Fareed Zakaria: Learning From The Example Of Germany
Everyone wants to be part of a winning team. It's human nature. But I've never understood the bizarre jingoism of right-wing America to scream "We're #1!!!!" without a whole lot of facts to back them up.
In fact, according to last week's Newsweek, they'd be more accurate to yell "We're #11!!!", which doesn't quite have the cachet of being #1.
It would be nice if we could learn the lessons of how other countries are successful and adapt them to this country. One such country that has been bandied about of late is Germany. At a time where we have economists warning of a double dip recession here, Germany's economy is growing stronger consistently month after month.
Why?
As Fareed Zakaria describes it, it's is because Germany is investing in its own long-term economic success, by focusing on strengthening their manufacturing base, educating future employees, and offering social safety nets to keep the workforce happy and secure.
I've talked to people in my private life who question whether we could actually adopt Germany's policies here, given that our GDP is exponentially much larger. I don't think it's an issue of GDP so much as it is a willingness to stop structuring all of our economic policies for the short-term benefit of corporations over everything else.
But even without the political will, it's clear something has to change, or we risk dropping even further down the list.
Transcripts below the fold:
And now for our "What in the World?" segment.
So, the American economy is stalling. Applications for unemployment insurance reached the half-million mark last week, the first time to cross this threshold since last November.
The housing sector is weakening. Private business is not hiring. And the consumer is not spending.
But meanwhile, there is a major global economy that's booming. No, it's not China or India or any other emerging market. It's Germany, the world's fourth largest economy, which grew at 2.2 percent last quarter. That was its best quarter in 20 years, and it blew the other major EU economies out of the water.
Germany, you might say, isn't that part of old Europe that Americans always make fun of, high taxes, big welfare state, strong unions, lots of regulation? None of that sounds conducive to economic growth. But Germany is powering ahead, bouncing back from the financial crisis and the economic recession.
So how did they do it?
First, the German consumer was prudent and didn't spend more money than he had. While much of the rest of the first world was on a spending spree in the last decade, especially the United States and Britain, Germans held back. They never maxed out on their credit cards. They never took out home equity loans.
One reason that American consumers aren't spending right now is that they are still working off mountains of debt. The average American has a debt load that is 122 percent of his annual income. The German average is a more manageable 100 percent.
Second, Germany has a strong manufacturing sector that exports products around the world. The United States and many other rich countries have essentially outsourced their manufacturing over the last three or four decades. It's cheaper to have things made in China or India.
But Germany managed to keep a lot of its manufacturing right there in Germany. It maintained technical institutes, apprenticeship programs, and in many other ways has encouraged and built and sustained manufacturing. So when it sells a Porsche or a BMW, that money comes right back into Germany.
Germans are also attentive to the risks of losing technical skills. So while U.S. businesses shed jobs the minute they see the demand for their products drying up, German businesses are more careful. They are more likely to keep their workers, perhaps on half time, or even quarter time, rather than fire them. They believe that this retains the workers' skills and his loyalty so that when the economy revives, the company has trained workers ready to ramp up.
Finally, reform. The Germans have reformed their pension system, they've raised the retirement age, they've trimmed workers' benefits, they've freed up their labor market, and of course they have an affordable national health care system, one that costs half as much as ours. So their workers are actually a lot less expensive to their businesses than American workers are to theirs with the huge pension and health care costs that come along with them.
The result of all this, while the U.S. this week announced another round of bad unemployment figures, German unemployment fell in July for the 13th straight month. Germany has now regained almost all of the jobs it lost during the recession.
Maybe we could learn something from what's going on across the Atlantic in another high-wage, high-tax, high-regulation economy.
But...we were gonna be an INVESTOR nation.
Manufacturing? All those "old world" industries. NOOOO. Not for this America.
We'll send those jobs where it's cheaper! Raise productivity....increase profits...and the laid off workers will benefit from bloated 401K plans, money market accounts and mutual funds. They can invest directly into the market. They'll be OWNERS! Just like rich people!
The money will FLOW! All that invested money will be plowed back into the nation, creating jobs for the poor...no more social programs!! The boats will be lifted!! Manna will fall from the sky!! Unicorns will frolic in the fields!
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
This dimwit from the Cato Institute was arguing that America is becoming over educated. "Spending on education is a waste of money in todays economy. We no longer need as educated of a workforce as we once thought. We can get along better with on the job training."
I thought I was hallucinating at first. Then I realized it was CNBC and this guy was from Cato. I guess at least he had the testicular fortitude to say what the right has always thought but never really articulated.
