Posted on 05/21/2015 6:46:16 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Vegetable farmers in Brandenburg are worried about the future of the famous Spreewald gherkins, as the new national minimum wage has driven prices up.
Spreewald gherkins aren’t just any old gherkins. They hold a certain status in Germany, to the extent that they are designated by the EU as a Protected Geographical Indication, designed to protect local specialties. And yet the greatest threat to their survival isn’t coming from international competitors, but from German politicians.
Producers say that the national minimum wage introduced by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) as part of the coalition agreement is forcing prices up.
“More than 200 years of tradition will come to an end if consumers don’t carry on buying our gherkins,” conserve producer Konrad Linkenhell told the Berliner Morgenpost. “Because of higher wages, the raw ingredients have become massively more expensive—by more than a half. It’s a disaster,” he said. …
(Excerpt) Read more at thelocal.de ...
Look up Germany’s history. They are not a free-market economy and have not been for ages, if ever.
That’s absurd. The “firm” cannot pick up its growing earth and just move somewhere else.
Correction: $9.46/hour ATTOW.
I agree. Which is why the pickle-producing firm may reasonably be charged with knowledge of the risk of government action, however ill-conceived that action may be.
What is that?
I disagree. Firms choose which markets they enter. If the cost structure in one market becomes unattractive, a firm may enter another market. Unfortunately, government mandates all too often determine such unattractive cost structures.
You really think that the entire world is just like the USA, don’t you?
I have no idea. But I favor an economy where firms and households make their own choices irrespective of government mandate. Though I favor such an economy, it doesn’t seem to exist in the USA or elsewhere.
Not interrupting your ongoing conversation but most Americans
actually do think that way. It's a bubble.
Most? Or just most liberals?
That is ‘the gherkin’ tower in London.
For some it's hard to imagine what it's really like in other countries
so they accept that the world must be like our bubble of the world.
FWICS, the conservatives are better informed about not only the status quo of other nations and the same in comparison/contrast to how the USA was founded.
One glaring example is the view of the so-called “Muslim world” and how liberal politicians especially view it through their own rose-tinted glasses, thinking that the people there must think as “we” do—whereas conservatives are informed of the situation’s reality.
In the broader scope people get their cleaned up info from other than
readable and researchable sources. Most people do believe the world
is like their bubble. Heck, when I advertise my company I don't give
people the dirt, I give them the cleaned up fluffy version.
I’m an engineer.
Me to. After I get done with some SFO crap I’ll share.
Oh trust me, there are a whole lot of people in the cities upping the minimum wage to $15 that are gonna be slapped up the side of the head with realization and not the pleasant kind.
“It’s called the market.”
You are actually not saying anything. Your statement is absurd because by your definition of “market”, there is nothing to compare or contrast. You might as well have said “it’s life”.
The rest of us are discussing the relative merits of free market economies vs. command market economies.
Um, no.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.