[WilliamHouston]

Germany is more socialist than the United States. Somehow Germany manages to thrive. Why is that?

[chimera]

Quite a few “western” countries have socialist tendencies yet seem to have productive, peaceful societies (Sweden and New Zealand come to mind). Just as a wild guess, I'll postulate that maybe, just maybe, it's the people that make the difference in those cases.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

WilliamHouston wrote: Germany is more socialist than the United States. Somehow Germany manages to thrive. Why is that?

Germany survives solely because of Free Trade. They are a 70% service based economy and only 29% manufacturing based. They are not Socialist, they have tightly controlled welfare and very limited numbers of people drawing money off of the Government. They call themselves a Democratic Republic. Their overall economic policy and government is quite Conservative. Their Legal system is also something to be admired. Criminals are promptly PUNISHED and there is no drawn out appeals system in their courts. Criminals are dealt with swiftly and harshly! They also have a direct "Pay as you go" system of Government. If the money is not there, it does not go!

[FourPeas]

German culture embraces a work ethic, not so for the inhabitants of Detroit. Detroit is filled with victims with an entitlement mentality they were taught by Democrats. They’re waiting for “Obama Money” to come and save them. Until then, they’re more than happy to trash anything Daddy Government gives them because they know more will be on the way.

[flowerplough]

"Germany is more socialist than the United States. Somehow Germany manages to thrive. Why is that?"

Some say, and I'm among them, that the German work ethic and innate obedience to authority is the main reason. Old cliche about giving Germans a choice order and freedom has 'em choosing order uber alles.

More on Germans from John Brownlee, who just moved back here, he says:

"Convenience. That was a dirty word in Germany. German efficiency is much vaunted, but really, what Germans are excellent at slavishly following an infinitely complex protocol of rules and regulations. This is excellent for keeping the trains on time, but it’s not the same as efficiency, because everything breaks down in the face of the smallest element of chaos. In a system of such casual Kafka-esque bureaucracy, no wonder Germans are so offended by the idea of not playing by the rules, even when those rules are absurd. For an American like me who has returned from abroad, then, the biggest culture shock is American convenience…"

Unevenly Distributed: How Online Pizza Delivery Makes America The Best Country In The World http://www.gearfuse.com/unevenly-distributed-how-online-pizza-delivery-makes-america-the-best-country-in-the-world/

[Last Dakotan]

Germany is more socialist than the United States. Somehow Germany manages to thrive. Why is that?

Africa isn't thriving.

[PATRIOT1876]

*Germany is more socialist than the United States. Somehow Germany manages to thrive. Why is that?*

My friend has relatives in Germany. He believes it's because they are more or less an isolationist country. He says there's not so much trade in and out.

I don't know enough about Germany to know if that is accurate, but I do believe that if we didn't have outsourcing Detroit would be in a lot better shape