Comments on: How Europe is Failing

By: Jay

Jay — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 05:23:11 +0000

Chirol, has that piece ever been discussed here?

By: ComingAnarchy.com » Blog Archive » Germany Loses

ComingAnarchy.com » Blog Archive » Germany Loses — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 02:46:27 +0000

[...] That just about sums it up. The Byzantine labor laws will remain in place, unemployment will remain high, high taxes will try to keep up with unaffordable social programs… see this post for more. In a word, advance immeditately to the economic doldrums without passing “Go.” Leave a Reply [...]

By: Chirol

Chirol — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 18:22:53 +0000

Yes

By: Jay

Jay — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 17:58:06 +0000

This reminds me–by any chance, has anyone here read James fallow’s Countdown to a Meltdown in the July/August ‘05 issue of The Atlantic Monthly?

Just wondering…

By: Chirol

Chirol — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 14:06:11 +0000

Curzon: Those few and far between Americans have fiance’s in Germany and would probably rather be back in their homeland =)

Gabriel: Indeed, there’s plenty of room for unskilled work. You’ll never find Germans working in fast food, only sometimes in restaurants and bars etc. And forget anything that actually involves real labor, that’s all Poles. But the Germans aren’t exactly happy about it either. They won’t do the work but complain a lot about the foreigners.

By: Gabriel Mihalache

Gabriel Mihalache — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 22:27:13 +0000

P.S. Insane union laws and Social-Democracy policy make low-end jobs very problematic. The laws for minimum wage make an entire set of potential jobs unprofitable. The black market thrives there.

I’m pressing the point here because I don’t agree with the view that Germany is some sort of socio-economical model, as many social-democrats insist on claiming, here and world-wide.

By: Gabriel Mihalache

Gabriel Mihalache — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 22:23:53 +0000

Curzon, Germany has an “absurdly oversupplied labor market” but that’s for skilled workers. As far as unskilled workers go, many Romanians are flocking to Western Europe to do the jobs Westerners wouldn’t anymore. (Gathering strawberries in Spain has become a national symbol.)

Maybe those 35yo with double PhD in the Philosophy of Theology and Feminist Studies ought to pick up a broom. :-)

By: Curzon

Curzon — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 21:27:45 +0000

I’m amazed/revolted at how many Germans stay in the university system… forever! Seriously, I meet 35-yos on their second PhDs, 25yos still finishing what appears to be a BA degree, and the government is paying for it all! I can understand this for low-income families, but as it is, Germany is trying to keep its young out of an absurdly oversupplied labor market and this seems to be their solution. Scary.

You speak of the A-Team leaving Germany for the US, what of those few and far-between Americans who leave the US for education in Germany?! What’s up with that!?