Free Republic

Since the year 2000, the German middle class has slowly diminished, while the gap between rich and poor is wider than ever, a recent study by the German Institute of Economic Science shows. The middle class now represents 61.5% of the population, down from 64% ten years earlier. The number of people with lower income, on the other hand, has increased by four percentage points to 22%, and the richest now represent 19% of the population, or 3 percentage points more than in 2000. Some newspapers have gone so far as to talk about "Panic in the middle class", as...

Recently, the Australian government made it illegal to use the internet to counsel or incite suicide. Also, it is now illegal there to produce and possess materials which provide assistance and advice on how to take one’s own life. The fines associated with this offense includes a maximum penalty of 110,000 Australian dollars (approximately US $78,000). This law has been passed without much notice in Australia. There are those who will probably applaud the Australian government’s efforts to stop youth suicide, and this measure may even have some admirers abroad. For example, suicide is also a problem in the United...