[Bambi]

Originally Posted by benwavner

I would get great pleasure in smacking Merkel with a sweaty sock right across that crazy face of hers.

Stoopid Frauline.

Put a snooker ball in that sock first

[woodoo]

Originally Posted by peasant

If you have a job, you're lucky to go home with half of your paycheck after taxes ...the average take-home pay in Germany is 17560 Euro p.a
http://www.focus.de/finanzen/steuern...id_736137.html

Your average family with 2 children would get that on the dole here and still have their rent, medical card etc paid for. They might even be insulted with that little money on the dole.

Our politicians are worse they would actually say any less would lead to poverty on the most vulnerable and that it would be unfair to cut it

[DonQuay1]

Originally Posted by Shenshen

They have already paid that :

$23 bn to the allies
$450 mil to Israel (in addition to individual claims)
$3 bn to the World Jewish Congress for survivors in other countries

It also finished paying off reparations for WW I in 2010

No it didn't. It was forgiven a massive amount of its WW2 reparations in '49. And the actual treaty wasn't signed 'til 1990.... and still in the courts ....

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-786216.html

09/14/2011

WWII Reparations Case 'Germany Doesn't Feel Obliged to Pay More' AP Judges at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, on Sept. 12.

This week The Hague addresses a dispute over whether Italian courts can skirt German sovereignty in demanding reparations for Nazi war crimes. In an interview with SPIEGEL Online, victims' lawyer Martin Klingner discusses the implications of the case for his clients and future international war reparations.

In a case that could have consequences worldwide, Germany and Italy are squaring off this week at the United Nation's highest court in a jurisdictional dispute over the right of Italian courts to demand compensation for the victims of Nazi war crimes.

Hoping to quell what has been called "judicial tourism," Germany applied for proceedings in front of the World Court in December 2008, arguing that Italian courts have violated German sovereignty by addressing civilian claims for Nazi war crimes. The row originated from the case of Luigi Ferrini, who in 1944 was deported to Germany as a forced laborer. After an Italian Supreme Court ruled he should be compensated by Germany in 2004, a flood of similar cases have been filed in the country.



Greece would appear to have more than a case for money ..... Ireland wouldn't .....

http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...093990,00.html

Another legal issue that has surfaced concerns the 476 million reichsmarks lent against its will to Germany by the Greek National Bank during the war. If this were to be considered a form of war damage, then in principle it would be subject to reparation — except that according to the 1990 treaty, Germany would not have to pay it. If the money were, however, to be considered a normal credit, then Greece would be entitled to get the money back.
Without interest, the amount in today's money would amount to $14 billion. With interest at 3% over 66 years, that would come to at least $95 billion. The problem is this: even partial recognition of such a debt would create a precedent that could bring untold claims in its wake.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan

Reparations: Germany had no money or gold left after WW2. Although up to 300 heavy industrial factories from Germany were dismantled and re built in the US as well as France and the UK, etc, The US then went on to give Europe approx €17 Billion over four years to help us out of our problems. A pretty big sum - especially in '47!! Germany got a ginormous lump of that money ...

[Franticfrank]

The problem is this: even partial recognition of such a debt would create a precedent that could bring untold claims in its wake.

And quite rightly after all that trouble. Even though I wouldn't mind punching that woman in her sagging jowels, or taking that sock for that matter, most Germans who I've met seem quite insecure with her policies. You may speak here of European domination. However, I say go over and speak to the young German people. I guarantee you that they don't have these feelings. Actually, they do but only in soccer.

[Sykk]

Originally Posted by Doc Ruby

These same people you call "teacher" were shoving men, women and children into the ovens by the million

You're cute

[conorhal]

Originally Posted by Min

If we didn't get German money we would be in a much worse state. He or she who pays calls the tune, unfortunately.
We as a nation brought this mess on ourselves, the state allowed irresponsible borrowing encouraged by tax incentives and low interest rates, the interest rates were to suit Germany, but we had too much tax take based on once off payments and now we are changing that.
The whole mess could have been avoided, no point blaming Germany though they hold some responsibility in terms of the interest rates and their banks lending to Irish banks.
We should have controlled our banks with proper implementation of regulations which was ignored at the time.
So Angela Merkel is not the problem, we created our own problem, it is Germany that has been left to try and solve it given their economic might.

The Germans aren't solving it though, they are manipulating the process to their benefit as a creditor nation, just as it manipulated the currency to suit itself when it was a debtor nation.

The French and Germans were the ones responsible for the flawed architecture of the Euro, it was their ideological vanity project to backdoor further integration, and a handy way of restoring German competitiveness by abandoning the high value DM.
Germany then effectively managed the single currency as the DM 2.0, keeping interest rates ridiculously low because Germany, the first Eurozone country to breach the stability pact and exceed borrowing limits, needed to borrow and spend massive amounts of cash to pay off the costs of reunification while their economy bumped along the bottom with poor growth rates.
We didn’t see much of the self sacrificing 'we need to do what's best for Europe' attitude from them at the time, as they watched on while other European economies began to badly over heat.
Once the PIIGS went to the wall, how did the Bundesbank, sorry, ECB react? They tried to raise interest rates because the German’s were worried about inflation and the lumbered us with a bailout pegged at a vicious and punitive 6% interest rate (that only fell when Greece went to the wall and Germany began to worry about a default).
At every turn they have frustrated any real attempt to resolve the crisis because it ran counter to German interests.
They have been all gain (it actually costs investors to buy German debt at the moment and they low Euro exchange rate is a gift for their export sector), and no pain (there's a lot of talk about Germany funding bailouts, but it's not as if they are giving away money, they are lending it with intrest) during this crisis. The Germans have certainly never shown an ounce of self sacrifice or solidarity at any point during the Euro crisis. So it does beg the question, what the hell makes you think that a German solution to the problems that beset the currency will do anything for anybody else but Germany?

[Jester252]

Originally Posted by benwavner

I would get great pleasure in smacking Merkel with a sweaty sock right across that crazy face of hers.

Stoopid Frauline.

That how we will pay off the eurozone debt