[fakedang]

I mean both of you aren't wrong. Brussels is sleeping and failing to deliver upon the European promise.

I often think what the EU would have been, had they implemented a shorter austerity in the aftermath of '08, and hadn't succumbed to the migrants, choosing to enforce a strong and severe border regime. The social safety net and the sentiment for further integration would both have been much stronger.

But of course, Merkel gotta Merkel and Germany gotta Germany. There should be a lot more resentment against Germany than there is currently.

[ethbr1]

The trap for Germany is that last I checked their demographics are shitty (age and birth rate).

Consequently, they need immigration to maintain population growth.

Unfortunately, not many folks understand how many orders of magnitude more difficult it is to maintain an economy and quality of life in a shrinking country.

[fakedang]

Perhaps growth isn't the be-all end-all?

Shrinking demographics are a consequence of a high education workforce, along with an uncontrolled immigration crisis. Importing randos to procreate with your native population is not a winning strategy.

In an ideal scenario, Germany and Japan would have collaborated on developing tools and technologies for automation. You sustain your growth with widespread use of robotic technologies.