Interesting--German economy is surpassing US and Britain

[Horse with no Name]

http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1844588,00.html

The mainland European economy, buoyed by a resurgent Germany, is expanding at its fastest rate for six years, outstripping Britain and the US, fresh figures showed yesterday.

Domestic euphoria over the football World Cup held in Germany boosted the country's economy, which grew by 0.9% in the second quarter, the fastest growth for more than five years, government figures showed.

Domestic investment and a rise in consumer spending have overtaken exports as the main impetus for economic growth. "For years we Germans have seen the glass as half-empty; now, at long last, it is half-full," one chief executive said, expressing the hope that the optimism generated by the summer Fussballfest would continue for the rest of the year.

The bounce in the German economy was reflected elsewhere in Europe, according to EU figures. The French economy expanded 1.2% in the second quarter, its fastest rate for six years, and economists expect the European Central Bank to raise interest rates twice more this year to 3.5%. In the second quarter, the US economy grew by 0.6% and the UK 0.8%. "Europe is in the lead," said Holger Schmieding, economist at the Bank of America.



So...for all of you economists out there--what exactly does this mean?

[Warren Stupidity]

1. Must mean that UHC, 6weeks vacation,

excellent cradle to grave support systems, strict regulations on workplace safety and employment practices, and strict environmental regulations are just not only NOT BAD for a modern economic system, but might actually be good.

[area51]

5. Well said.

I think a lot of Americans don't realize how good a life people in other countries get to have.

[marmar]

2. Karma, baby.

I'm about ready to jump off the Titanic and flee to the Netherlands. Do you think they'd accept me as a refugee from an oppressive regime? :shrug: :smoke:

[FlavaKreemSnak]

3. Maybe they are not spending as much on the war on terror?

Sometimes I wonder if people realize how expensive the war on terror is going to be. Not just the invasions and occupations, but also the pro-American countries in the Middle East are expensive, because the leaders are so much more pro-American than the people there are that it costs a lot to keep them in a crackdown so that they will not throw those pro-American leaders out and elect ones that we don't like. Plus there is what I guess you call a ripple effect of more people in America who are poor, and soon they will have to have a crackdown too, which will also be expensive.

Also I think they way their economies grow is for more groups of their people. The American economy is growing very fast for people who have a lot of money, especially if they have a lot of it invested in the oil companies and the defense ones.

[Horse with no Name]

4. This was my guess.

They are spending their time and resources on building their own country--not on tearing someone else's down.