Sorry, but on this subject I think he's right. Used to be you were hired by a company and they would train you to do your job. But now one of the big burdens on workers these days is how they are expected to obtain and pay for all the training they need themselves. Companies that hire expect that their new employees will be all ready to go, with maybe a couple of days of somebody explaining, say, the phone system, and no other training required.
If employers would once again commit to training their employees thoroughly in whatever they need to do, that would relieve the work force of having to spend enormous amounts of money getting those pieces of paper they supposedly need (but which often turn out to be unnecessary, and sometimes even detrimental, anyway).
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
I thought that was how it was going to work out. The problem is comapanies are not happy when the employees pay for thier training and education now. It means they have to pay more because you are qualified to recieve higher compensation.
If companies are not happy now, why would you think they would be willing to pay to train you, then give you a raise after company training. I would think the current philosophy would be more to the tune of "since we paid for your training, you owe the company."
The way the corporate world works now and the way it used to work are far and away totally different universes. Not to mention how this would effect small businesses vs large corporations.
Theres a very good reason the right wingers got the nickname 'reichwing'
Hahahahaaahhah jobs don't do that you moron, unless Cato trained you to be an idiot right after high-school.
a far less civilized land, and even more neurotic, than the Germany of the 1930s. We'll be lucky if some honorable as-yet-unknown colonel in the wadis of Afghanistan comes home to overthrow president Glenn Beck, or whichever lethal moron ends up in power after 2012.
They had actual civil war and killings on the streets and open warfare between armed gangs from the right and the left.
We are a few steps away from that, thankfully.
There are still areas we are #1 or close to #1.
- invading other countries on false pretenses
- Happy Meal orders
- rising infant mortality rates among developed nations
- falling education rates and falling test scores among developed nations
- rising call in rates on reality show voting
- in near bankruptcy
- in warmongering
- in gross consumerism
- in stolen elections
- in an easily diverted and uninformed electorate
- spiraling health care costs
- foreclosures
- unemployment
Boner pills.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
Jello shots . . homicidal music.
and percentage of population prison population.
I am so sick of seeing/hearing ads for Viagra and Cialis.
Maybe it would be more useful for these pharma cos to find cures for REAL diseases....like cancer or AIDS or diabetes....????
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
There is something about those ads that make me real uncomfortable. I don't need to see two people painting the house and then the urge hits them. It's just strange. And I agree, when did this problem become so large (no pun intended)?
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
in Moron Nation, that's twice as more better than just Number 1.
BTW, Finland, Number 1? Really? Land of the depressed. and Sweden, number 3? I doubt it's really that high. They must've paid someone off. Denmark all the way down at number 10? Home of the happiest people on the planet? I will call bullshit on the poll...but then it IS Newsweak. The US is probably aiming for 111, which the teabag morons would think is 3 times more better that '1'
me-oww!
Did you see Colbert the night he talked about this? He said not only are we number one, we are number one twice.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
.
great minds, I guess.
:D
me-oww!
when there's something rotten in Denmark?
when ABBA left the stage.
The Germans have reformed their pension system, they've raised the retirement age, they've trimmed workers' benefits, they've freed up their labor market, and of course they have an affordable national health care system, one that costs half as much as ours...
Be careful there, girlie. That thar sounds like socialism ta me.
We best take ya out back, have a sip a tea.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
a weed patch either. It's one of the city's rare surface parking lots, with a plaque telling the tale and tourist docents pointing out "I swear I heard this that ...Hitler's bedroom lay about where that white Audi is parked...."
German unions sit with senior management on company boards. Terrible....
So Short selling ban two months ago.Worked?
Euro Collapse Looms? Engdahl on naked short selling ban
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROkUjkdq1W0
And we keep on the Gambling....
You might even learn from some Asian nations. Korea's unemployment is 3% and growth forecast this year is 5%. I make more here than I did in Canada. Korea is now a modern nation just like Japan.
"If the US government enforced its banking laws like it did its park regulations, we wouldn't be
in this damn park in the first place." OCCUPY.!!
I've read that when JFK proposed the Peace Corps it was originally supposed to be a two-way street: other nations would send some of their experts here, along with some of their bright enthusiastic youth, to help solve some of our problems.
As the story goes the idea was laughed out of Congress. Who could help or teach us Americans how to do anything? How silly!
Democracy is too important to be entrusted to politicians.
Rise Up!
Protest!
We have things like health care (it doesn't cover 100%, but much better than none) and public transportation is excellent and heavily subsidized. Why? They don't want to burden low-wage earners with transportation costs. There are lots of things you can do. Korea is forging ahead with major infrastructure programmes. We have the best internet service in the world and are the "most wired" nation. The list goes on and on.
