Why Germany Has It So Good -- and Why America Is Going Down the Drain

[marmar]

AlterNet / By Terrence McNally

Why Germany Has It So Good -- and Why America Is Going Down the Drain
Germans have six weeks of federally mandated vacation, free university tuition, and nursing care. Why the US pales in comparison.

October 14, 2010 |


While the bad news of the Euro crisis makes headlines in the US, we hear next to nothing about a quiet revolution in Europe. The European Union, 27 member nations with a half billion people, has become the largest, wealthiest trading bloc in the world, producing nearly a third of the world's economy -- nearly as large as the US and China combined. Europe has more Fortune 500 companies than either the US, China or Japan.

European nations spend far less than the United States for universal healthcare rated by the World Health Organization as the best in the world, even as U.S. health care is ranked 37th. Europe leads in confronting global climate change with renewable energy technologies, creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs in the process. Europe is twice as energy efficient as the US and their ecological "footprint" (the amount of the earth's capacity that a population consumes) is about half that of the United States for the same standard of living.

Unemployment in the US is widespread and becoming chronic, but when Americans have jobs, we work much longer hours than our peers in Europe. Before the recession, Americans were working 1,804 hours per year versus 1,436 hours for Germans -- the equivalent of nine extra 40-hour weeks per year.

In his new book, Were You Born on the Wrong Continent?, Thomas Geoghegan makes a strong case that European social democracies -- particularly Germany -- have some lessons and models that might make life a lot more livable. Germans have six weeks of federally mandated vacation, free university tuition, and nursing care. But you've heard the arguments for years about how those wussy Europeans can't compete in a global economy. You've heard that so many times, you might believe it. But like so many things, the media repeats endlessly, it's just not true. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/economy/148501/why_germany_has_it_so_good_--_and_why_america_is_going_down_the_drain/

[Scuba]

Germany has also outlawed derivatives.

[Scuba]

Germany has also outlawed derivatives.

[Scuba]

Germany has also outlawed derivatives.

[Scuba]

1. Germany has also outlawed derivatives.

[marmar]

2. OK, OK, I believe you.......

:)

[Sherman A1]

14. +1

:hi:

[glitch]

11. That was actually worth stating 4 times :) nt

[femrap]

24. Let me repeat...

Germany has outlawed derivatives!

My ancestors are German...and I have a German temperament. So the way the US does business just drives me crazy. It is soooooooooooooooooooo inefficient.

When I traveled to Europe while in college in the early to mid-'70's, I was absolutely astounded at the shopkeepers in Switzerland who would get out every morning and wash the sidewalks in front of their stores....with SOAP AND WATER. You could literally eat off the sidewalk. And the food was sooooooooo good. Public transportation was great. I always felt I was born in the wrong country.

I still do.

Maybe France or Germany would be so kind as to invade us and take over!!!!

[swilton]

61. + 1

[Enthusiast]

42. Imagine that.

If we had any sense we would outlaw derivatives also. Fat chance of that happening here.

[Blue_Tires]

3. i was there this summer and was very impressed...

[RainDog]

4. this is an excellent article.

did you post this in GD?

Things don't disappear in this forum as quickly but they often don't get seen as often either.

THE most important point in the article, as far as the U.S. is concerned, is recognizing the need to move away from rewards for financial sector jobs (by taking away incentives by regulation that stops the casino) and moving to manufacturing that looks to the future - specifically things like alternative energy sources - because of the multiple benefits to this nation in terms of jobs, costs of living, motivations for wars... important things.

Some in the U.S. argue openly that the only way to stop the current trade wars, etc. is to bring U.S. labor prices in line with third world countries... honestly, I have heard and read this argument more than once in comments on mainstream news sites. This idea is bullshit...and backward. Let the third world nations pay wages that match developed countries. Let other nations import to those nations with goods created in those nations rather than allowing 1st world nations to pay 3rd world wages to create goods.

That would also help with the over consumption of crappy geegaws that end up in landfills.

This article also mentions the value of those things that may not be bought and sold - things that are for the public benefit, like concerts in the park - really - what happened to our ability to value the common good? It was solid during WW2 - but that was also when the capitalists were not in full control. That, basically, is the problem now.

