Merkel Says Germans ‘Never Had It Better.’ But Many Feel Left Behind.

I could write much longer, but just led me say that it was the economic-wing of Merkel's party that refused to intruce a minimum wage until the second grand-coalition with the social-democrats - as well as a housing-cost-ratchet, which is still useless especially in Berlin, as they refuse some needed detail-amandments, that would make it work. But Schulz's campaign already made the CDU as well as the mainstream shift more to the left in this area. AM might remain chancellor anyway, but it will make a huge difference whether its with the Social-Democrats or the Greens on the on hand, or the libertarian FDP (which missed the 5%-ratchet exactly because of these issues the last time) again, as in her second government. ‌

???? The article makes other statements, see below. As far as Hillary goes, the press supported her in many ways while ignoring other Democratic candidates, and especially waged a campaign to discredit Trump. The front page of the NYT had no qualms about being blatantly partisan on the topic, and the main stream media fully expected Hillary to win. I didn’t think that Trump was a viable candidate much less President, but to see the media place aside any sense of unbiased news reporting when they feel that it is worthwhile to do so is disappointing.

"Since 2012, an additional 2.1 million people have turned to government assistance. In all, 7.2 percent of the population relies on it."

"More than seven million people hold so-called mini-jobs, part-time positions without any contributions to health insurance."

"1.2 million people who hold down jobs but still live below the poverty level — the food banks have more than 1.5 million people whom they are helping —"

'2.1million people', '7million people', '1.2million people'....are all people in poverty ? All these people have good shelter & Govt-provided full-scope Medicare & Govt-funded good school education for children. Much better than the US. Or any other country in the EU. Can anyone name One Country in the World where Everyone - 100% of people - is happy & contented with their Living conditions ? The answer is obvious. Yet, that is the nonsense yardstick used to discredit Chancellor Angela Merkel's Unparalleled Service to the German people. The Key Issue is the Slant of the Article which determines what the Reader carries away. The NYT had officially commended Hillary Clinton's candidature for President. But everyday of the 2016 Campaign it carried Donald Trump's LIES defaming Hillary Clinton verbatim on its front page. Without any info alongside giving the Facts & dumping the Lies. What are Readers to understand ? Spicy LIES are always easier to remember than unstated placid facts. That is the Irresponsible Press Slant which buried Hillary Clinton's campaign.

I live in Germany too, but I think the article is depicting an important development that doesn't get its fair share of attention in the press. In Berlin I could feel the mood change over the past decade even before the refugees arrived; people are being priced out of affordable housing and struggling with stagnant real incomes, which also mean lower pensions. Flex time, as you point out, is a big issue. Some of the other details have two sides, though: Yes, Germans get good state benefits compared to Americans, but there are other structural problems with the job market here which make it more difficult to change jobs or fields if you lose your current job. Counting people with mini-jobs as employed ignores the fact that those people have to get additional jobs to survive and often have no pension contributions unless one of their jobs provides it. Finally, having three years' credit on your pension for time staying home with kids is great, but that only applies if you stay home that whole time. Fewer than 10% of German women with small children work fulltime, often because of logistical barriers, meaning that most are getting half pension credits for years worked instead of full ones - I don't think the pension problem is going away in the future. The article does say -and I agree- that most Germans are doing well. However, it would be dangerous to ignore the increasing inequality and the growing parts of the population who feel marginalized by it.

Very few Americans actually earn only the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour -- many states have higher minimums -- the EFFECTIVE actual pay for low skill workers (Walmart, McD, etc.) is more like $9 an hour in the Midwest and South, and $11-13 an hour in the big blue coastal cities (*unless they have even higher minimum wages than that). You can't even hire babysitters in my Rustbelt Midwest area for $7.25 an hour -- the going rate is $10!!! and many get $12 -- I mean here, "teenagers babysitting for pin money". It also sounds like German women do not share their husband's pension or whatever passes for Social Security there. In the US, a woman gets half of her husband's SS check -- whether she worked or stayed home with kids -- OR whatever her own check would be -- she can choose which is the highest. After her husband dies...she gets 100% of HIS check (but must choose one, not two or more). So the German system is considerably stingier. Hmm. You'd never know that reading lefty lib articles here, about "how much better Germany/Europe is than the USA...."

