German Elections -- Results

[DanS]

I'm wondering what the fuss is about anyway. A couple of months of no gov't just means no new legislative initiatives (which by no means is an unequivocally bad thing) while the state bureaucracy keeps humming along.

Normally, I would agree with you. However, I believe our election question kicked off the recession of 2001. Certainly, the timing doesn't seem to me like a coincidence. It seems like a strange intersection of confidence and the economy. Could the same thing happen in Germany?

In the case of the US, it might have been in part foreign investors becoming skittish about the stability of the US, even though I don't think too many people in the US were truly concerned about it. Germany may be more immune to the shocks introduced by foreign investors. Also, Germany doesn't have to carry the banner as the most stable government/economy in the world, even though I'm sure the Germans believe themselves to have one of the most stable.

[Colonâ„¢]

Maybe the polls issue hastened the advent of recession but it cannot have caused it IMO. As far as I'm concerned crises of confidence can only delay or hasten something that has been brewing already.

And I think that the state mechanisms are far more exposed to the vagaries of day-to-day politics in the US than is the case in Germany (or most European countries, for that matter), as I'm having the impression that they aren't as independent from the gov't (or more accountable, depending on the POV). In the US a political crisis poses real problems for the day-to-day functioning of the state administrations, in Germany it rather means a shift to auto-control.

[DanS]

What concrete examples do you have to support your assertion?

[Provost Harrison]

YOU CRIMINAL!

[Colonâ„¢]

The government shut-down in 95, because of they couldn't agree on the budget; the long throng of appointments with every new administration (7000 appointees with the first Bush administration?), including not just the heads of cabinets but also the entire staff, the heads of agencies etc; the election of attorneys; redistricting committees staffed by politicians rather than civil servants... The red line seems that administration is far more dependant on politics than commonly is the case in Europe.

[DanS]

Ah, I see what you're saying. You are correct, especially in local government (mayor, city council, county commissioner, sheriff, judges, auditer, etc.) In the county where I grew up, the county sheriff just got voted out of office because he ran up $50,000 in overtime meals for the police. Big scandal.

At the national level, would it be odd if there were 230 political slots in Belgium's government?

[DanS]

By the way, I think the 7,000 political appointees is slightly exaggerated. More like 4,000 - 5,000 at any given time, of which about 1,500 are really scrutinized by the Senate.

[Ecthy]

It's Iron Angie now.

[Proteus_MST]

Yep,
at some costs for the CDU

SPD gets 8 ministries and CDU "just" 6

Looks like the SPD had great success in using Angies Dream of Chancellorship for their own benefit

[Snotty]

A senior Social Democrat source quoted by Reuters news agency said the SPD was poised to fill the ministries of foreign affairs, finance, justice and labour.

So does this mean Merkel is going to get ministry of defence? home affairs?

[Harovan]

CDU/CSU get among others interior, defense and economy.

[Spiffor]

[Harovan]

The CDU paid a huge price for chancellorship. Of 14 ministries, the SPD gets 8, the CSU 2 and the CDU only 4. This will weaken her position within her own party, IMO.

On a sidenote, my vis-a-vis at work (and staunch "Wessi") shrugged, as I told him the news I heard at my lunch break, and replied "it's still the same puppet theater (Kaspertheater), only the puppet (Kasper) is different now". I think he's right.

[Proteus_MST]

Of course,
it´s, as always, the struggle of the parties to gain the most power for themselves,
no more, no less.

They don´t do it for germany but just for themselves (as always ).

[Ecthy]

Now the public discussion is focused on two questions: who enters the state department, and what does Schröder do now? There's always the synthesis, but I don't think that one too likely.