Elections - Germans Vote for stasis

mike65

Well I guess we should have seen it coming, from a huge lead in the polls Merkels CDU ends up with a win of popular vote but not enough seats to form a government. Already there is talk of a grand coalition which sounds like a receipe for doing nothing.

As such this would please the German people and the establishment who seem to be incapable of embracing the winds of change.

Heads in the sand?

the stats

Mike.

Time Magazine

It will be interesting to see how a great reformer will perform without enough mandate to reform.

Victor

I don't get the Stasi reference. Care to explain?

murphaph

Victor wrote:

I don't get the Stasi reference. Care to explain?

I think he means 'stasis' as in 'frozen in time' as opposed to the plural of the former GDR secret police!

mike65

Quite so Philip! Even Schroders wife would'nt call Merkel a Stazi!

Mike.

zuma

mike65 wrote:

Quite so Philip! Even Schroders wife would'nt call Merkel a Stazi!

Mike.

Yeah, she made a couple of harsh comments about her recently!!!

From the news I think they are neck and neck in the polls which could be a receipe for another election in 6months/1 year down the road!!!

There are those that would say a divided bickering outcome in Germany is good for Ireland.
Nothing is done to tackle their economy,growth remains low so the German influence on the ECB means interest rates stay low.

black_jack

Earthman wrote:

There are those that would say a divided bickering outcome in Germany is good for Ireland.
Nothing is done to tackle their economy,growth remains low so the German influence on the ECB means interest rates stay low.

I'm not sure whats so worrying that merkel lost such a massive lead in such short space of time, is worrying for potential leader of what 50 million people, to have the lead eroded by such simplistic arguments by schroder.

murphaph

black_jack wrote:

I'm not sure whats so worrying that merkel lost such a massive lead in such short space of time, is worrying for potential leader of what 50 million people, to have the lead eroded by such simplistic arguments by schroder.

I think Germany's population is more like 80m, certainly the biggest population in the EU. It's in nobody's interests that Germany's economy remains in the toilet. It's ok just now, but as the social welfare reserves start to dry up you'll see a real drop in german consumerism and the economy can only get worse from there.

Germany is still the economic heart of the EU and it needs to be pumping strong if we europeans are to maintain our standards of living. I'm a home owner, so naturally I like my low interest rates, but if the economies of Europe continue to contract there'll be nobody in Europe to trade with and our own economy will begin to suffer.

I understand a german voter's perspective. They have a pro-rata social welfare system whereby he amount you paid in to the fund while employed is reflected in the amount they pay out to you on the dole.

Indeed, in the first 12 months of unemployment in Germany there is no means test, and a flat ~75% (or thereabouts) of your last paycheque is payed out in dole each month-even if you were earning a million quid a year, you'll get 750k on the scratcher! Now-in that situation, who's gonna take a job in a supermarket if they were a well paid engineer/accountant etc. before?!

They need to make some changes, but it's very painful for them. I just hope they don't leave it too late.

Maskhadov

germans just dont want to face the tough economic decisions that have to be made. I see this election result as a bad result for all concerned. There well could be a grand coalation and that means little change.

sovtek

Maskhadov wrote:

germans just dont want to face the tough economic decisions that have to be made. I see this election result as a bad result for all concerned. There well could be a grand coalation and that means little change.

I keep hearing about how the German people are going to have to change...but I wonder why people aren't asking German corporations to change...they are the ones making steadily increasing profits and sending jobs overseas...nevermind government subsidies.
Why can't they "reform"????

Newaglish

German companies' goals are profit maximisation - their duty is to their shareholders and other stakeholders.

Reform of the tax and welfare systems need to take place if the german economy is going to get on track. The problem is the indecision of who is to lead. This tie-break is probably one of the worst things that could have happened. One of the possible outcomes of this situation is that (after two weeks of no chancellor being elected) either Merkel or Schröder will become Kanzler by winning a relative majority vote, leading a minority government, and thereby having a wicked time trying to push through reform legislation. Which means Germany remains in the pooper.