"I hear the fat lady warming up for Opus 26...the Funeral March"
Posted on 09/18/2005 12:12:37 AM PDT by alessandrofiaschi
Voting began in Germany's closely fought election today with millions of undecided voters holding the key to a result that will have major implications for economic reform in Europe.
Angela Merkel, a Christian Democrat (CDU) chancellor, is expected to emerge as Germany's first woman chancellor, displacing Gerhard Schroeder who has led Germany for the past seven years at the head of a centre-left government of Social Democrats and Greens.
A provisional result is expected to be announced in the early hours of Monday morning. The final opinion polls published on Friday gave Merkel's centre-right coalition with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) a slim lead in a race it once dominated.
High stakes For Germany and the rest of Europe, the stakes in the election are high. Some five million Germans are out of work, the country's pensions system is in crisis, its public finances are overstretched and the economy that once drove growth in Europe is now acting as a drag on the rest of the continent.
Analysts say that if Germany succeeds in pushing through reforms, they could be a model for change in the rest of Europe. Surveys show that most Germans believe the system needs changing but they are deeply uncertain about how far the changes should go and how the burden should be shared.
Schroeder's own "Agenda 2010" reforms to welfare and labour market rules have been the most ambitious attempt to overhaul the social security system in decades. They have been attacked by the conservatives and by some commentators as not going far enough. The reforms were bitterly resented by voters. - Reuters
If Germans wanted something different they would have been able to get off of their asses and get more than 35% of the vote for the CDU/CSU. That is just pathetic.
So it's really gonna be SSDD, same scat, different day?
Germany Bundestag (Federal Diet) has 603 members, elected for a four year term, 299 members elected in single-seat constituencies and 299 members allotted to realize a proportion to their total vote and extra seats because of this compensation.
If I'm not mistaken, Merkel supported the war in Iraq and chastised Schroeder's foreign policy. She seems legit to me, though I don't know the complete depth of her conservative credentials.
Right now it looks like the CDU is just barely ahead of the SPD by a hair 35.6% - 34.1%. As of now Merkel would be chancellor but I wouldn't be surprised if the SPD winds up ahead of the CDU in the end and Shroeder remains. I have been having increasingly little faith in the Germans and this wouldn't surprise me at all. Even if Merkel is the new chancellor, so what? The government will be CDU/SPD, with not much of a difference in representation between either party. Absolutely nothing will change.
"I hear the fat lady warming up for Opus 26...the Funeral March"
There is a way all of us can support the new German Leader.
We can buy the ETF stock index, EWG, for Germany. I will be buying a good sum tomorrow or some time next week.
In anticipation of the outing of the socialist, this ETF has had an excellent 3 months compared to 5 years of economic stagnation/blah before.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=EWG
Hopefully, the new leaders will model Germany's economic plan after the Austrian model. The Austrian, ETF stock index, EWO has been an outstanding investment the past few years.
Go to the link below to compare the Austrian ETF, EWO to the German etf, EWG, for the past 5 years of rampant socialism and anti Americanism.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=EWG&t=5y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=ewo
Die Wahlergebnisse im Überblick
Well, if you ask me Germany is screwed...
I guess this means they haven't counted the "dead vote" yet. I almost forgot, the rules don't mean anything to the Socialists. They have a divine right to bring their superior wisdom to the electorate by any means possible, whether or not the electorate wants it.
Un-freaking-believe. The snake Schroeder is speaking now and just said that he is proud that the people were not swayed by media manipulation to remove the SPD from power. Wow. Just Wow.
MDSPINBOYREDUX REPORTED ON FREE REPUBLIC THAT FOX ANNOUNCED ON TV THAT AP REPORTS THAT SCHROEDER HAS BEEN DEFEATED
;)
Better take some put options
Well put. But it looks like a weird coalition is going to have to form. The FDP rejects joining a coalition that includes the Greens. The CDP sez any party but the Left Party. The CDP and FDP together don't make 50 per cent (or so it appears now). So, could be the blended CDP and SPD after all.
Sid knew what he was talking about. ;')
Anyone with an ounce of get up and go, got up and went.
Schroeder just said that he intends to find a coalition that would allow him to remain chancellor for the next four years
"You are entitled to have that attitude, but bear in mind that a good number of Germans wondered the same thing about Bill Clinton, and he never was dumped"
Very good point, thanks for the reminder.
Its easy to get a jaded opinion of Germany while only hearing the German lefts viewpoint, and consequently thinking there is no right wing viewpoint in Germany because it is so seldom heard from.
My last name is German, my fathers side came from there.
I wish them the best and am optimistic about this election.
I all ways have sell orders on etfs after they fall past a certain % range. I do that monthly or sometimes weekly if there has been a big gain.
That saved my nest egg during May of 2000 when the Clintoon depression hit the stock market and the indexes very hard. We were on vacation and before we left, I had put sell orders on QQQ, DVY, SPY, MDY and other etfs at 6-8% below that day's prices. We save most of our gains and the net sales were rolled over to my FIDO money fund which did fairly well.
per CNN: Gerhard Schroeder says he can remain Germany's chancellor in a new coalition government. Details soon.
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