Why Is Germany a Superpower 70 Years After It Was Dust?

How well will Germany withstand the breakup of the Eurozone?

 

Basically all relevant parties, even the opposition and all major industry players in Germany are committed to the stabilization of the Eurozone. The same is true for major EU members like France, Italy, Netherlands etc...

The speculation about a breakup is a foremost British idea. Britain on the other hand is the least influential and least integrated EU member....

 

Will (or can) Germany prop up Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Italy indefinitely?

From what I'm hearing German taxpayers have had a bellyful of paying for southern Europe's indolence.

 

Wrong question.

The question is: Will the Eurozone members find a way to stabilize all budgets and ensure a prosperous harmonized standard of living for all ? Answer: Yes !

BTW, the German taxpayer does not decide German politics. The political parties (the government) does. And they decide along national interests seeking a coherent Eurozone.

And while you are mentioning it, the economic situation of the German employees has never been better, the so called euro crisis for the Germans is perceived as rather virtual discussion with no implications for the income or unemployment.

 

Very easy: We will ask the people of Madagascar to change their country with our country and then we will make longlife holidays in Madagascar while we will watch how the Madagascans will solve the european problems in their way.

http://youtu.be/uWn_op8qZpc

 

they are not trying to control the world anymore... they are taking care of their own.. is it time for us to do the same, do some nation building at home

 

I think its their night clubs.

 

Fortunately their lust for world warring has been dampened by the fact that their usual adversary, France, could obliterate them at the push of a red button.

 

Or one of the nuclear weapons of the Americans could explode because an idiot made some mistakes or not ... or Temelin - a nuclear power plant in Czechia - could explode and erase the possibilltity for all living conditions for some thousand years and 50-100-200 millions people in the center of Europe. Or a terrorist could use a dirty nuclear weapon to erase us from this planet or ...

http://youtu.be/PbRKuqY5gsk

 

Such possibilities to obscure the fact that the Germans, who wracked the world with their ghastly ambitions, are now reassuringly under the nuclear thumb of the French.

Unless, as is their wont, they have been developing nuclear weapons in secret.

 

"France" (Franken) is by the way a german word. Even the French are using this german expession for themselve. The same with the word "english" (Angeln). You are speaking the german language "english" - but you are hating Germans without knowing why.

-----
As a young man, every bone in my body wanted to pick up a machine gun and kill Germans. And yet I had absolutely no reason to do so. Certainly nobody invited me to do the job. But that's what I felt that I was trained to do. Now no part of my upbringing was militaristic.
Pete Townshend
-----

http://youtu.be/7WYq3iON8KQ

 

I know that. What does that have to do with anything that is not in the 9th century?

 

Germany gives the USA foriengn aid not the other way around sorry true,when they want money its Germany that can respond not the USA ,newsflash the USA is a brokendown economy soon to be taken over as the Worlds biggest national market by CHINA.Not long now at all by 2020 most say.

With the Japanese ,Chinese free trade agreement presently being finalised ,guess what the Us is looking at 3rd on the biggest economy list.

China and japan are also looking at a common currency for trade and guess what it will be denominated in YEN not US Dollars thuis shutting the US out of both the Chinese and japanese markets ,boo hoo with that the USA will be lucky to stay in the G8.

 

You know what?

 

and anyway telling us that the english language is an eclectic mix of all languages ,one of its great strengths isn't earth shetering ,crickey some of us say that six is sex.

fush and chups,jandels,what a great flexible living language it is ,old drongo thinks he knows english ,fair dinkum ,Have you ever tried to learn german talk about the most austere ,boring over complicated ,and just plan grammatically impossible language ever developed .

They talk like this ,instead of ,"the boy wore a green coat" ,its "the green coat boy wore' which sounds like a spade scraping gravel when spoken .

It is more useful for any discription of scientific concepts give it that ,but put it away for subtle expression .

And it can't be spoken without spiiting on the listener.the sense of humour it limits is well just plan not funny,humour and the German language forget it.

John Cleese,and Monty Python could never be translated into German and convey the humour.

English is impure and is great because of it ,where as german is Austre ,harsh to ear and mouth ,serious folk them Germans and very exact .

Cooee ,cobber and catch you round like a rissole.incomprehensible to a German .hows yr china plate .Wouldn't happen in German.

 

Nonsense. Gemany is not very important in economics compared with the USA. We are selling/exporting just simple every good if someone asks for - also money.

http://youtu.be/HaLybTLLGV0

 

That's wrong. (Monthy Python is by the way also a joke in the serios aspects. They are using clichees creating clichees.)

http://youtu.be/57G1cIYP_JA

 

Without using any german or latin word: what would be the best expression you could find for "France"?

