A common scene in Germany is Mutter und Kind -- mother and child. Family is very important to Germans, in many ways its a rather conservative society even if politically they are more liberal than Americans. Laws protect families from financial problems after birth by giving one parent paid leave guaranteed when they have children, extra money for the child, and salaries are often adjusted to pay parents with children more than single people. Some jobs can have two years paid time off so that a parent can be home with the child. Most jobs are protected, and at least three months paid leave is guaranteed. That is an example of the kind of social welfare protections Germany has which are much different than the US. Germans also get 5 weeks paid vacation guaranteed each year, have guaranteed health insurance, generous pensions, and protection from most disasters which might befall them. Of course, they pay higher taxes -- the US has a tax rate of about 29% of GDP, Germany's is over 40%. Most Germans don't like high taxes, but think it is worth it to have the security their system provides. And for the most part it works, Germany is a prosperous wealthy land. Recently they've had problems due to the cost of unification, and many believe that the social welfare system has gotten too generous and too easy to abuse. There are pressures on their system to reform, especially due to globalization. The Social Democrat government of Gerhard Schroeder has already cut taxes and made some reforms, though nothing overly significant. It will be interesting to see if what will happen to the social welfare systems of Europe in the coming years.