[JDPriestly]

41. Here is the quote I liked best:

30 years later the Germans are making money off of China, and China is making big time money off of us. One thing I really try to get across in the book: Many Americans think that we've got a trade deficit because we can't compete with China. We've got a trade deficit because we can't compete with Germany in selling things to China. Until people wake up and look at the kinds of things that the Germans are doing to keep their manufacturing base, we're going to continue to run deficits which leave us in the clutches of foreign creditors and compromise our autonomy as a country.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/148501/why_germany_has_it_so_good_--_and_why_america_is_going_down_the_drain?page=7

[Enthusiast]

44. That's a good one, alright...nt

[Enthusiast]

43. I feel the same, RainDog.

I hope more voters will start to recognize the dangers in voting for advocates of a race to the bottom.

[Klukie]

5. Thank you ..Thank you!!!

This was a great read and should be required reading for all Americans...especially the flag wavers!!

Loved the lines......... "Without an industrial base a democracy dies." and "Countries like Germany do both capitalism and socialism better than we do."

Mr.Thomas Geoghegan is a well informed man!!

[raccoon]

6. Has Germany outlawed derivatives?

(Seriously, I think that is a GREAT idea.)

[Recursion]

20. Well, "banning all derivatives" would be impossible

Germany made it illegal to sell on a German exchange a swap derived from EU debt.

[molly77]

35. France is number one in health care

Our US hospitals are getting very dangerous. Older experienced nurses are being pushed out of their jobs to make room for new nurses who do not make as much money. Nurse patient ratios have gone up up up.Bottom line does not work in health care.

Europeans actually get something for their taxes. I wish someone would do a study of taxes paid in European countries and taxes paid in the US. I'll bet ours are comparable when you add in all of the hidden taxes. I don't think the US gets too much bang for the buck.

[Enthusiast]

45. Mersa and regular staph infection

is rampant in our area hospitals. It comes as no surprise that Republicans are pushing so hard to limit medical related lawsuits. My wife and I believe the reason for the increase in staph is due to cutting cleaning jobs to increase the bottom line.

[Lucky Luciano]

36. Yes..they banned CDS trading of sovereign debt if you don't hold the bond. that is all i think. nt

[Nordmadr]

7. Why oh why can't we seem to look at other systems that

work and tailor ourselves accordingly?

Oh, nevermind: Greed. It's a virtue don't you know?

[Klukie]

8. and don't forget arrogance

[Quantess]

30. It's because ignorant freeper-types buy into the notion that America is #1 no matter what,

and even when forced to admit that, no, the USA is actually not at the top, or far down the list, it still turns into rhetoric about the USA's ideals are #1. When asked to elaborate, they regurgitate the right wing talking points.

[Enthusiast]

47. I have seen the same thing.

One would think Republicans and Teabaggers could recognize how manipulated they have become.

[Enthusiast]

46. "Greed. It's a virtue don't you know?"

Exactly. Wealth = virtue in the minds of the conservatives.

[OnyxCollie]

9. It's Germany's constitution.

With checks and double-checks to ensure democracy, particularly where corporations are involved.

If only we could have come up with that. :sarcasm:

[JHB]

19. We did

(I know you were being sarcastic, but it's always worth restating it for people who don't know)

Remember who had a big hand in writing Germany's post-WW2 constitution: Americans, of the "New Deal"er variety.

[OnyxCollie]

21. Just think how it would be here

if we added this to our constitution.

Article 9 Freedom of association

(1) All Germans shall have the right to form corporations and other associations.

(2) Associations whose aims or activities contravene the criminal laws, or that are directed against the constitutional order or the concept of international understanding, shall be prohibited.

(3) The right to form associations to safeguard and improve working and economic conditions shall be guaranteed to every individual and to every occupation or profession. Agreements that restrict or seek to impair this right shall be null and void; measures directed to this end shall be unlawful. Measures taken pursuant to Article 12a, to paragraphs (2) and (3) of Article 35, to paragraph (4) of Article 87a, or to Article 91 may not be directed against industrial disputes engaged in by associations within the meaning of the first sentence of this paragraph in order to safeguard and improve working and economic conditions.

[Enthusiast]

48. Obviously Germany has

no equivalent to Citizens United.

