How the sun set on Germany's pride

The Telegraph ^ | 03/04/2004 | Kate Connolly

[ijcr]

They just cannot admit that Socialism is a failure.

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[dancusa]

They go to college until they're 30 and retire at 55.

[CasearianDaoist]

Niether can we. We should not get too happy about this. We need to radically reform our system and it will not be two easy. Our system is expanding, not contracting, and if the Dems ever get back their old power you will see more of this. It will take a resoltue leadership to build the national consesus that this requires. I fear that we shall never build it. If public monies cannot be reduced and what is left in public spending is not focused on science and technolgy spending we will be in trouble.

[garbanzo]

It is simply not profitable or viable to have German workers, who cost considerably more than they produce

The joys of basic arithmetic.

The "core" consists of the innovators, the producers and the service providers, while the "crust" are those who contribute nothing to the economy.

I'm guessing "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged" were recently translated into German?

[Finalapproach29er]

Wittingly or not, Bush SR.'s decision to unite the East Germans with W. Germany has really weakened them as a whole.

All those commies from E. Germany sent united Germany into the doldrums.

[Joe Boucher]

This can't be accurate. Everyone knows that with the reunification of the two Germanys the economic giant will lead a united Europe.
A united Europe led by Germany and France will displace the United states as the worlds economic powerhouse.
Ha Ha Ha
Just as Japan was going to do in the early 80s.
Ah Ha Ha Ha.

[greasepaint]

Let's face reality. Germany is irrelevant.
My suggestion is:
Germany should be converted into an amusement park.

[A Jovial Cad]

When I was in the USAF, I was stationed in Germany for two years during the late eighties. I spent the majority of my paychecks (American dollars) in the "local" German economy--along with hundreds of thousands of other American servicemen/women.
This article makes me wonder if the American military presence there--which is vastly drawn down now--wasn't helping to partially veil this nasty truth to the Germans of how utterly futile Socialistic policies are back then thanks to the large amount of U.S. dollars we where all pumping into their economy.
My time there was in service of a good cause (when I arrived the Berlin Wall was still up and going; by the time I'd left it was gone), of course. But now that all that's over (the Cold War) it looks like fiscal reality is slowly coming home to my German friends.
Having spent a couple of years among them I have no doubt that eventually they'll adapt and overcome, given the chance. The key will be to keep them away from any more of the sour, corrupting influence of the French...

[My Dog Likes Me]

The History Channel should have a telethon for the Germans!
I mean, they've made the History Channel so very... interesting!!

No, seriously, the Germans will make it through this economic meltdown. But of course, we may see a few dozen Green Party members strung up on light poles along the Autobahn before it's all over.

Which will be fully documented on the History Channel in around three years. I'm glad they're on our side. I lived there for a long time. They are an amazing people. I loved it over there.

[SkyPilot]

I have lived here for 4 years--and much of what he says is true. The welfare state is huge, and this is also a problem throughout Europe. He is also correct about the taxes---it is killing the economy here. He did not mention these contributors:

1. The immigrants into Germany, who enjoy even better benefits than working families. The people (referred to as Ausländers, are often from Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe. In some cases they are "ethnic" Germans, but whose families left Germany in the 19th century. Many of them bring large families with them, and they get more medical, food, housing, and cash benefits than you would imagine possible. This causes resentment, but everyone is afraid to talk about it. When I ask my German neighbors "What is up with that?" They reply "I don't know--guilt I guess....that whole Hitler thing--now we pay through the nose."

2. Most ordinary Germans are still hard working--especially the older ones and the ones from former West Germany. The East Germans are almost like a lobotimized race of different people altogether. Forty plus years of Communism turned them into the epitome of what the Democratic party wants for the rest of America. I cannot describe how awful it is.

[NeonKnight]

Wittingly or not, Bush SR.'s decision to unite the East Germans with W. Germany has really weakened them as a whole.

That was the German peoples decision, not any American Presidents. An American President may have been able to prevent it from happening (with a great deal of political arm twisting) but could never make it happen if it were not the will of the German people.