Turn our backs? Who knows, but we won't pay you not to work if you're capable of it.

This begs the question if someone "prefers" not to work, how does she support herself and/or contribute to society? We have always had "people who would rather not work". Leaving aside bias or disparagement, what can they be considered other than a drain on society, and not merely in economic terms? People who do not work become socially and psychologically inept as citizens.

Unchecked immigration is undermining capitalism and democracy.

Are Bernie's years of membership in the the Trotskyite SDP an aspect of his "populism"? The Dems didn't choose him because he had no chance what-so-ever of winning. Hilary might have made it were it not for some help Trump got from that famous former Stalinist, Putin.

Hillary might have made it for the same reason that Angela Merkel will likely make it, i.e., weak contenders.

Defending what is going on in Germany by pointing at the United States misses the fact that Germany is now on the same trajectory as the United States because people like Merkel are championing the same type of economic policies that conditioned the United States to be as unequal as it is now. Before unfettered trade became the status quo, the United States was a more equal society, with the richest Americans paying huge tax rates (as high as 90%) that funded more robust social programs than what we have now. There was also strong labor union membership that kept middle class wages growing as our economy grew. Not any more. It only took a couple decades of free trade policy like NAFTA to completely reverse those social dynamics reducing wages not just in the United States, but Mexico as well, causing even more unregulated migration. Very similar circumstances are playing in the EU right now.

I believe that is the point of this article. The author wasn't trying to take Germany down a peg. Rather, they are pointing out that Germany is starting to feel the downside of neo-liberalism. I would also add it's easy to deflect criticism by pulling on our heart strings about Germany's refugee policy. Lest we forget that the United States has been unofficially accepting a much longer string of refugees from Mexico and Central America for decades whose impact on the economy has been similarly both good and bad.

But there had been even more equality from the 50s to 90s and there was always the aim of a "social-market-economy" despite the American-style capitalism, (which we already had in 19th century and once led to the struggle for democracy)
It all changed when via the EU-common-market British "company-consultants" and hedge-funds exported their anglo-capitalism to mainland Europe.
Why I'm totally glad that they're leaving, as gives us the possibility to reentruce the measures that are still the ideals for the most.

Wow!

Let me try to correct some of that.

-Germany is not on the same trajectory as the US. They are the most unionized country in the world with nearly the strongest safety net, universal health care and income inequality ranking near the bottom of the world, 137th out of 150 that are ranked.

-Numerous highly credible studies show NAFTA being a net economic wash for the US, neither bad nor good. However, it has helped our poorer neighbors immensely, making them long term civilized partners. Is there another foreign aid model as successful, where we don't pay a dime?

-Immigration has been an economic success for the US, the good far outweighing the costs of education and social programs. I'm amazed there is even a dispute on this point.

-Blaming trade and immigrants for US inequality has no basis in fact. Full stop. Tax and labor policy are the two known tools to combat inequality.

-Merkel's policies have historically created more wealth, there is no disagreement that socialized capitalism is the most successful, the only question is how much inequality is needed to optimize incentives to work harder, and how much to share the benefits of the system. The failed Socialist and Communist models tell us perfect equality doesn't work, and the CIA created GINI to indicate the point inequality leads to gov't instability. Nordic countries seem to have found the sweet spot, and they are clustered in the range of Germany, the US however is in the breakdown range.

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One might want to ask why there are so many refugees in the first place. The Mid-East was largely stable until Bush/Cheney decided to attack Iraq under the false pretense of taking out Saddam's WMDs, which were never found. That war marked a tuning point for the region, and Western democracies are still paying the price for the actions of that reckless band of war criminals.

