[lowbuck]

Today the German constitutional court ruled to allow the election to go ahead on Sept 18th.

Change, hopefully, is afoot in Germany!! Although the FDP has a small following it looks like they together with the CDU/CSU have the ability to join together and lead Germany. This article gives a good overview of what the pro business believers are about and what they are up against.

[strategofr]

"Chancellor Gerhard Schröder said at the weekend that he feared social unrest if a coalition involving the FDP along with the main opposition Christian Democratic Union and the CSU, its Bavarian sister party, took power."

Unfortunately, Germany now has two alternatives: social unrest and complete, unalterable decline.

[Michael81Dus]

From left to right: gay politician Guido Westerwelle (FDP-chairman), CDU/CSU-candidate for Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU-chairwoman) and Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber (CSU-chairman).

[starfish923]

Achieving substantial economic reform in Germany would be a “Herculean task”, he said, owing to the power of vested interests and the reform backlog in Germany's social security and tax systems. Yet such changes were possible, and would lead to fewer German companies “fleeing overseas”.

This is it in a nutshell, imho.

The Germans HAVE to let go of their RIDICULOUS "bennies" and make their slackers and unemployed get back to work.
Germans, of all people, know this.