How Germany builds more cars than US while paying twice a much to workers!

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25. As one who lives and works in Germany most of the time

There are several factors to consider. First off, most workers at Daimler-Benz or BMW cannot afford
the products they make. Company cars make up a LOT of German domestic consumption due to tax
laws that favor them. Daimler and BMW have factories elsewhere (e.g. Alabama and South Carolina)
to offset domestic costs. If exports were to drop off, especially to countries with a lot of corruption
and new oligarchies (Russia, China), ALL German car manufacturers would be in trouble. Germany's
domestic market could never absorb their production.

The councils between workers and management are the big key. Strikes hurt both--in an export
driven economy a very serious deal. Strikes in a sector like that hurt Germany's economy very
badly, and lead to losses and hiring freezes.

Take into account, too, the exchange rate--the euro is still over $1.30, which skews things.
Also--Germans pay higher income taxes than we do, and have a 19% sales tax on everything,
which takes a bite out of every income, but hits lower-income people hardest. At $67 per hour
with their 37 hour work week, that's $129,000 a year. That puts you close to the 49% income
tax bracket in Germany, when you include all surcharges, and your employer had better sell one
HELL of a lot of cars if he is to continue to afford that.

One of the weirdest things in Germany--and probably the single reason that wind energy doesn't already
account for more energy production: in Germany sitting members of the Parliament are allowed to serve
on the boards of directors of corporations (!!!!!!!!!!!). Imagine a bunch of Republican Senators and
Congressmen sitting on the board of directors of Exxon-Mobile (not that half of them aren't in their
pockets already).