(By the way: I don't doubt that France will bomb Germany down with nuclear weapons if it likes to do so - but that's not my problem)

http://youtu.be/e5xCu05CTUU

 

After reading all the posts, I want to contribute something as well...
To the point what Germany might have done better:
Well, it took two attempts but Germans simply got it that war leads you nowhere. All the wars in Europe and also the two World Wars can be traced back to some pre-events and attacks from the other side. Either if it was the Napoleonic Wars, the Treaty of Versailles or whatever. If you "win" a war, it is most of the times a little elite that might benefit from land, robbed gold or oil, but the majority of the people loose. On both sides. They are send as cattle to the battlefield (as Charlie Chaplin put it) and die for the interest of a little elite. Therefore it makes no sense to build huge armies, it makes more sense to build partnerships. An example of this policy is the case that France and Germany (previously arc enemies for centuries) became very strong allies and this brought massive benefits for both countries. And it is not just the elite, but the general public as you can see in the BBC poll that was mentioned several times. Those achievements are sometimes harder to measure than the amount of nukes or military capacities, but I think they are worth more. Especially for economics.
To the endless discussion about possibilities in a war, who has nukes, who does not have nukes: This reflects pretty much what I said before and what other people mentioned as well. Why do you need this kind of stuff? Why should any of the big countries attack another? They are all so deeply interlinked in their economies, that it would be absolutely stupid and irational to attack another country. The US is surrounded by friends and water and Germany is surrounded by friends as well. Why keeping up a huge army if some defence measures do it as well? The war in Afghanistan and Iraq (which was massively opposed by the German public btw.) are proof for the fact, that the world has changed. You cannot fight terrorism in the way you were fighting countries in the centuries ago. In "old times" a war was over if you defeated the enemy on its soil or on the battlefield. But terrorism is not a country. Every killed civilian in Afghanistan or Iraq or tortured man in Guantanamo simply increases the hatred against the US with the result of causing more terrorist attacks in the worst case or at least it is worsening trade relations with the rest of the world. It might be not that spectaculous, but from my point of view it is by far more efficient to reach out a hand to those countries, give them a perspective and develop their countries. The evils in these days are poverty and a lack of perspective. Give those people a job, education and a decent life and they will not become suicide bombers. Those wars shed a very negative light on the US. Not only in Islamic countries. The US was always some sort of a shining light and role model (especially for Germans), but the light started flickering..
Another point which Germany might have done better: It kept its inequality by far lower compared to the US. And what Americans often get wrong is that they think that any social security system is directly "socialism" as in the Soviet Union. It is not. Germany (and also especially the Scandinavian countries, although they have the largest social security systems) are very capitalistic countries at the same time. Yes, that's possible! One benefit is that you can simply better concentrate at work if you do not have to fear that you will end up on the streets if you loose your job, that you will be in dept until the end of your life if you get sick, that you have to start your life with huge depts after university and so on. Besides you can think in the long-term rather than on a day to day basis. You might have heard from the PISA-test: German and especially Scandinavian 15 year olds rank on top of the list, while the USA is at a level of the worst performing EU countries. I hear often: "But we have the most top ranking universities" - right, but the others are not on top. German unis are more or less equal with a higher average standard. Further the system of the dual education appears to be an important thing in times of crisis. German youth unemployment is the lowest in Europe and by far lower than in the US and just slightly higher compared to the general unemployment. Some argue: "but the GDP (PPP) per capita is higher", well, there are two things about that: 1) The GDP (PPP) per capita is just the GDP divided by the population. Still it is possible that every fourth child depends on meal vouchers as in the US. If you take a look at the Human Development Index, the picture already changes. If you take a look at the inequality adjusted HDI of the US... From my point of view, the "American Dream" became a lie. 2) Even a prisoner contributes to the GDP (check Wiki) and the US is the country with the highest percentage of people sitting in prisons in the world. Crime is another negative side-effect of inequality.