[OnyxCollie]

53. Oh, hell no.

Article 5 of the Basic Law not only protects speech, but also protects the formation of opinion.

Article 5 Freedom of expression, arts and sciences

(1) Every person shall have the right freely to express and disseminate his opinions in speech, writing and pictures, and to inform himself without hindrance from generally accessible sources. Freedom of the press and freedom of reporting by means of broadcasts and films shall be guaranteed. There shall be no censorship.
(2) These rights shall find their limits in the provisions of general laws, in provisions for the protection of young persons, and in the right to personal honour.
(3) Arts and sciences, research and teaching shall be free. The freedom of teaching shall not release any person from allegiance to the constitution.

[Enthusiast]

54. When they say "person"

they don't mean corporations. :fistbump:

[creon]

10. I agree

I agree with Thomas Geoghegan.

People do need to read more articles of this nature.

[Wednesdays]

12. Some old articles from Escape Magazine are among my faves

I had to do a little digging, because the website went defunct in the early 2000's, but underscore what the OP is talking about, and nothing has changed in 10 years...if anything, it's gotten worse.

SPECIAL REPORT: Vacation Starvation
(from the April 2000 issue of ESCAPE)

By Joe Robinson

Some of you might recall the story I did on vacation deficit disorder in the very first issue of ESCAPE ("Why Germans Get Six Weeks Off and You Don't," Winter '94; see it at escapemag.com). We learned then, as we do whenever we meet Europeans on the road, that the Germans, Brits, French, Danes, Dutch, Italians, Belgians, Austrians, Swedes, Finns, Norwegians, Spanish and Swiss--plus the Australians, in a league of their own--get two to three times the amount of paid leave a year that grindstone Americans do, allowing them to gallivant the globe for four to six weeks a year and leaving us with drool on our faces and the distinct notion that something's rotten in Wal-Mart. Since then nothing's changed, except for the worse. Western Europe and Australia still kick our butts, with five weeks off the norm, while we eke out 9.6 days at large U.S. companies after one year, 17 after ten years; at small business operations (where the vast majority of us work these days) it's eight days after a year, 16 after 25 years! But that's only part of the story. Add up the growing number of hours in the day that Americans are working, and we now log 2,000 hours a year--two weeks longer than the next nearest zombies on the list, the Japanese.

(snip)

Don't blink or sleep, and you might be able to stretch those three days to four. So where did we go wrong? We started out on a level playing field, with a week to two weeks in the '30s, when paid vacations were introduced in Europe and the U.S., says Lofgren. But "there was a decision made at some stage--do you want more pay or longer vacations? The unions in Europe went for longer vacations. The state in many European countries was very much concerned that vacations were good for you, that everyone should have holidays, that there should be legislation about vacation time. I don't think the state played the same role in the U.S."

After that the Europeans shot ahead of us, adding a week each in the '50s, '60s and '70s. When I called him in Stockholm, Lofgren was enjoying two weeks off for the Christmas holiday, as most Swedes do, which is on top of the five weeks he and his countrymen already get by law. And don't forget the public holidays, he reminds me, which are used to milk the "squeeze days" between an official holiday and a weekend for an extra Friday here or Monday there. Rub it in, Orvar.

Meanwhile, we remain stuck in a '30s vacation twilight zone of nine days--with a zooming work-hour whammy on top of that. One recent study found that Americans now work 142 more hours a year than in 1973, a full three and a half weeks. The technology that was supposed to have freed us--remember the paperless office and the four-day week?--is imprisoning us in a spiral of workaholism, as we become more and more buried by an avalanche of busy-ness. Job stress is at an all-time high. Stress accounted for 6 percent of workers staying home in 1995; it's 19 percent today. A study that researched the growing phenomenon of healthy people calling in sick calls the trend "entitlement mentality," with workers using sick time to take days they feel they deserve.

More:
http://web.archive.org/web/20010418161735/http://www.escapemag.com/

(My favorite article can no longer be found on the web. It's from Salon, circa 1998. Here are some excerpts.)

The Myth of the American Vacation
by Maria Roll

(The article begins with the author describing her meeting a Dutchman while vacationing.)