"If the US government enforced its banking laws like it did its park regulations, we wouldn't be
in this damn park in the first place." OCCUPY.!!
Unfortunately you live right next door to North Korea!
No one really worries about that too much. Japan, China, Mongolia and Russia also border N Korea.
"If the US government enforced its banking laws like it did its park regulations, we wouldn't be
in this damn park in the first place." OCCUPY.!!
'I've never understood the bizarre jingoism of right-wing America to scream "We're #1!!!!" without a whole lot of facts to back them up.'
You can't suggest that right wing Americans own nationalism.
Every country in the world has people in it who really, truly believe theirs is the greatest.
And something gives me the feeling that if it were, say, a Canadian going on about how their health care system is the best in the world, you wouldn't complain much.
from other nations to run our own economic affairs into the ground. We're digging our national grave with a kind of antic glee.
Sure, Nationalism is in every country, but not every country says (screeches), "We're #1, USA, USA, USA," just because they are arrogant.
Canada is not #1 at anything (I can thin of), but it sure is a nice place to live.
"If the US government enforced its banking laws like it did its park regulations, we wouldn't be
in this damn park in the first place." OCCUPY.!!
there's politeness and curling.
me-oww!
Eh?
Election 2012: Be Educated! Be Active! Vote!
www.phoenixjustice.com
But America is unique in how MANY people believe this canard, how little evidence they have for it, and how completely truculent they are when faced with evidence that not only are we NOT #1, but how long it's been since we were anywhere near there.
Americans are isolated from the rest of the world to an alarming degree, and a great majority of people in this country have no interest in becoming less so. Thus, it's very easy for TPTB to convince everyone not only that we're #1 GODDAMMIT, but that there is no reason to believe anything said about the rest of the world by anyone who actually KNOWS about it. The health-care issue is just one example - I've been STUNNED by how utterly ignorant most people are about the health-care situation in other countries, and about how wretched is the treatment they themselves receive at the hands of the so called "health-care" industry and their own government. It's pathetic and sad how people here are so willing to be bled dry and left to die by an industry that is supposed to be taking care of them.
But there you are, that's America for you. No matter what, "we're #1!" And we'll continue to be "#1" when people are literally dying in the streets and the rich are stepping right over their starving bodies. Count on it.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
...now! Can you imagine if any dem started to try to point to the success of Germany's, practically, socialist government? The nazi references would practically write themselves. This only exemplifies the lack of political will and paralysis (not to mention corporate co-option) we see in the dems.
Keeping their manufacturing sector intact was probably a good idea. Doncha think?
And providing adequate unemployment benefits, so the consumer economy didn't take a nose-dive when unemployment spiked. Think about it.
And respect for education. There's a big one. Here in the US whining students and their parents clog the administration with complaints and are treated as "consumers" of the educational factory's "product" - since when do the student or their parent know more about what the student should be learning than the teacher does? And now we're into at least the third generation of teachers who themselves were students in our dysfunctional educational system. Elementary school teachers who can't "do fractions" because they were taught to punch buttons on a calculator instead of learning math. How do you rectify a problem like that? Fire all the teachers? Force them into remediation? Hire foreign teachers skilled in their subject matter?
Democracy is too important to be entrusted to politicians.
Rise Up!
Protest!
assigned to the stations twitter teams.
When some educational authority put our a press release with detail of the top 10% of their teachers and how their students fared, the unions freaked and protested. Teaching unions hate the idea of teachers being tested on their teaching results.
Teaching unions hate the idea of teachers being tested on their teaching results.
Maybe that's because teachers' unions are sick of the intellectual laziness inherent in the idea that you "test" their results the same way you test the quality of the brake shoes they make on the factory line.
Double post
Germany is one of the worlds greatest creditor nation and just lost to China as the worlds largest exporter. I have been pointing out to my friends on the right for the last couple of years to explain Germany.
- they work fewer hours per week (on average)
- get more exercise
- eat better
- drink better (sorry PBR lovers)
- drive faster
What's not to like about Germany?
Yes! And I do believe their workers sit on the company's board.
Here in the USA the closes thing I know to Communism is your time at work...lol Do as I say when I say or face the consequences.
around Berlin now and enjoy the beautiful, shaded paths beside the little river Spree, where young people sit enjoying the simple tranquility of the waterside on a spring or summer day. All the while imagining the scene back in the USA at the Indianapolis Speedway or the dozens of Nascar ovals around Dixie of the frantic idiocy of America-on-wheels, the fat slobs in beer can hats grilling cheez dogs in the parking lots, letting loose their asinine rebel yells as though this makes men of them.
