Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

So you are talking about full-day care <=3 years? That it is significantly more expensive than classic kindergarten 3-6 years and usually only from 8am to 1pm is normal. Otherwise, we have an apples/oranges comparison here.

In Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, full-day care is free of charge.

Our children are both still at home; my wife does not work. Nevertheless, we are considering sending our daughter to daycare part-time, simply because we think that contact with children of the same age will do her good. We do have friends with children, but unfortunately, they are all younger, and our daughter can’t do much with them. Her brother is also still too small. And we simply notice how much she enjoys playing with peers when we are at the playground. Therefore, we will probably bite the bullet and pay the 320 euros that the daycare costs us per month for four hours daily - but definitely not out of laziness (instead of playing with both our daughter and our son, my wife will then “only” play with our son during those four hours - and not laze around).

Children need children. It’s quite amazing how much children learn from other children. The interest in other children might still be quite low at age 1, but by 2 it is usually quite high. However, every child is different…

Hmm, unfortunately there are only two countries in Asia whose society roughly corresponds to that of the Western world. And at least in the rural areas of Korea and Japan, you won’t find a slab. And if you want to compare Asian mega-cities & agglomerations with the local villages and small towns (Hamburg, Berlin)..

In the city-state of Singapore, there are also many high-rise buildings, along with lots of greenery in between and good infrastructure, all very well maintained/clean. The standard of living is comparable to Germany (or higher/more advanced, keyword digitalization). The middle class lives like this there and is not dissatisfied, but there are hardly any alternatives and the government is rather paternalistic, which the population accepts because stable and secure conditions prevail and the standard of living is very high. This certainly cannot be easily transferred to Germany, but it shows that it can work.

Government bonds fall during a recession. Currently, there is only fear of one, but that is already being taken into account.

Whether the recession will come and whether the ECB will continue to sell German government bonds is currently unknown. Soon we will know more whether it will be a sideways movement or if it will go down a bit. Here is the chart:

Well, the recession will definitely come, all indicators have recently performed terribly (both purchasing managers and consumption). That is why investors are selling stocks and buying bonds, and their yield is falling. However, at the moment, I cannot imagine that we will reach 2% again soon.

I would also like to counter with a generalization: Many parents are lazy to the point of being lazy, and the easiest way is when others take care of their own child. That is why the places are scarce. In addition, daycare centers and kindergartens are usually a willingly invested loss-making business. The only fact that socially weaker families would fall behind speaks against a (significant) increase in (local) contributions for me. Many greetings from the municipal council.

I was away over the weekend and without internet, that's why the late response. It is politically desired that both parents work. Apart from the fact that in many areas one salary is hardly enough and on the other hand all these educated women today also want to make use of their knowledge. That is why there is a legal entitlement to a care place, because without care it does not work that both work. At most if grandma lives around the corner, which is also increasingly rare today. Viewed in isolation, this is of course a subsidy business for the municipality, just like everything else a municipality does that makes life in the community worth living. If a municipality does not want to be worth living... PS Topic water transport: Here water is pumped from Lake Constance to behind Stuttgart. That is quite a few kilometers.

... everything well maintained/clean.

This is, in my assessment, one of the problems here with us. Well maintained/clean goes hand in hand with high additional costs, which the majority of the population does not (can/want to) pay. (For example, I also regret that in Germany groceries are not packed and stored in the car by employees. I would pay extra for that, but the service simply does not exist. Not even in hardware stores, where it would be helpful for - not only older - customers.)