We have two completely unrelated topics from Germany and France, but both fit in the broader theme of Europe’s gradual, self-inflicted suicide.
Let’s start with the Germans. I’m not a big fan of the country’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel. She is supposedly a conservative, but she certainly hasn’t done much to reduce the burden of government. But I give her credit for making the rational and moral observation that, “I’m glad that killing bin Laden was successful.”
Based on the reaction, however, you would think she had come out in favor of torturing puppies. Here are some excerpts from a story on a German news site.
Katrin Göring-Eckardt, Green party MP, Bundestag vice president and leading member of the Evangelical Church of Germany, told the Berliner Zeitung she was glad bin Laden was no longer leading a terrorist group. “But you can’t be happy about his death,” she said. On Monday, Merkel told reporters that bin Laden’s death at the hands of US forces was “good news.” “I’m glad that killing bin Laden was successful,” she said. The criticism of Merkel’s comments came not only from political opposition, but from her own party, echoing discomfort expressed by some observers at the emotional, celebratory reaction of many Americans and foreign politicians around the world after bin Laden’s killing. Siegfried Kauder, a member of Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), slammed her remarks, calling them reminiscent of something a person would say in the “middle ages.”
I’m not an expert on Germany’s political system and I’m certainly not a close observer of the nation’s various political figures, so I have no idea if these critics really believe the things they said. But does that really matter? It’s a bad sign if you have a nation where the political elite actually feel sadness that a monster is dead. And it’s a bad sign if you have a nation where the political elite think they should act like it’s unfortunate that a monster is dead.
Let’s now shift to the French. There’s been a lot of attention paid to bailouts of Greece, Ireland, and Portugal, which certainly is appropriate since all of us should be outraged that we are paying (via the IMF) to reward profligate politicians and special-interest groups.
Unfortunately, there are more nations in fiscal trouble, which probably means even more bailouts. Most people think Spain, Italy, and Belgium are next in line, but France is a dark-horse contender in the race to fiscal crisis. Read some of what Matthew Lynn wrote in his Bloomberg column.
It is increasingly politically unstable, its debt position is getting worse all the time, it is losing competitiveness against Germany, and it shows little willingness to change. Those are all good reasons for the bond markets to make France the next battleground. …France’s debt position is getting worse all the time. In 2010, the nation ran the fifth-biggest budget deficit in the euro area, at 7 percent of GDP. It was beaten only by Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain — hardly great company. Its stock of outstanding government debt hit 81 percent of GDP in 2010. That figure will reach 90 percent this year and 95 percent in 2012, according to London-based consulting firm Capital Economics. Italy has more outstanding debt — 119 percent of GDP in 2010 — but it isn’t adding to the pile the same way France is. What the markets really look at is the direction you are traveling in — and in the case of France, it isn’t good. …Sarkozy came to power promising to shake up the economy. He delivered little. …it is hard to believe that the euro crisis will end with the bailout of Portugal. Other countries are going to get caught in the crossfire. When you look around for the next candidate, France has what it takes to be the next blowup.
I still think Spain goes bust first, but Lynn makes a compelling case. Bad things are bound to happen when politicians expand the burden of government, increase tax burdens, and expand dependency. And that’s been the pattern in France, regardless of who’s in charge.
Notwithstanding my snarky title, the purpose of this post is not mock the Germans and the French. I’m certainly not averse to some good-natured ribbing of foreigners, but there’s a serious point to be made. Moral relativism and big government are signs of societal decay, and my real concern is that America is slowly heading down the same path as Western Europe.
Let’s learn from Germany and France and avoid making the same mistakes.
[…] enjoy mocking the French every so often, including posts about the nation’s absurd fiscal policy, its protesting government workers, its oddball laws against meanness, its penchant for high taxes, […]
[…] the way, I better stay out of Germany. I noted the other day that German politicians were attacking Chancellor Merkel because she made a politically incorrect […]
I’m an American who worked in a German bank for about 6 years in Europe. It was my first experience working alongside real live Germans. I actually got to befriend some of them. So now I feel I can to generalize about the politics of a whole nation (which admittedly can lead to wrong conclusions). But this is the internet where everyone is entitled to their opinion so here it goes. One thing that really shouldn’t have shocked me about their politics but did is the extent to which the whole nation, meaning each individual regardless of political party, is wedded to statism. One example, is that the German government takes a portion your wages and gives the money to the church which you have declared. This is in excess of the already confiscatory tax rates. I suppose this is to save the church the embarrassment of asking for donations? I could give more examples of many things we Americans leave in the realm of individual or non-state collective choice revolves around the state in Germany. The people seem perfectly content to let it be that way. Another thing is how pacifistic today’s Germans really are. I suppose this why there was a backlash against Merkel’s comment. After getting to know them, I could not imagine Germany ever forming an Army and invading a neighbor or attempting to put an entire race to death. First, they are not as organized as everyone thinks and second, they are just all very nice pacifistic people. I think the pacifism stems from each individual confronting their own inner Nazi. I don’t mean that to be insulting, I just think one who is so statist must put limits somewhere on their statism so they draw the line with unilateral Government action which leads to killing individuals. This makes such actions as OBL’s killing or the German army being part of the coalition in Libya politically impossible in Germany nowadays. Which is a shame since I would’ve like to see the return of the Afrika Korps which would get the Libyan situation solved in a matter of days. 😉
I applaud all the work you do with videos to try to educate the people. However most of the public doesn’t pay attention like we do and aren’t getting the message. “POLL REVEALS: Americans Are Still In Deep Denial About The Deficit” http://read.bi/h6QDGR If they realized how bad it is politicians would need to act.
They won’t pay attention unless we can get through to them the simple message that the situation is so bad they need to wake up. I think rephrasing the issue in terms of $ per household should be a wakeup call for most of the public but we need to get the message to them that based on US Treasury figures:
The federal government will need >$1 million per household to pay its IOUs!
> $116 trillion =”official” debt plus money short for future social security, medicare, etc
Even its “official debt” of $14.2 trillion is $123,754 per household!
Details at http://StopNationalDebt.com with links to contact congress & complain.
Facebook causes allow you to easily invite your friends to help a message go viral from a small start. You and perhaps your friends may know how bad things are, but do their friends?
Be among the first to join the new Facebook cause “Stop National Debt” : http://www.causes.com/causes/606425-stop-national-debt
since if you don’t spread the word, who will?
Regardless of other financial issues, France waited too long to deal with its benefits system and that already lead to massive problems for the population. here was a summary posted on http://StopNationalDebt.com (the version on the site has embedded links):
“France waited too long to deal with the future of its retirement programs and had to make changes faster than an unprepared public was ready for and chaos resulted. From Oct. 29th: “French strikes have been a weekly ritual since the beginning of the summer. Finally, the country’s crippling protests are expected to die down now that Paris has passed its pension reforms” and Oct 25th:”Strikes are costing the France 200 – 400 million euros per day ($560 million) according to Finance Minister Christine Lagarde.”, Oct. 21st:”Violent clashes continued around the country on Wednesday […] and gas stations across the country were still starved of fuel despite police operations at three fuel depots that ended blockades. […] in Lyon protesters looted stores and fought with police, sometimes setting fire to cars”, Oct 21st: “Anywhere from 1.1million and 3.5m took to the streets […] In Lyon 1,300 casseurs, half of them under 18, rioted in the historic centre, torching and overturning vehicles, looting shops and smashing up bus shelters. A courthouse in Nanterre, west of Paris, was vandalised. In Le Mans, a junior high school was burned to a cinder.” “