EVERYWHERE IS GREENER:

Germans seek greener pastures: Best and brightest increasingly leave (Mark Landler, February 6, 2007, International Herald Tribune)

Benedikt Thoma recalls the moment he began to think seriously about leaving Germany. It was at a New Year's Day reception in 2004 in nearby Frankfurt and the guest speaker, a prominent politician, was lamenting the fact that every year thousands of educated Germans turn their backs on their homeland.

"That struck me like a bolt of lightning," said Thoma, 44, an engineer who was then running his family's elevator company. "I asked myself, Why should I stay here when the future is brighter someplace else?"

Folks generally fail to grasp such cascade effects of demographics, but why would the ambitious young stay in a dying society?

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 6, 2007 6:00 PM