Hey, leave my cheese dogs out of this!
Election 2012: Be Educated! Be Active! Vote!
www.phoenixjustice.com
http://lolblips.dailyradar.com/video/youtube-...
If you listen to Beck tonight none of this matters because according to Beck and Frank Gaffney, the President is in cahoots with the Muslim extremists and we are all doomed anyway.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
the mooslims are here!
How can you watch Beck and maintain your sanity? Maybe I should be trying more of that Sapphire - it must have amazing restorative effects.
After a few stiff drinks even a lousy band sounds great.
Cocktail hour doesn't start here until about 6:30 or so, so I haven't had a single cocktail before I see his show. I wouldn't spoil the mood of a tasty martini by exposing myself to his nonsense. That would be a waste of delicious adult beverages.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
I seldom if ever watch his whole show. I just like to know what the idiot is feeding to his audience so I can try to understand the foolishness of their beliefs.
He's a master of words when it comes to getting people stirred up, especially people who are already ignorant about just about everything that isn't written in the bible. He's focusing more and more on religion vs. religion. He is so shooting for a show on tv where he can be the evangelical preacher and people will send him money to pray for them. He's about a half year away from that as far as I can tell. When he tells his viewers the only thing that will save the country is their praying to god, what else might one think?
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
'send $10 and learn the secrets of x'
Watching Beck and Gaffney is like vomiting and diarrhea at the same time.
The people of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage." J.K. Galbraith
Ed of the Ed Show verbally hands Beck his ass on a platter tonight. In fact Ed serves up several republican asses tonight.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
To be fair, I think you have to exclude small population countries - that leaves us at #4. Larger populations tend to be more culturally and geographically diverse so it's comparing apples and oranges, IMHO.
That's not exponential.
Just bring our troops home from around the world and cut military spending. We would have plenty of money to fix Social Security and Medicare. Start Medicare for all. I personally will not vote for any politician who does not advocate a single payer system thats saves money.
Republicans are liars and simply cannot be trusted.
There's that Earth Logic again. Dude, you should know by now that's forbidden in this country.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
a willingness to stop structuring all of our economic policies for the short-term benefit of corporations over everything else.
Companies don't even act in their own best interests, but simply do whatever Wall Street will like inthe next quarter or so. Then the CEO takes his golden parachute and leaps to the next company that he knows nothing about. Since he's been a CEO, he can CEO anything, of course.
The Board will convene a salary committee that will research only larger firms (b/c they're going to grow, of course) and let them know that they need to pay the next CEO even more.
New CEO comes in and cuts jobs and benefits to concentrate all wealth at the top or at least look profitable for a quarter or two, at which point he jumps with his golden parachute.
Until employees can share in the profits, we will continue to slide into banana republic-tude.
Yet another excellent analysis from Fareed. This man deserves more airtime!
This is very clear succinct indictment of how the GOP approaches America in 2010:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/8/18/10292...
you'll go from #11 to #12. Presuming this list means anything.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
You think investing in the long term economic strength of this country would drop us in ranking?
That happens to be where Germany comes in on the list. (which surprises me) Using the new search algorithm I invite anyone to find a place where I have spoken out against training or education. The Germans excel at these things. Their apprenticeship programs are particularly good. They also came up with some outstanding job sharing agreements that kept people employed during the recession, albeit with fewer hours and it was much better than just laying people off. You simply can't go wrong,long term or short, by investing in your citizens.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
European countries have just one class of citizen, here in the US theres three or five or more types of classes of citizen, elite owners, middle class whites, middle class other, working poor, non working poor, Hispanic, Black, immigrants, undocumented immigrants.
And our lords and masters follow that happy adopted Marxian creed of to each their own and to each their needs, and they decided that some classes need far less than others.
short-term benefit of corporations and Wall street over everything else , exactly what nearly destroyed the entire world's economy and what put this country in the hole that it's in yet the Repugs / Reich wing see no problem with the set up even now .
You miss the point. The issue is not rah-rah our country. Every country does that, to a degree. The issue is focusing just on rah-rah America and ignoring the hard facts while you cheer (or, as Nero did, ignoring the fire while Rome burned . . . )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9E4oARc7HM
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
but her 'remedies' for the economy have won out and unfortunately it looks like Repubs are touting Germany's
rebounding economy as proof that Merkel was right when she told Barack that Keynesian pump priming wouldnt work.
What is this crap about "our GDP is so much greater than theirs"? We have a concommittantly higher population, as well. We have the same niches as they do, OR SHOULD.
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