About the power issue: Although Germany might have a leading role in the Euro crisis, small member states (such as Finland) should not be underestimated. In other policy fields other members have the leading role or equal power. Also that Germany is "the paymaster" of Europe is a myth. Germany is simply the biggest country in terms of population in the EU. Other members contribute more per capita (Denmark even twice as much). Further, the EU is an ongoing process and it harmonizes more and more policies and organises them on a supranational level. This is not at the expense of smaller members, they can rely on the EU for their national interests (e.g. abolishment of Polish-Russian trade barriers, Cyprus issue, ...). I don't see a reason for European integration to end. The EU has seen many crisis and the Euro crisis will not be its end. There will be a stronger EU after the crisis.
The power of Germany (and of other members) rises equally with this process, because the EU is more efficient in tackling new challenges such as climate change, terrorism, organised crime and I guess even the debt crisis in the end.
Apart from that, Germany has a vast economical network around the globe. There are German businesses in almost every country and Germany is the biggest investor in most European countries as well as the most important trading partner. This works so well, because Germans are spread all over those countries and usually adopt very well to the local societies.

I hope I could provide you with some new thoughts and please do not make fun about my English. It's just German school English..

 

Question:

There are so many amateurs and ***bags commenting here. Is the general audience in this forum typically as uninterested and uneducated like the ones attracted to this thread ???

 

After reading all the posts, I want to contribute something as well...
To the point what Germany might have done better:
Well, it took two attempts but Germans simply got it that war leads you nowhere. All the wars in Europe and also the two World Wars can be traced back to some pre-events and attacks from the other side. Either if it was the Napoleonic Wars, the Treaty of Versailles or whatever. If you "win" a war, it is most of the times a little elite that might benefit from land, robbed gold or oil, but the majority of the people loose. On both sides. They are send as cattle to the battlefield (as Charlie Chaplin put it) and die for the interest of a little elite. Therefore it makes no sense to build huge armies, it makes more sense to build partnerships. An example of this policy is the case that France and Germany (previously arc enemies for centuries) became very strong allies and this brought massive benefits for both countries. And it is not just the elite, but the general public as you can see in the BBC poll that was mentioned several times. Those achievements are sometimes harder to measure than the amount of nukes or military capacities, but I think they are worth more. Especially for economics.
To the endless discussion about possibilities in a war, who has nukes, who does not have nukes: This reflects pretty much what I said before and what other people mentioned as well. Why do you need this kind of stuff? Why should any of the big countries attack another? They are all so deeply interlinked in their economies, that it would be absolutely stupid and irational to attack another country. The US is surrounded by friends and water and Germany is surrounded by friends as well. Why keeping up a huge army if some defence measures do it as well? The war in Afghanistan and Iraq (which was massively opposed by the German public btw.) are proof for the fact, that the world has changed. You cannot fight terrorism in the way you were fighting countries in the centuries ago. In "old times" a war was over if you defeated the enemy on its soil or on the battlefield. But terrorism is not a country. Every killed civilian in Afghanistan or Iraq or tortured man in Guantanamo simply increases the hatred against the US with the result of causing more terrorist attacks in the worst case or at least it is worsening trade relations with the rest of the world. It might be not that spectaculous, but from my point of view it is by far more efficient to reach out a hand to those countries, give them a perspective and develop their countries. The evils in these days are poverty and a lack of perspective. Give those people a job, education and a decent life and they will not become suicide bombers. Those wars shed a very negative light on the US. Not only in Islamic countries. The US was always some sort of a shining light and role model (especially for Germans), but the light started flickering..
Another point which Germany might have done better: It kept its inequality by far lower compared to the US. And what Americans often get wrong is that they think that any social security system is directly "socialism" as in the Soviet Union. It is not. Germany (and also especially the Scandinavian countries, although they have the largest social security systems) are very capitalistic countries at the same time. Yes, that's possible! One benefit is that you can simply better concentrate at work if you do not have to fear that you will end up on the streets if you loose your job, that you will be in dept until the end of your life if you get sick, that you have to start your life with huge depts after university and so on. Besides you can think in the long-term rather than on a day to day basis. You might have heard from the PISA-test: German and especially Scandinavian 15 year olds rank on top of the list, while the USA is at a level of the worst performing EU countries. I hear often: "But we have the most top ranking universities" - right, but the others are not on top. German unis are more or less equal with a higher average standard. Further the system of the dual education appears to be an important thing in times of crisis. German youth unemployment is the lowest in Europe and by far lower than in the US and just slightly higher compared to the general unemployment. Some argue: "but the GDP (PPP) per capita is higher", well, there are two things about that: 1) The GDP (PPP) per capita is just the GDP divided by the population. Still it is possible that every fourth child depends on meal vouchers as in the US. If you take a look at the Human Development Index, the picture already changes. If you take a look at the inequality adjusted HDI of the US... From my point of view, the "American Dream" became a lie. 2) Even a prisoner contributes to the GDP (check Wiki) and the US is the country with the highest percentage of people sitting in prisons in the world. Crime is another negative side-effect of inequality.