[Enduring Freedom]

SOCIALISM!

They've got Jimmy Carter malaise!

Proof-positive that under liberal regimes and philosophy, the masses are unproductive, lazy and suicidal.

Could it be because punishing taxes and the social safety net results in disincentives to work, create and take personal responsibility? Absolutely! No wonder Al Qaeda supports Socialists! They do the work for the terrorist enemy!

[yankeedame]

All those commies from E. Germany sent united Germany into the doldrums.

Well, (West) Germany was hardly an economic blast furnace before unification.

[Enduring Freedom]

Let me say it, louder:

Socialism's punishing taxes and social safety net results in disincentives to work, create and take personal responsibility.

In other words, any country that takes up Socialism is on a path of self-termination, i.e. SUICIDE.

[Enduring Freedom]

Socialism also leads to 'French' disease.

That is, a society of effeminate, soft, metrosexuals without any of the survival instincts bred on the real world streets of capitalism.

Socialism has always been about 'female' qualities.

The 'male' qualities, including security and self-defense, are bursting to overflowing in capitalism. But in Socialism, they are discouraged and even discriminated against. 'White male syndrome', where the strongest and best are passed over for positions of influence, was the order of the day under the weasel Clinton. You will also recall that 'Survival of the Fittest', an immutable law, was consciously reversed with special accessibility laws and other measures that encouraged deterioration of the gene pool.

Socialism is the death of a nation.

[jalisco555]

The History Channel should have a telethon for the Germans! I mean, they've made the History Channel so very... interesting!!

That's why it's nicknamed "The Hitler Channel". Without Germany the 20th century would have been so dull.

[White Eagle]

This is how bad things have become in Germany: at the five-star Adlon hotel, close to the Brandenburg Gate, they dump the laundry into lorries every night and ship it 80 miles to Poland. There it is washed and the following day it is shipped back to Berlin.

Gee, if waiters and waitresses have been known to spit into food if they don't like the customer, what does a Polish laundry person do to German sheets and pillowcases?

[jalisco555]

Wittingly or not, Bush SR.'s decision to unite the East Germans with W. Germany has really weakened them as a whole.

Once the Wall fell German reunification was inevitable and unpreventable. Under the circumstances Bush and the others handled the situation quite well. It's up to the German people to fix the problems that they have created for themselves. It doesn't seem like they're up to it.

[Savage Beast]

"Germany has been wallowing...in a deeply unattractive bout of self-loathing."

Uh...when this happens in Germany it's time to sound the alarm!

"we now have more debts, more social welfare recipients and soon...higher...unemployed...than at any time in our post-war history"

...and more Muslims.

"Prosperity for all was the catchphrase...to ensure that Hitler never returned"

A worthy goal, to be sure, and prosperity for all is probably the best insurance. However, the only way to provide prosperity for all is capitalism and free enterprise. This, of course, as ijcr sagely observes, requires an admission that socialism doesn't work. Not only does it not work, it destroys the economy, devastates the country, and paves the way for the return of a Hitler.

If Germans--and other Europeans--were willing to confront the issue and were able to break the taboo and admit the truth, they would see this.

"generous benefits and social conditions are seen almost as a God-given right."

Millions of people, on both sides of the Atlantic, can not understand the danger of big government.

If "Liberals"/Democrats have their way, the United States will be in as big a mess as Germany and the other European countries. In their policies and their rhetoric, they urge Americans to follow Europeans down the same path to destruction.

If the German people (whom I love, incidentally) wake up in time to save themselves, they will:

(1) Admit that socialism is a failure.

(2) Set up a summit conference with the Bush Administration for the purpose of strengthening the economic and political alliance between Germany and the U.S., with the aim of establishing some sort of NAFTA-type arrangement

(3) Dismantle socialism

(4) Re-establish capitalism and

(5) Slam the door on Muslim immigration.

Not only can they not admit that socialism is a failure, they also cannot admit that President Bush is the leader who can show them the way to prosperity, security, and ascendancy.