Pay to stay at home

摘要

Critics call it a "hearth bonus" or "keep-your-kids-out-of-school money". The government prefers Betreuungs-geld ("child-care benefit"). Few of its ideas are as contentious as a planned €150 ($199) monthly payment to parents who do not put their children into creches. Angela Merkel, the Christian Democrat chancellor, defends this as "an essential part of our policy of freedom of choice." But it seems to contradict much of what she stands for.