Posted on 02/25/2018 10:08:20 PM PST by Berlin_Freeper
Germany's statistics office has said the German state last year logged the highest annual surplus since the country reunited in 1990. The result came on the back of record-low unemployment and low interest rates.
The German government, the country's 16 states and its communities posted a budget surplus of 36.6 billion ($44.9 billion) in 2017, the National Statistics Office (Destatis) reported Friday, slightly revising an earlier estimate of 38.4 billion.
The figure marked the fourth annual surplus in a row in Europe's powerhouse, which no longer has any difficulty sticking to the European budget deficit rules as laid down in the Maastricht Treaty, and which stipulate that governments' fresh borrowing must not exceed 3 percent of gross domestic product.
The positive result last year was again made possible by full order books and record high employment as well as by the European Central Bank's ultra-loose monetary policy and its low-interest policy in particular.
(Excerpt) Read more at dw.com ...
With this kind of surplus, can anyone explain to me why German politicians, since they have so many statists and leftists, aren’t pushing to spend even more on social welfare, immigrants, etc...? Is this kind of surplus generally common in Germany, or is this rare?
I know in the USA any extra money is like candy-coated heroin for politicians. Hell, we spend $1 Trillion a year we don’t even have.
They cook the books - if they counted the hundreds of billions their state-owned banks have in debt from all the investments in shipping funds, they’d have to report a loss.
Germany heavily depends on England and the US for its exports, so their antiBrexit threats are empty bull sht. They stand to lose big. Irony we are called isolationists when their tantrum would result in their own deep isolation not seen since Hitler welcomed muslims...
antiBrexit threatsCan you name me one German anti-Brexit threat?
Junker mafia, heard of it? Google Junker/Merkel on Brexit.
Also German diplomats hope the US will be closer than to England after Brexit because Germany will be Europe...
Germans are on high horses
Thanks for the empty bull sht.
Like you are not full of BS bringing zero rebutal other than personal attacks
Butt must hurt in the neo Hitlerian Islamia of Germany
Germany had the world’s largest current account surplus in 2017 of $287 billion. That’s how a nation ends up with a budget surplus.
The Schwabian Hausfrau, Merkel, whips Parliament into shape on the budget surplus subject. Most of the surplus goes to paying down debt. Only A few pennies gets squandered.
Its a annual ritual.
and yes, the German Govt generally always run surpluses. The central govt is relatively profligate compared to cities and small towns. Most small towns have zero debt and tight-fisted Burghers whod chuck their Mayors out in the street otherwise. German big cities tend to have minuscule amounts of debt.
Its a mindset utterly incomprehensible to US politicians
Not sure if this is something to be too excited about, considering what else is going on. After all, the German economy prospered under Hitler too.
Still waiting for you to name a single threat.
Yet they dont pay their required 2% of GDP to NATO.
Why should we continue to subsidize them?
“My take, too. What does prosperity matter if Germany has succumbed to invaders?”
I was expecting to get blasted by the Merkel apologists. My response would have been that as rights get eroded (free speech in this case), it can create ‘efficiencies’ which aid economic growth. People can say horrible things about Stalin, but he did make Russia an industrial power too.
I already gave you the leads but you obviously do not want to check them out. You iust want to suppress and not open your eyes. Not wasting my time with trolls like you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.