About the power issue: Although Germany might have a leading role in the Euro crisis, small member states (such as Finland) should not be underestimated. In other policy fields other members have the leading role or equal power. Also that Germany is "the paymaster" of Europe is a myth. Germany is simply the biggest country in terms of population in the EU. Other members contribute more per capita (Denmark even twice as much). Further, the EU is an ongoing process and it harmonizes more and more policies and organises them on a supranational level. This is not at the expense of smaller members, they can rely on the EU for their national interests (e.g. abolishment of Polish-Russian trade barriers, Cyprus issue, ...). I don't see a reason for European integration to end. The EU has seen many crisis and the Euro crisis will not be its end. There will be a stronger EU after the crisis.
The power of Germany (and of other members) rises equally with this process, because the EU is more efficient in tackling new challenges such as climate change, terrorism, organised crime and I guess even the debt crisis in the end.
Apart from that, Germany has a vast economical network around the globe. There are German businesses in almost every country and Germany is the biggest investor in most European countries as well as the most important trading partner. This works so well, because Germans are spread all over those countries and usually adopt very well to the local societies.
But you should not overestimate it. France for example is not really behind Germany. They are actually more productive in an working hour and they work even less. 35 hours (Germany 37 I think). That's it. Functions as well... Personally I prefer the Swedish system. They recovered even faster from the crisis, inequality is even lower compared to Germany, they are just as rich or even richer and you have better chances to be successful, even when you have a poorer background.

I hope I could provide you with some new thoughts and please do not make fun about my English. It's just German school English..

 

Don't expect any serios answer, dear friend. I guess you should also think a little about the war of Bush against Europe (bad old Europe - good new Europe) and his influence on Sarkozy who tried once to replace the European Union with a Mediterranian Union. We Germans are the isolated weasels in this world. No one takes us really serios. You can see this very good in the European Central Bank where Germany is without any influence. You can see this also good in the existance of the concentration camp Guantanamo Bay and other torture prisons of the Americans - a provocation for everything what is true and just in this world. So don't waste your time to think about what we can do - we can do nothing at all. Just simple enjoy this crisis. We are Red Indians not Americans. By the way: Did you know that a hawk is a sharp-eyed bird of love? So best wishes, hawkeye.

http://youtu.be/zpaCM_aosMc

 

Despair not the European Proletariet cometh,Socialism in a single nation No more ,the lessons of the defeats of the German and International Proletariet was not in Vain.

We remember our dearest ,Comrades Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebnicht.Social Democracy parted company with the working class as they did with voting for the Kiasers WW1.Yes ,the Assasin was directed by its master.

Not all that the renegade Karl Kautsky wrote is not useful nor Mehring nor engles ,and the golden era of the Mass parties of the german proletariet .

SEP the 4th International the Party of the abiterclasse ,my Comrades of the Not the 1st marxist party nor second nor 3rd ,the present .

We have to build the mass workers movement Unified against Capitialism .AGAIN Comrade to the Barricades .No to Austerity anywhere in e
Europe.

globally for that matter.

The United Socialist Republic of Europe or eroupean Abiter government ,i love german abiter classe,Karl Marx and Hegel and others gee oh no we ae all part of a common human Culture .Except Capitialist robber Barons.Burger crapper Nasty vicious Venal decayed capitialism .belongs in 19th Century early 20th not the 21st ,particularly if its falling apart ,through lack of the economy of scale ,that Globalised production demands.

Continental as minimum leading to the Global comrade.

And having a european general strike even if just in the memory of our beloved Rosa.if not to stop Dead the tide of Austerity as a gangrenous ulcer on the on the United European Economy of scale.

And who said the struggle of scientific Thinking against political faith Thunkun cant win the Ideological struggle.Ps excuse the clumsey translation ,i mean not any rudeness.

 

We Germans were/are experimentators - perhaps comparable with the ancient greek nation. Every greek polis had another form of society and the ancient greek nation was able to live in this way. Unfortunattelly we are not able to live with any form of capitalism and/or socialism. We hate both. But we don't know better ways. Solidarity or brotherly and sisterly love is the best - but this needs freedom and the will to do what is good for all human beings and every life on planet earth in the eyes of the Lord. Socialism is not this form of freedom - capitalism is not this form of freedom.

http://youtu.be/EXWWATrrGtE

 

Whilst I admire the manner in which Germany has resurrected itself after WW11, it has been helped significantly by the relatively weak Euro which, due to its weak economic members eg Greece, Spain, Portugal,Eire and Italy etc has been kept artifically low.It 's no wonder the strong economic members of the Euro want to retain Greece within its fold.