SPD sellout complete: Merkel becomes chancellor

[Ecthy]

And the more of them get paid by the less working ones, the better it is? It makes plenty more sense to get JOBS for these people to have them pay, otherwise you need no economy, only social welfare and consumption.

[Saras]

Originally posted by Ecthy
And the more of them get paid by the less working ones, the better it is? It makes plenty more sense to get JOBS for these people to have them pay, otherwise you need no economy, only social welfare and consumption.

D00d, but that is teh COMMUNISM! Groovy, baby!

[Ecthy]

Exactly. So why do you want the rooskies back in your country?

[techumseh]

It's interesting to note that both the SPD and the CSU campaigned on economic "reform" and both lost votes, mostly at the expense of the Left party. In order to pursue this agenda of lower living standards for workers, they are joining together in a coalition.

Since the SPD has traditionally aligned itself with the unions and claimed to speak for workers, this must be seen by them as a betrayal. (One of many for this party.) That's why I think the SPD is entering a period of decline, and the Lefts will benefit.

[Spiffor]

I fail to see anything pragmatic in Germany's current and projected reforms. What exactly is pragmatic with a flat tax? What exactly is pragmatic with forcing people into 1€/hour jobs?

The current climate of "pragmatism" in Germany reminds me of the "pragmatism" Kohl showed when he privatised all of East Germany's economy without thinking. It's going straight in the wall

[Ecthy]

There's no flat tax Spiff, that was just another Einzelmeinung.

[Sava]

chegitz is correct

none of this "reform" makes any sense...

Germany is going to shoot itself in the foot.

I just hope the German people don't suffer too much because of idiotic "pro-business" policies that will hurt working people.

[Ecthy]

Could anyone explain me why THIS level of unemployment would be perfect, and not higher and not lower? If lower makes more sense, that's what the reforms are for. Higher is your communist dream of the state paying money to everyone and then everyone just buying stuff

And as I have said before, noone's talking about cutting worker's income by 15%, this is about deregulation of the labour market, so it's more like getting rid of high labour cost as well as dismissal regulations.

[Sava]

And as I have said before, noone's talking about cutting worker's income by 15%, this is about deregulation of the labour market, so it's more like getting rid of high labour cost as well as dismissal regulations.

well, what specific regulations are in question here?

post the specifics and we can discuss it...

you see, I hate when there's talk about deregulation... because usually, businesses, corporations, etc... are the ones who choose what to deregulate, and that is like letting the foxes guard the henhouse.

It seems to me that regulations were created in the first place for a good reason. Why just get rid of them arbitrarily?

If there are specific regulations that are useless or needlessly creating problems, then they should be investigated and dealt with accordingly. And the process should be transparent.

And maybe I'm too turned off to deregulation because of the abuse that is happening in America. But my advice to the Germans is, when someone in your government says "DEREGULATION"... cast a very suspicious eye. Because there usually is an ulterior motive.

Does Enron have a German subsidiary?

[duke o' york]

Yeah, despite the fact that both parties campaigned on a "reform the economy" ticket, the SPD seem to have got control of the economy under the deal brokered by both parties, so maybe things won't change so much.

Source: Channel 4 news, for what that's worth.

[Odin]

the SPD are falling for the same "third way"crap that turned the Democrats into Republican-lite and Labour into Tory-lite.

[Ecthy]

Keynes failed.

[Joseph]

Hey they are doing it the American way. Lay of 25,000 employee and the CEO get a 5,000,000.00 bonus and the BofDir. get a few Million to.

[Ecthy]

Look, this government pays high support for 5 million people. So we need jobs, which we ain't gonna get if employers can't afford to employ.

These regulations were instituted when this country was too well-off and had too high growth. Now you got the East, no growth, and an ageing society so apart from the unemployed support, we can't afford pensions either.

We have three options: do it the lefty way and keep failing. Do it this way and reform. Do it the Nazi way and invade poland. You choose.

[Odin]

Originally posted by Ecthy
Keynes failed.

Thats what the right-wing think tanks what you to think.