SPD sellout complete: Merkel becomes chancellor

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Who are you talking to?

Ecthy, though it can apply to you as well.

Are you honestly contending that unless you personally come up with an idea you can't support it?

Nope. However, if you want to be authoritative about something, you better know something about it. Those who blow in the wind about the need for deregulation in Germany often have no knowledge of the actual situation, and blindly trust some politicians or think-tanks. In a fashion that reminds me of the trust the Americans did put in Bush aboout the Wommdies in Iraq.

Some one is a parrot for taking the advice of experts in economics such as the economist?

If you just repeat their assertions without trying to look critically at the facts that underlie them, then yes. If, OTOH, you have actual knowledge of the situation, and thus if you understand the Economist's reasoning and agree with it (instead of just trusting it), then no.
As for the Economist, they're hardly experts. They're an opinion newspaper with a non-fanatical point of view, but they have about the same expertise as Le Monde Diplomatique.

[Colon™]

Originally posted by Ecthy
Colon who are you...

You guys crack me up some day, I'm going to bed.

Too bad Oerdin DanSed his post.

[Dinner]

[Sava]

Funny, Ecthy has been spouting off ideological-driven propaganda... but he never accepted my challenge about posting SPECIFIC REGULATIONS that he wants to exam that he feels are hurting Germany's economy.

He knows how to repeat the party line pretty well.

C'mon Ecthy... what SPECIFIC REGULATIONS are hurting Germany's economy? and tell me how you think repealing these regulations would help things?

[C0ckney]

the german economy needs sorting out sava, lets hear your bright ideas. :/

[Sava]

Originally posted by C0ckney
the german economy needs sorting out sava, lets hear your bright ideas. :/

strawman alert!

[C0ckney]

no ideas (or idea), what a surpirse.

[Sava]

Originally posted by C0ckney
no ideas (or idea), what a surpirse.

I never claimed to have a solution... but that doesn't mean I can't point out the flaws in someone else's solution

[C0ckney]

but unlike andy, you don't understand the problem.

[Sava]

Originally posted by C0ckney
but unlike andy, you don't understand the problem.

I probably do better than both of you.

[C0ckney]

lies make baby jesus cry sava

[Spiffor]

I am not sure that Andz understands the problem either

Personally, in my experience, the lack of flexibility doesn't come from the legal framework. It's more of a question of mentality. I've searched highly flexible jobs, because I didn't intend to stay more than a few weeks in Stuttgart without interruption. Such very short jobs were very rare. Heck, even Manpower and Addecco told me that no customer of theirs looked for short unskilled jobs.

At the unemployment agency, most employers looked for someone who'd work for the whole duration of their studies. There were very few offers for time-constrained contracts.

Yet, the legal framework exists. I've worked for two employers in Germany. With one, I've done a 2-day gig. With the other, I've done three gigs of 2 to 4 weeks each. The contracts were straightforward. I didn't get any extra money for my status as unstable worker (unlike in France, where I however had no trouble finding a one-day gig for Manpower).


If there's a lack of flexibility, I haven't witnessed it coming from the legal framework.

[Colon™]

To be fair, I've also somewhat been doubting the rigidity of the German labour market and it seems to me that any rigidity is mostly a result of sectoral agreements between the unions and the managements, not gov't regulation per se. The unions however do have a very strong position due to co-determination, which is the real bugbear we're talking about. (and if anything, co-determination has been increasing)

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Sava
C'mon Ecthy... what SPECIFIC REGULATIONS are hurting Germany's economy? and tell me how you think repealing these regulations would help things?

Specificly the laws which make it virtually impossible to fire workers create a major drag upon the economy and upon employment growth. No one will hire a worker unless they can't avoid it by any tactic imaginable because once he's hired he is extremely difficult to get rid of. That means when the economy heads south companies cannot adjust their employment to suit the current market conditions. They instead must keep paying idel workers and that hugely impacts the company's profits and in some cases causes the company to go under.

Germany needs to make it easier to hire and fire workers and it needs to exempt small companies from most of the oppressive & expensive worker regulations (like having to pay unemployment virtually forever until the guy gets a new job that means firing a worker is ungodly expensive even if you can some how figure out how to do it). Most new jobs in the rest of the world come from start ups but Germany massively lags when it comes to start ups. It isn't because Germans don't have good new ideas but instead it is because it is so expensive to start up a company that very few can afford to do so. That's killing Germany's new jobs growth.

[Imran Siddiqui]

He knows how to repeat the party line pretty well.

What, the socialist party line? You don't realize that Ecthy is probably farther left than you, right?

And Spiffor, in response to you, Colon's and Oerdin's last posts have been on the mark. The co-determination policy which has led to a preferred position of the unions have greatly hurt the German economy. The '76 Co-determination Act has to be scaled down in some ways. Having equal numbers of employee representatives on the supervisory boards of companies only leads to gridlock in the hiring and firing of employees due to economic dictates.