[Qbert]

"Are you defending the very socialism that you claim to decry? because by this consistent defense of anti-free-market Germany, you make yourself appear to champion socialism indeed."

There are two types of socialist countries: There are the tiny handful, that for a variety of reasons, are relatively prosperous- but would be a lot better off if they were pure capitalist (Sweden, Germany), and then there are the overwhelming majority that are complete disasters. Don't confuse the two.

And it seems really telling that you evaded addressing any of the factors that I mentioned that account for the differences between Germany and most of their flailing EU neighbors. (But when you're only on some kind of European nationalist kick, I guess that sort of thing happens).

[Olog-hai]

So you are defending socialism then. There are no "two kinds"; there is only one kind, and only through aggression, whether militaristic or economic, can it be propped up. Germany's not too far behind France and Italy when it comes to their debt problems, you know (or maybe you don't—in which case, you heard it here first); their ace in the hole is their ability to control the ECB. The "variety of reasons" for socialist countries to succeed are all draconian, protectionist, imperialistic, centralizationistic (sic) reasons. (Which makes me wonder: if you accuse me of being on a "nationalist kick" for no reason at all, does this mean you're admitting to being on an imperialistic kick? I evaded nothing; you cited false reasons, while I cited the truth.)