America?

[2ndDivisionVet]

Here’s the answer: Filipinas!

http://www.livinginthephilippines.com/#3

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

There Is Nothin Like A Dame lyrics

Sailors, Seabees and Marines:

We got sunlight on the sand,
We got moonlight on the sea,
We got mangoes and bananas
You can pick right off the tree,
We got volleyball and ping-pong
And a lot of dandy games!
What ain’t we got?
We ain’t got dames!

We get packages from home,
We get movies, we get shows,
We get speeches from our skipper
And advice from Tokyo Rose,
We get letters doused with perfume
We get dizzy from the smell!
What don’t we get?
You know darn well!

We have nothin’ to put on a clean white suit for
What we need is what there ain’t no substitute for...

There is nothin’ like a dame,
Nothin’ in the world,
There is nothin’ you can name
That is anythin’ like a dame!

We feel restless, we feel blue,
We feel lonely and in grief,
We feel ev’ry kind of feelin’,
But the feelin’ of relief
We feel hungry as the wolf felt
When he met Red Hiding-hood
What don’t we feel?
We don’t feel good!

Lots of things in life are beautiful, but brother,
There is one particular thing that is nothin’ whatsoever
In any way, shape or form like any other.

There is nothin’ like a dame,
Nothin’ in the world,
There is nothin’ you can name
That is anythin’ like a dame!

Nothin’ else was built the same,
Nothin’ in the world
As the soft and wavy frame
Like the silhouette of a dame!

There is absolutely nothin’ like a frame of a dame.

So suppose that dame and bride
Are completely free from flaws,
Or as faithful as a bird dog,
Or as kind as Santa Claus,
It’s a waste of time to worry
Over things that they have not,
We’re thankful for the things they got!

There is nothin’ you can name
That is anythin’ like a dame!

There are no books like a dame,
And nothin’ looks like a dame.
There are no drinks like a dame,
And nothin’ thinks like a dame,
Nothin’ acts like a dame,
Or attracts like a dame.
There ain’t a thing that’s wrong with any man here
That can’t be cured by pullin’ him near
A girly, womanly, female, feminine dame!

[rogernz]

lol...yeah. we could do with some nice german gals ;-)

[SupplySider]

...benefits for single mothers are generous.

As usual, government is the root of the problem. Restore the incentives for women to marry before having children, and the price for sex for young males will again be responsible behavior.

[sourcery]

It is a vicious spiral. Girls are more studious than boys, so they get better qualified and migrate west to find both partners and jobs. The boys lack role models at home, where fathers are often unemployed, and at school, where teachers are mostly female. Young men now account for 65% of German high-school dropouts.

Hmmmm... That seems to remind me of something. Sort of a feeling of "deja vu," like I've seen the same thing somewhere else. But where could it have been? I'm sure it will come to me, any moment now...

[CarrotAndStick]

If E. Germany feels it is bad, they should just look at their Russian neighbours.

Russian population in steep decline
 

 

Russia's population fell by more than half a million, or 0.3%, in the first eight months of the year, new statistics show.

Figures from the State Statistics Committee predict a further population decline of 11 million, to about 134 million, in the world's largest country by 2015.

"It's altogether a pretty terrible situation," said Moscow-based journalist Oleg Glebov.

Population problems

Russian fertility rate: 1.17

Replacement fertility rate: 2.5

Percentage of Russian couples who are infertile: 15

Percentage of Russian women who have serious medical problems during pregnancy: 75

Russian male life expectancy, in years: 59

Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to agree. He put population decline at the top of a list of urgent problems facing Russia in his first state of the union address, in July.

And the problem may be getting worse.

The net loss of 507,400 people in the eight months to 1 September is greater than in all of 1999.

Causes of decline

Drug use, alcoholism and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are leading reasons for the decline, said Murray Feshbach, a senior scholar at the Smithsonian Institution's Woodrow Wilson Center.

"It's mind-boggling, frankly," he said.

About 15% of Russian couples are infertile, he said.

 

President Putin put population top of Russia's problems
 

And as many as 75% of women experience serious medical problems during pregnancy.

The official fertility rate - understood as the average number of children a woman has between the ages of 15 and 49 - was 1.17 in 1999.

The minimum rate for a population to replace itself is 2.5, Mr Feshbach said.

Disease takes its toll

STDs are a major cause of concern, he said.

"There's syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia, HIV/Aids, prostitution," he said.

He estimates that there are between 450,000 and 500,000 cases of syphilis in Russia, out of a population of 145 million.

"It affects the quality of new-born children," he said.

 

Where are the fertile women going to come from?

 

Murray Feshbach, Smithsonian Institution

He said the situation was made worse by 1999 law mandating prison terms for syphilis sufferers who contracted the disease through drug use.

"If you get syphilis through drug abuse you go to jail, so why report it?" he asked.

"There are some optimists there," Mr Feshbach said of Russian demongraphers.

"But I don't know what the basis of their optimism is. Where are the fertile women going to come from?" he asked.

Depression a factor

Journalist Glebov said that there were psychological as well as medical reasons for the country's low birth rate.

"It's the state of the nation", he said.

"Most people are very pessimistic. They don't believe children will have a future", he said.

