[austinTparty]

Seeing that building falling apart and covered in graffiti, with weeds growing out in front is nothing less than poetic justice. Even without the historical context, it was an eyesore---and nothing would put the nail more finally in the coffin than destroying that palace of totalitarianism.

As for the differential in German employment rates East and West: one of the worst economic decisions (although probably politically impossible NOT to do) was wage equalization between the two Germanys when there was no equality of skills. It doomed the East to receive no major investment, for what entrepreneur in his/her right mind would invest in a factory where the wages were among the highest in Europe, but the skill levels were sub-par? All that this did was push investment further east to Poland and Hungary, whose wages have been rising with their skill level.

[Jabba the Nutt]

Does 'wage-equalization' apply to the private sector too? I knew that the public sector got that. The mistake goes even further back, when Kohl set the exchange rate at one to one for the DM and the Commie Mark.

Bottom line, you can have as much unemployment as you are willing to pay for.