He did, and before I could bat my eyelashes he asked, in his disarmingly charming foreign way, why he never met Americans my age (28) when he was traveling, why he only met retirees or exchange students. I wanted to reply with a well-educated, sophisticated response so as to show the world — or at least this far-off, dusty spot of it — that Americans could, truly, speak in complete sentences. I mustered all my brain cells and drilled them for what seemed like an awkward, silent eon and then realized aloud, "Well, most Americans only have two weeks of vacation. If they get vacation at all." His eyes flew open and his rakishly bearded jaw dropped. "Two WEEKS?!" he screeched. Then he collected himself. "Pardon me, I am hearing wrong I think, perhaps you said two months?"

(snip)

What can the lucky Americans who do get two weeks do? That question, posed to numerous pals over the last few weeks, ignites frustration. My friend Shannon says, "I easily squander five days on major errands, family visits, a day off here and there. That leaves five free days per year! How is anyone expected to get away? And if your family’s out of state, forget it. You use all your vacation to spend Christmas with them." My sister-in-law Heidi, a home owner of 10 years, agrees, "It takes two weeks to re-roof or repaint your house. You need that much time just to maintain what you have!"

(snip)

The catch: All four of us felt highly employable and believed we could easily find work. Many, many Americans don't share that sense of security. They don't feel free to ask for another hour, let alone skip out for several added days. And even the most cleverly negotiated unpaid week compares shabbily to the several weeks' paid vacation our neighbors across the oceans enjoy, be they Danish lawyers or Australian illustrators or French truck drivers. Americans from all avenues of employment need a larger, more substantial answer to the soul-strangling noose of rising corporate profits, the shrinking middle class and our diminishing leisure time.

We need economic equilibrium in our society where we now have … well, fear. We feel thankful to have jobs — even as we sometimes loathe them — because we see people living on the streets. We also know the anxiety that accompanies even brief periods of unemployment. Before I set out for Australia, I had worked nearly steadily from the time I was 16, with a week or two off every couple of years. Many Americans I know started working at a younger age and took less time off. Striving for economic security by working hard is important and wise. (And I'm not just saying that because my mom will be reading this.) But you can't buy back time. And what constitutes security, anyway? What are we working for?

[Enthusiast]

50. Excellent, thank you. nt

[treestar]

13. OK, but what do we do about our horrible right wing?

They will fight those things tooth and nail.

There is no way to convince them - they are not rational.

[chervilant]

17. And,

think of all the cognitive dissonance if they had to acknowledge just how insane they are and have been for their entire existence...

[pattmarty]

18. Ship them off to Argentina.

:sarcasm:

[sulphurdunn]

23. We could make them illegal

like the Germans have done with Nazis. Or maybe, we'll get lucky and find a cure before they eat us.

[femrap]

25. Can't we just put them in prison

because Jesus said to do so?

[BanTheGOP]

28. Review my blog

Review my blog over the past few years, and you will see what can be done.

I've been dormant awhile on my other sites and assisting Socialist activities in So calif, but the gist of everything can be found here.

Spend an hour here. You'll thank me later.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/BanTheGOP

(Best to start at the beginning and work forward)

[54anickel]

15. My family immigrated in 1957, my eldest brother was 5 at the time. His daughter is now

studying at the American University of Paris and hopes for the opportunity to emigrate back to Europe. No doubt my dad is rolling in his grave to see what's become of his once beloved "land of milk and honey".

[LittleGirl]

16. They still makes 'things' in Germany

so that's how they've kept afloat. Moved back from Germany last year.

1. Maternity leave can be extended at 50% of your pay for up to three years; for each child.
2. Sundays are quiet time in Germany. No lawn mowers, no shops open (except for special weekends), a few gas stations and restaurants and that's it. It's family day. You'll see families out taking walks, bike rides, hikes and sometimes a drive but mostly it's family time at home.
3. They have all kinds of holidays in addition to the mandated 5 weeks of vacation.
4. When the recession hit, they kept their employees working part-time and the unemployment insurance paid the rest of their salaries.
5. Public transportation country wide. Lived there for 2.75 yrs without a car.
6. As a spouse of an EU citizen, my 'green card' was not only free but hassle free. A central database for IDs and taxes makes it easy. Oh and there is no tax filing unless you have deductions outside of the norm.

Those are just a few of the advantages of living in Germany.

