The new economics
It's a country whose products are known and respected, whose engineering is renowned; from electronics to machinery to component and consumer goods its economic landscape features world industry leaders. Germany is one of the world's greatest exporters; just a couple years ago, it surpassed the USA for the first time. With a highly educated work force and the largest economy in the eurozone, on the surface it would appear perfectly positioned for success. We know that this isn't the case in practice.
If you were asked just where Germany's present-day economic woes stem from, what would you say? Perhaps you'd say that the Soviet collapse dried up East Germany's industrial client base, and they still haven't recovered. You might say that Kohl torpedoed what was left of East Germany's industry when he integrated West and East currency at an equivalent exchange. You could point a finger at the wage controls which pin Germany's wages at one of the highest rates in the world, the giant annual cash transfers from the west that provide a pseudo-economy to the east, persistent unemployment, or the exorbitant welfare state. But what would the German Finance Ministry say?
Wait for it.
It's America's fault.
Germany blames strong euro on US policies
Lest anyone need a reminder, this admonishment comes from a country that penned the Euro Stability Pact, and will not abide by it in order to put forth stimulus tax cuts.
For those of you who thought that only France could manage world-class hypocrisy - think again. The other half of Europe is pretty good at it too.
Update: I should have presumed that Medienkritik's already been here.
If you were asked just where Germany's present-day economic woes stem from, what would you say? Perhaps you'd say that the Soviet collapse dried up East Germany's industrial client base, and they still haven't recovered. You might say that Kohl torpedoed what was left of East Germany's industry when he integrated West and East currency at an equivalent exchange. You could point a finger at the wage controls which pin Germany's wages at one of the highest rates in the world, the giant annual cash transfers from the west that provide a pseudo-economy to the east, persistent unemployment, or the exorbitant welfare state. But what would the German Finance Ministry say?
Wait for it.
It's America's fault.
Germany blames strong euro on US policies
BERLIN, Nov. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- A senior German official has blamed the financial policies of the Bush administration for the strong euro hurting European economies, according to the German weekly "Der Spiegel".
In its latest issue to be published Sunday, the weekly quoted Caio Koch-Weser, a state secretary of the German Finance Ministry,as saying that the double deficits in the US budget and trade had worried the market, leading to the depreciation of the US dollar against euro.
Koch-Weser urged the Bush administration to change its financial and economic policies and launch a "middle-term, sustained budget consolidation".
Lest anyone need a reminder, this admonishment comes from a country that penned the Euro Stability Pact, and will not abide by it in order to put forth stimulus tax cuts.
[Nov. 2003] German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on Wednesday defended a decision to suspend the EUs deficit rules in order to promote euro zone growth. But he also told parliament that Germany would continue budgetary consolidation.
Addressing parliament during a debate on the 2004 budget, Schröder said Berlin needed to give priority to bringing forward planned tax cuts by one year to help get Europes largest economy back on track.
We need consolidation without question, Schröder said. But we need to stimulate growth. We have to pull these tax cuts forward to support growth.
For those of you who thought that only France could manage world-class hypocrisy - think again. The other half of Europe is pretty good at it too.
Update: I should have presumed that Medienkritik's already been here.
posted by Doug at 1:21 AM
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2 Comments:
Never fear, Doug is here! L'article.
This seems to fit well one of my notions of the genesis of anti-Americanism - that the existance of America and it's success is a repudiation of socialism. The need to denigrate America is less animosity than it is an attempt to speak in favor of systems that are even worse. To level the playing field in the mind, in much the same way that "tax harmonization" would do in reality.
38.8 percent of GDP! I can't even imagine our government with like 5 trillion in revenues. Besides bailing out the companies that were strangled and people who were rendered jobless, what would we even do with it all? Actually, that's probably about all we could do with it...
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