Herman the German
In sight of peace--from the Narrow Seas
O'er half the world to run--
With a cheated crew, to league anew
With the Goth and the shameless Hun.
- Rudyard Kipling, The Rowers, in "The Times", Dec. 22, 1902
I was going to do a post about Belgium this week, but couldn’t think of anything to write other than the old joke about 99% of Belgium being devastated in a catastrophic nuclear accident….you know the one……where life goes on as usual for most of the population. So instead, I thought Mr Free Market would cast a critical eye over the Home of the Hun.
The German economy, for so long, held out to be a paradigm of economic & social virtue is stuck on the taxiway of the World economy. Over taxed & overregulated, it has ground inexorably to a halt, while the free markets of the UK & USA, having weathered the recent global slow down in reasonable shape, are starting to take off. I can’t think of a bunch of people I would rather have this happen to…..other than the French of course, but readers I think we can take that as a given.
Lets be honest, how can any Nation that wears leather shorts & doesn’t see the funny side cope with the rate of change in the globalised economy? For a country that prides itself in its banking system, it really isn’t doing very well. Don’t believe me Klaus – pour yourself another glass of schnapps, put ‘Westdeutsche Landesbank ’ into your search engine, read the results & shed tears of laughter………………………….. and its not alone, try ‘Bankgesellschaft Berlin’ or even ‘Commerzbank’ if you don’t believe me.
Lets be honest, for the last ten years, condescending German euro-propagandists have bombarded us with facts & figures about how great the Euro will be. I must confess that facts & figures are better than bombs & shells and I mean that seriously. My one surviving Aunt is a bit neurotic but its not surprising really; during WWII she was dug out of the rubble three times – not bad for a vicars wife.
So people signed up for the Euro thing in 1999 and lets be clear here, the concept of a single European currency was first mooted by the Nazis. The European Central Bank then proved that it was too open to political coercion & was unable to implement reform of the labour and capital markets. Inefficiencies that Thatcher had disposed of remained in place. Fine while the economy is doing well, but disastrous as the European economies started to come under pressure in 2000/1, as Government incomes fell & spending rose as a consequence of bloated social welfare programmes.
And it gets better, German unemployment continues to grow, a direct function of the of its inflexible labour markets; currently 4 million unemployed which may grow by a further 10%. There is only the faintest hope of economic growth next year. The Government seems to be unable or unwilling to reduce its budget deficit to 3% (it currently runs at 3.8%).
The people that cannot run their own country are the same ones that want Blighty to seed financial & fiscal control to the EU. Not content with that, they want to set foreign policy & for us to join the so called ‘EU Army’. Now, I must be missing something here but the proposal seems to be as follows:
a) Let the people who are not competent to run an economy, run our economy
b) Let the people who have no idea about a modern labour markets, over regulate our own
c) Let the people who have no appetite to become involved in world affairs, set our foreign policy.
As you know, I'm a simple fellow, but none of this strikes me a very good idea. Great Britain is a small island that understands 'blue water' and has survived as a trading race. Inherently, that means that we are adaptable and fleet of foot enough to adapt to new markets and changing circumstances. Since the Reformation, we have survived by our wits. Europe by contrast, is introverted and fixated by the mainland and overbearing control of its citizens and markets. It is no place for us.
In a recent German TV poll, Karl Marx was voted the 'Greatest German of All Time' - oh dear! It no wonder their economy is in such a state. Anyone who still believes in supply side economics is back in the Dark Ages - it didn't work. As Mr PJ pointed out, in every application it produced totalitarian autocracy & bad cars.
And on that happy note I shall leave you now. I am off to the pub for an honest English pint of ‘Spitfire’ ale – its brewed by the Kentish brewer Shepherd Neame. It is said that this foaming ale is downed all over Kent………just like the Luftwaffe!
P.S. For those of you that might be interested, the little angel at the top of this post is Field Marshal Baron Colmar von der Goltz. No doubt, he is still considered to be a good European, in the beer halls
Comments
Karl Marx? The greatest German of all time? Even crazy old King Ludwig would be a better choice.
Good thing you're British, and not European. Don't let yourself be assimilated..and hoist a spitfire for me!
Posted by: TNAR | December 1, 2003 1:19 PM
Good post.
Posted by: Phil | December 1, 2003 4:42 PM
The really funny thing about Marx is that he stated he was no Marxist. In fact he was a capitalist. He considered capitalism a necessary phase of economics until the capitalists had driven profits to zero.
Today he would be considered a science fiction writer. An imaginer of a utopian future and how it might work out.
Posted by: M. Simon | December 13, 2003 5:04 AM