[femrap]

26. OK....

that's it. I need to find a man in Germany to marry. I'd pay him....well, not a lot, but a fair amount.

[JDPriestly]

40. I lived in Germany. Quiet Sundays are wonderful.

You shop on Saturday (before evening because the shops were closed then too). Then you rest on Sunday. It's so great.

[sadbear]

22. I may live in the United States, but I'm a European at heart

[BanTheGOP]

27. Ban the Republican Party, and all is well

Do you see a theme here?

Europe has NO republican party equivalent. If they do, they are considered far right, and extremists, as they should be.

To be blunt, if a republican party tried to form nowadays, it would get constitutionally knocked down silly it's not even funny.

So the answer is obvious...BAN The republican party in the US, and we become as just and civilized as Europe.

Geez, that's too easy. Why haven't we done it already???

NO republican Party = no tea party = social justice in America.

[recoveringdittohed]

33. Ban male voting for 128 years and all is well

Ostensibly to make up for 128 years that females could not vote in the U.S. but actually to create a 128 year Democratic left of center majority. Almost all of the polling data shows male voters favoring right wingers and females favoring Democrats.

This is a facetious post but I think contains some food for thought. How can I convince my fellow males to vote less Neanderthally?

[Shireling]

29. Wow!!! That's almost Utopia compared to our country.

Germany (well, most of Europe) learned a painful lesson a few decades ago.

[Citizen Worker]

31. I was in Germany very briefly several years ago. Not nearly long enough but I did learn that six

weeks payed vacation is a requirement. No saving it for next year. Additionally, at the time, every 5 years German workers were given an additional 3 weeks off to go to a health spa, all payed for from taxes. I understand that the health spa vacation has changed to 8 year intervals.

I was able to speak with a young man who had moved to Germany at 15 to live with grandparents following the death of his parents in a traffic accident. At the time I met this young man he was an unemployed house painter. I wanted to know how the unemployment system worked compared to the US. Under German law at the time he collected 100% of his weekly wages for one year. If after several months, I don't recall the time now, he would be asked if he wished to relocate to a different part of the country where his particular skills may be in demand. If he chose to move all related expenses were covered. If he chose not to move the state would administer a skills test to determine what crossover skills he might posses for available jobs in his area. Were he to need additional training or schooling he would be enrolled in the appropriate school.

A bit over a year after my visit I would become unemployed and denied benefits even though corporate management made a decision to lockout the work force.

Which system would you choose?

[Beartracks]

64. Clearly, YOU are in the free-er society.

I kid, of course.

It's galling that in America many expect the unemployed to pay their own way out of their situation (food, moving expenses, additional education), because, of course it's "their own fault" for not having a backup plan, a nest egg, a rich uncle, etc.

The kind of economic security afforded to the unemployed German painter actually gave him the FREEDOM to find the right job for his skills and talents -- and it is definitely in the public interest that he be allowed that freedom and not fall into poverty.

The unabashed assumption of the right wing here is that such a safety net removes the "incentive" of an unemployed worker to find work. The right wing actually has NO FAITH in American workers, believing them to be lazy.

--------------

[DirkGently]

32. Social Democracy. Works.

[Raster]

34. Socialist Democracy works for all. Capitalist Democracy works for some.

[Amonester]

37. K&R

That book has to become a Best Seller all over the U.S.

[BlueMTexpat]

38. I currently spend most of the year in Europe -

by choice. It used to be because of work, but now it is because I enjoy a very high quality of life here.
The meme "wussy Europeans can't compete in a global economy" is simply not true. Apart from the excellent quality of education, health care, working conditions (for the most part) enumerated in the article, many Europeans are multilingual. They can thrive in English and non-English-speaking environments.
The EU celebrates its linguistic diversity. While it encourages the study of other languages, particularly of member states, it does not impose one language on its membership.
The area where I currently live was not nearly as affected by the economic crisis and is rebounding, principally because the authorities invest in people and infrastructure, not war.
If only the US would lose its blinders and learn.
I was speaking to a European neighbor yesterday, discussing the USD's decrease in value. He told me that he believes in the boundless capacity of the US to regain its economic footing and is actually planning to invest in dollars in anticipation. I used to believe in that too. If we had Democrats who would BE Democrats instead of bowing before corporate and RW thuggery, perhaps we still can.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

39. How are you able to spend most of the year in Europe legally?

Inquiring minds are interested.