While there was a slight increase in the birth rate this year as compared to last year, the death rate increased markedly.

The Russian death rate is now 1.7 times higher than the birth rate.

Male life expectancy in Russia is 59 years,considerably lower than it was in the Soviet Union.

For women, it is 72 years.

The 1999 United Nations Human Development Report, which ranks countries according to quality of life, placed Russia 72nd of 174 countries surveyed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/988723.stm

[Mr Ramsbotham]

lol...yeah. we could do with some nice german gals ;-)

Mit dem hairy armenpiten, ja!

[bruinbirdman]

"As usual, government is the root of the problem."

"Eastern Germany is now a laboratory for the rest of Europe, says Mr Klingholz, since other places are starting to see the same phenomenon."

And the abortion rate is?

yitbos

[Pro-Bush]

Russian chicks are hot!!

[bruinbirdman]

Syphilis will do that.

yitbos

[Fresh Wind]

No problem. Lot’s of males available in the sand regions.

[Tenniel2]

You too, eh? Except for the part about girls studying, or migrating to find jobs, or being teachers... Wachet auf, Deutschland!

[expatguy]

And I ended up in Malaysia of all places.

Honestly though I think I prefer here as I get older I like having a bit more access to the civilized world. Malaysia is much better than the Philippines in that respect and Singapore is just a three hour drive from where I live.

An American Expat in Southeast Asia

[Atlantic Bridge]

It is one of the biggest ironies in history that Honeckers self declared anti-fascist “German-Democratic-Republic” (DDR) is decomposing into brainless unemployed young nazis that loose themselves in a orgy of auto-erotic. The loosers of the millennium. Human trash.

Americans always think that we Germans have a problem with our muslims. BUT... ...in fact they are really irrelevant. Most of them are decent and hardworking people. Our real nightmare is the east of your country and the burden of the senseless reunification. 45 cent of every euro that is spent in eastern Germany today was earned by the west-German taxpayers. West Germans have to feed a army of 16 million scroungers.

The problem is, that the east Germans never understood the miracle of democracy. Free economy is also a mystery to them. They stick to the idea that the gouvernment has to solve all their problems and that the differences between people should be minimal. Personally I feel that the reunification (not the freedom of east Germany - do not get me wrong) was a tragedy for us West-Germans, because the east simply does not go with us. Those people feel, think and act completely different in a strange way. The values of the populace of the eastern part of Germany does not have anything to do with the ideas of west Germany. It is not only the nazi NPD, east Germans vote for, it is also the notorious PDS, the former SED of Honecker that simply changed its name. They made i.e. 25% in the state “Sachsen-Anhalt” in 2006 while the NPD made 7% in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern recently.

The reason why this cancer of male lunatics is growing that much is quite simple. East Germany is a godless society that is being dominated by females. You might say that this has nothing to do why girls escape the scene but there is a coherence:

First problem: Due to a feminized vision of roles that was born in the communist time, stable families have no value anymore. The divorce rate in eastern Germany is and was breathtaking. Mothers are accustomed to a state that is taking over their duties. Their own “self-realisation” is far more important to them than their own kids. They want to work and leave the limits of a family life behind. Therefore they give their kids into the still existing day-care system of the old communist state.

Second problem: This day-care system is operated by women only. Boys need male attachment figures to develop their own personality. Women and mothers alone are not able to bring up boys alone. While in the west this is done by the fathers of the still existing family structures in the east of Germany boys are trapped in a female world that does not meet their needs.

The quintessence of this system are either girly sissys or young agressive males that never found their limits. Since they are busy to find their own personality they do not spend a suitable time in learning and developing. The outcome are those idiots they talk about in the article above. It is no wonder that they are not interesting to young women anymore.

There is no solution to this problem. The mayority in east Germany has no Christian values, they have no relation to stable families and they do not appreciate freedom. I am quite sure that large parts of the east in Germany will turn into a lonley steppe in the next 20 years.

What has to be done is to obtain conservtive values in the west of the country. Our church has to gain more influence again. The family structures have to be maintained. While the German east in already toasted I see some light in the western part.

Many conservatives in America might find it strange, but Angela Merkel is not committed to those values. She wants to introduce the GDR system of upbringing to western Germany to get more women into work. Her family minister von der Leyen wants to establish a state runned (and controlled) daycare system. They think it is the bright future but they are simply repeating some fundamental faults.

Interestingly Poland does not seem to have such fundamental problems with its youngsters although there is also a breathtaking decline in population (due to immigration to western Europe and a low fertillity rate of only 1.26 kids/woman), while the situation in the Czech republic, the Balic countries and last but not least Russia is even worse than in eastern Germany. Although their gouvernment is socialist the Poles benefit from the strong catholic church and its value system. Nevertheless even Poland will be deserted within a few decades and the Kaczynski brothers will rule over a elderly home. One of the biggest waves of emigration towards the European west has just started.

[Heatseeker]

Sadly, your description of Eastern Germany (ex-DDR) could easily apply to most Western societies including the US. We have but another few decades before we are overwhelmed. Auguste Compte was right, demography is destiny.

[TalBlack]

“... benefits for single mothers are generous. It is women who are now masters of their destinies.”

Wow. I would wonder what this person’s definition of ‘master’ is.