So There's More of Them to Surrender Then?

The French government is worried that French parents aren't having enough babies to keep the population rising, and are offering over $900 a month to parents that will have a third child.

I'm all for French jokes, but this has me a bit worried. France has the second highest population rate in Europe. But officials say that it's not high enough, and as it stands, the population will decline in the future.

( 1st French joke: - "But this is France we're talking about. Should that be a good thing for them?")

Since when is it up to the government to control population rates? The French are known for being a promiscuous lot anyways, but now you have to pay them to get them between the sheets?

(2nd French joke: - "Q: Why wasn't Jesus born in France? ..... A: They couldn't find 3 Wise Men and a virgin")

France already has a population at just over 60 million. They are worried about the political and economic ramifications of a declining population.

(3rd French joke: - "Q: Where can you find 60,100,000 French jokes? .... A: France")

So will this work? Will paying parents to have a third child reverse the effects of a declining population? It might. France might have more people to take care of later on. But the rest of Europe isn't doing anything about their respective declining populations, so there's going to be economic repercussions anyway. The EU is so closely tied that it's not going to matter anyway. But at least the French have assured us that we can keep making jokes about them for years to come.

(last French joke: - "There was a Frenchman, an Englishman and Claudia Schiffer sitting together in a carriage in a train going through Provence. Suddenly the train went through a tunnel and as it was an old style train, there were no lights in the carriages and it went completely dark. Then there was a kissing noise and the sound of a really loud slap. When the train came out of the tunnel, Claudia Schiffer and the Englishman were sitting as if nothing had happened and the Frenchman had his hand against his face as if he had been slapped there. The Frenchman was thinking: 'The English fella must have kissed Claudia Schiffer and she missed him and slapped me instead.' Claudia Schiffer was thinking: 'The French fella must have tried to kiss me and actually kissed the Englishman and got slapped for it.' And the Englishman was thinking: 'This is great. The next time the train goes through a tunnel I'll make another kissing noise and slap that French bastard again.")