The year is now 2050. What do you think will have had a bigger impact on the world - climate change or population ageing and decrease in the developed world? The coming crisis is already dawning on Japan - in Europe, the signs are there to be read.
Regardless of weather the world decides to inflict draconian carbon reduction measures upon itself, the age 'shock' will still hit Europe and most of the developed world in the middle decades of this century.
Post - Christian society is by its own definition rapidly heading towards extinction. We are on the cusp on witnessing self - inflicted civilisation collapse - a phenomena not seen since perhaps the Mayans or Easter Islanders 'euthanized' their civilisation. This is an occurrence that is not observed in any other species - a self determined slide into extinction. Post - Christian Europe is declining at a rate that means that recovery is not possible in most European nations without huge injections of immigrants (and that those immigrants do not adopt the characteristics of their host nation).
Peter Costello released his second Inter generational Report today. The Coalition government has made significant inroads from the state of the nation inherited from the Keating government. Building on superannuation, Costello has engineered a future fund to provide funds for Government superannuation liabilities, paid off Labor Government debt and delivered policies that have seen the birth rate rise from 1.7 to 1.8 per woman. This is still below the necessary 2.1 rate that would enable Australia's current standard of living to be maintained with a stable working population. The challenge for federal government is to devise policy to encourage an increase in birth rate that will truly see 'Advance Australia Fair'.