[DFW]

49. It helps if you are married to one of the friendly natives

My wife is German. I am also Station Chief for Europe for my American employer.

But even if you don't have that, as long as you leave back home at less than 90 day
intervals, you need no residency visa. However, if you have no work permit or European
spouse, you had better be a multimillionaire if you want to hang out here without
joining the gypsies on the begging circuit.

[BlueMTexpat]

63. Sorry - was away from the computer and didn't see this until now.

I had just drafted a long response and then hit the wrong key so that I lost the whole blasted thing! XXX##@#@!!!
Anyway, I need to leave for a morning workshop, but will write you a more personal response when I have a few moments later on. Sorry about that.

No, it isn't at all easy. But I have been very fortunate in my experiences and choices.

[lebkuchen]

51. I'm lucky to be able to spend the entire year here, year after year

Even when offered a free trip back to the US, I prefer to stay in Germany/Europe.

If only Medicare were available to us in Europe. Maybe that law will change...

[Enthusiast]

52. K&R

It all comes down to one thing - corporate influence of the political process. Until we address this issue there will be no improvement in the quality of life of the American people. Corporations control the media so thoroughly that most Americans are kept completely unaware of these quality of life discrepancies.

I remember when the modest McCain/Feingold was proposed. Limbaugh carried on about how this was an assault on the freedom of speech. And we heard this repeated nearly every time a conservative spoke on TV. One would think Limbaugh's Republican listeners would wake up to where his true alliances lie. But, unfortunately, they haven't. Propaganda is effective and no country has been so thoroughly subjected to right wing propaganda than the United States of America.

[DFW]

55. One country certainly has been as subjected to right wing propganda

And that country is Germany itself.

That is one of the reasons that Germany is so allergic to a rising right wing
in the very country that liberated it from its own right wing terror regime.

[sadbear]

56. They don't suffer from 'Exceptionalism' the way we do

Most of Europe know they've fucked up royally in the past, and are under no illusion that they are perfect. This allows them to better themselves, while we're stuck with what we got because so many people believe in 'American exceptionalism.'

[nxylas]

57. And I know exactly how the exceptionalists would react to this

Well, obviously they'd start with "If you love Europe so much, then go live there". If that wasn't enough, they's go into the whole narrative about how liberalism is a European innovation that is alien to the American way. I first came across this narrative when one of my wife's (R)elatives e-mailed me a supposedly humorous history of conservatism that containe a line that said something like "Liberals don't really love America, they love Europe. That's why so many of them were still living there long after conservatives had done all the hard work of building America". Those may not be the exact words, but that was the gist of it. It puzzled me at the time, but now it makes more sense, as there seems to be a concerted effort to trumpet this idea of conservatives as the original Americans and liberals as European johnny-come-latelys. See the recent thread on how some Freeper was protesting that he and his ilk were as much Native Americans as any Sioux or Iroquois.

[sadbear]

58. It really irks conservatives when you explain to them that the Founding Fathers

were the liberals of their day, and that their legacy was one of liberalism.

[nxylas]

59. They don't believe it

There's a big project underway to rewrite history in order to make it more to their liking. For example, have you ever noticed how the bits of the Constitution they don't like (chiefly the 13th through 16th Amendments) were "never properly ratified"? Must be those alien European liberals foisting their unAmerican ways upon us again.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

60. Today's NY Times article on the Tea Party prompted a reader's comment to the effect

that the Founding Fathers would have preferred hanging around (having a beer with?) the members of the Tea Party to hanging around with Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and Barney Frank.

(BTW, have you noticed how much conservatives hate Barney Frank? Just as the idea of a person of color as president makes them crazy, so does the idea of an uncloseted gay Congressman.)

Anyway, I wrote a reply saying that the Founding Fathers were among the best educated men of their generation, knew Latin and Greek and sometimes French and Italian, were knowledgeable and interested in the science of their day, and were religious liberals.

You know what the Founding Fathers would have called the Tea Party? "The rabble."

[sadbear]

62. Today's tea party would have been Tories and Loyalists during the Revolution

[DeSwiss]

65. KICK

This article should be read by everyone.