More and More Leave Germany Behind (BYE BYE DEUTSCHLAND)

Der Spiegel (online English Edition) ^ | 10 NOvember 2006 | Julia Bonstein, Alexander Jung, Sebastian Matthes and Irina Repke

[shrinkermd]

Faced with poor job prospects, high taxes and an intrusive bureaucracy, more and more Germans are choosing to emigrate. Most of those who leave, though, are highly qualified -- which could mean devastating economic consequences.

They are fed up, truly fed up. Fed up with the constant bickering over the costs of wage benefits, social reforms, elimination of subsidies, store closing hours and all the other symbols of a country stuck in bureaucratic and legislative gridlock.

They are tired of living in country where landing a job is like playing the lottery, a country where not even half of citizens live from gainful employment and a country in which even academics in their mid-40s are already considered problem cases when it comes to job placement. In other words, they are fed up with living in a country where all opportunities already seem to be taken: opportunities to succeed in one's career, to own property and to achieve prosperity...

[Joe Bfstplk]

undocumented Germans: doing the rocket science Americans won't can't do...

Thank you, NEA.

[Strutt9]

My husband came over in 1982. Just became an American Citizen March of 06 and Voted here for the first time this election... Straight Repub of course. I came to the States 1960. But not from Sweden. Korea. Been married 20 years... about time he took the oath.. Don't you think?

[Screamname]

Yet Germany would rather focus on Rummy for not licking the sandals of Mohammed.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1557842,00.html

[MaDeuce]

I see a ripe opportunity for a Abduela Mohamad Hitler to rise to power. Its all the Jeeeeews fault will be the next mantra.

[dynachrome]

"My ancestors came over around 1850.
Mine, also. The story I heard is that it was the potato famine which affected lots of europe, not just Ireland.

[Right Wing Assault]

First I read about the Dutch, now the Germans. If you folks are coming here, don't bring your crappy ideas that ruined your countries.

[dhs12345]

Wow!

[shrinkermd]

I remember thinking during the last election between Angela Merkel and Gerhard Schroeder how similar their lifestyles were.

Merkel had one previous marriage and no children. Schroeder had 3 previous marriages with no children but when he remarried the fourth time (1997 or 1998?) he adopted two and his new wife had one. Essentially, both were narrowly oriented boomer careerists who represented their respective political parties.

[Ukiapah Heep]

Paging Mel Brooks...

[meandog]

Sounds suspiciously like the Weimar Republic that stabbed Germany in the back to end World War I...perhaps after a period of unrest, marked by riot and inflation, a strong, charismatic leader will arise to smash these Musl...oh, sorry, I think that scenario is a bit too familiar.

[dhs12345]

Congratulations!

Both, becoming American citizens and your marriage of 20 years.

Make sure that you document your ancestry. Makes it a lot easier for future generations to trace back to Korea and Sweden.

[finnman69]

This is how the seeds of war are planted.

And this is not just happening in Germany. Add France and Russia to this list.

[blam]

"The story I heard is that it was the potato famine which affected lots of europe, not just Ireland."

The introduction of the potato to Europe caused a population explosion...the potato fungus had the opposite effect. The potato is from Peru and there are over 2,000 types there.
If the Europeans had picked more than one type of potato, the famine wouldn't have been so severe. Other types of potatos in Peru weren't sensative to the fungus.

[muawiyah]

NOTE: For the last couple of hundred years there have probably been more people of Swedish descent (in whole or part) in the US than in Sweden. It got worse in the mid 1800s of course.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

That is why they want to leave -- as fast as they can, in fact -- and move to places where they believe there is hope for a better future. One of those places is the Third World -- India, to be more precise. René Seifert, 35, still raves about Bangalore, India's booming metropolis, where young computer programmers spend their nights crowding into the city's dance clubs and where, during the days, cars share the streets with rickshaws and cows. And where, despite the seeming chaos, every thing has its place. "I'm fascinated by the pulse of Asia, the upbeat prevailing mood and the wealth of opportunities," he raves.

Shows what capitalism can do - if it can revive India's economy after decades of crippling Socialist policy, just imagine what it could do for Germany.

[Strutt9]

Well thank you. I can't trace my ancestory... they are all dead.. (Korean war). But my husband can and I can say with all honesty... I truly have the most wonderful in-laws.

[doc1019]

Doesn’t matter, they would be coming to the soon-to-be, US of Americamexicostan, anyway.

[BlueJ7]

You mean like, an Aryan race and the yoooss are the problem of all wars, we don't want that kind of c@%$

[Strutt9]

"NOTE: For the last couple of hundred years there have probably been more people of Swedish descent (in whole or part) in the US than in Sweden. It got worse in the mid 1800s of course."

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Yep, my mom's ancestor was a soldier from Saxony serving in Gustavus Adolphus's army who came over to protect New Sweden but ended up getting co-opted by the Dutch and then the English.

My dad's ancestor was a Mennonite who got the heck out of heavily Catholic southern Germany because of religious persecution and ended up in Germantown, Pennsylvania.

I only found this stuff out last year and was floored by it all. It's really cool knowing that both sides of my family were here almost at the beginning of the colonization period:)