And this has nothing to do with refugees also. Amounts of "Hartz IV Grundsicherung" (Basic Welfare) were not cur from 2014 and were slightly raised in 2017. Residents of Germany - not exclusively Germans! - have legal claims (!) for Basic Welfare. The "one Euro wage" is an additional amount ("Aufstockung") when Hartz IV recipients do some work. In general jobs are falling under poverty level when these jobs are threatened by shifting to low-wage countries like Romania or countries in Asia. France has maintained the former wage level and is still losing these jobs in droves. Germany cut wages and set pressure on unemployed to accept these low paid jobs. For "clients" of Mr. Jabs this doesn´t work. because they fell out of the employment market for several reasons. Detailed brochures about mandatory "Basic Welfare" including amounts are not availaible in English anymore (withdrawn). The reason is to avoid a "welfare drain" from abroad so I cannot give you an English text. The problem is actually: Rents went up because of Mr. Draghi´s "Money flooding policy" of ECB so there is a squeeze. Mr. Butterwegge is referring to this when he is speaking about "affordable housing" as he did here. NYC residents might know this actual problem also. Mr. Butterwegge is a well known politician of "Die Linke" (The Left) - he ran for "Bundespräsident" last year on behalf of "Die Linke" from the outset - who is advocating a significant raise of Hartz IV claims as he does here also.

Chris, the demographics of the Middle East have long been out-of-control. The Muslim cultures and the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Israelis have been having too many children for their countries economies and for the planet’s limited resources. The demographics would have led to upheaval regardless of Bush’s actions. Look at Syria which has produced so many refugees. Despite the fact that modern medicine and hygiene have reduced the child death rate, Syrian women continue to have many children. Syria is an arid country that suffers from periodic drought. In the 1970’s, Turkey began building dams on the Euphrates, reducing the volume of water flowing to Syria. Climate change may be making weather more extreme. From 2006 - 2009, Syria suffered a severe drought. Corruption in the government bureaucracy made it difficult and expensive to get permits to dig deeper wells to find water so farmers could not irrigate. The Arab Spring decided to topple Assad’s government. Hillary Clinton wanted us to give full support to the rebels, but Obama wisely chose to remain largely on the sidelines. The Arab Spring told us not to try to take credit for trying to topple its dictatorial rulers; that they deserved credit for this. Therefore, it can take the credit (or blame) for the war in Syrian which has produced so many refugees. The Syrian culture which still expects women to produce large families is also to blame.

They are The Left is doing this (they even have state-governor in Thuringia and are co-governing in to other states) as well as the SPD is doing again. But many disappointed aren't voting, as well as many just vote CDU because of Merkel; who is one of the most left in her own party in other issues. When you look at their campaign its more or less copy of SPD's but centered at her person. But what they will deliver will be something different.

You may be missing the distinction between a refugee and an immigrant. Immigrants, sure, you screen long-term economic viability. Refugees are brought in on humanitarian grounds, though. Sure you apply common-sense security filters but otherwise, ideally, your concern is helping as many as you can, not picking and choosing.

But there were no common sense security filters in place when Merkel sent out the message - "Come to Germany, our borders are open".

Thank you Brett

It's a misguided humanitarianism which prompts folks to encourage immigrants from these alien cultures to migrate to Europe. The migrants are illiterate, impoverished, have no relevant job skills and follow a religion which preaches against contact with 'infidels'. It's destined not only to failure, but to create a sub-set of resentful people who have no chance of fully integrating into European society. Why not give economic aid to enable neighboring muslim countries, which share religion and culture with the migrants, to take them in?

They've sown the destruction of their country.

Well, that is exactly the problem. The German SDP, who should be looking out for the working class, is, like the democratic party in the US a incompetent, self-serving mass of career politicians. They and Merkel have ignored the real problems--failing school systems, no investment in infrastructure, no investment in human capital, save for handouts to illegal migrants--that the middle class have to live with. But, like Obama, the German politicians have chosen to avoid trying to solve the problems. Unfortunately, there is no winner-take-all vote as in the US, and these problems will get ignored after Merkel wins again and has to staff yet another toothless debating society instead of DOING something. Of course, being Merkel, she has promised NOTHING concrete to voters. The Germans DO worry about these things--but the government does nothing about it. Sound familiar?

Germany and the USA, whilst living the in the same world and so facing many of the same issues, are really not comparable politically: No party in Germany is against universal healthcare. No significant party there denigrates and sabotages their equivalents of the SEC and IRS. Their civil service is respected. The scientific method is respected. Outright lies are shamed and ridiculed and forced out of the political discourse. Germany has also done well to keep high end manufacturing at home. Though they've moved plenty of factories overseas, they haven't been nearly as ruthless as U.S. CEOs in seeking lower wages over all else. Real differences, not to say that Germany doesn't have poor people and also serious issues integrating their former guest workers and newer refugees. No country ever anywhere didn't have poor people.