Euro Bailout Fund: Germans Pay Less Than Their Neighbors

Der Spiegel ^ | September 20, 2013 – 03:57 PM | (Spiegel/chw)

[Olog-hai]

A new study shows that Germany contributes less per person to the permanent euro bailout fund than residents of several other countries in the European Union. Luxembourg, Holland and Ireland are among the nations paying more per capita. …

EU member states have contributed some €48 billion ($65 billion) to the rescue authority to date. The cash contribution of the ESM is expected to increase to a total of €80 billion ($108 billion) by mid-2014, with the next installment due in October. …

[4rcane]

resorting to using per capita to show they pay less? As if thats a good thing

[pepsionice]

Here’s the thing. For a decade, they’ve kept the pay scale across the government and business community in Germany....stagnant. This means that costs crept up on the normal guy and is a weekly challenge. The positive? Unlike anyone else in Europe...they have cash flow, low unemployment numbers, and generally happy people (except for their level of pay). They sell and export better...than their ‘friends’, and the ‘friends’ hate that attitude.

What happens? Politically, you can predict over the next four years....some push for a national minimum wage (they don’t have that), unemployment creeping up, and a robust 2013 economy turning into a woeful 2017 economy. Merkel is on her last tour.

I don’t think Germans have been this happy or satisfied....since the mid-1960s. That’s the funny part of the story. The bulk of the country...at least half...are really positive. They don’t even have enough folks to employ....so they allow folks from Greece and Spain to come in and take regular work....along with a dozen other nationalities. If they hadn’t done this....you’d see German unemployment at 2 percent.