Germany's "austerity" program: what does/did it look like? Why does Joey Scar like to talk about it?

[CTyankee]

He mentions it often when talking about how the U.S. needs to cut social programs.

If you have a link that explains what "austerity" actually meant in terms of limiting social programs in Germany, I'd like to know.

I suspect that "austerity" means something very different to the Germans than what Scar wants us to believe. For starters, I'm fairly certain Germany still has universal health care.

What have progressives like me been missing?

[OHdem10]

1. He never tells us that before the austerity program , Germany

provided Stimulus to get things in balance. He never tells
you that Germany wisely managed their Trade Policy. Looked
out for Germany's interests and built a super strong mfg base
and therefore Germany's economy is much better shape than ours.

It is a social Democracy therefore the benefits are much higher
than the other places. They have carefully spread the cuts over
a period of years. Starting a higher benefit amount, the cuts
will not seem as austere as in America. Germans are not happy
and many are questioning Capitalism.

That all said. Joe is simply trying to make it sound like
The Social Democracies are cutting benefits surely we can.
Fox has this theme also from time to time.. Without giving
any details, just try to make it sound like Europe is cutting
and they are socialist, surely we redblooded Americans can cut
benefits.

[CTyankee]

2. Yep, I was pretty certain Germany started at a higher level of benefits to begin with.

Joe is comparing apples to oranges as I suspected.

I also understand that its entrepreneurial sector is doing just fine, thank you very much. Kinda gives to lie to the pukes saying that socialism is antithetical to entrepreneurship, doesn't it?

How can we get the message out to Americans that Germany's "austerity" is nothing like what Americans must make do with...

[Iterate]

3. A country, not a confirmation

I don't know what it is about Germany that seems to incite self-important American media clones to use it as an example that always, by coincidence I'm sure, somehow supports their favorite position relevant to American politics.

And worse, this unwarranted and unearned permission is taken without the slightest bit of effort beyond having a German beer while watching the history channel. Any fidelity to history or nuanced truth is so rare I've made it my default position to assume initially that anyone using Germany to make a point doesn't know a thing.

OK, rant over.

I'll concentrate on Spiegel Online with caveats: it's generally centrist (center-left as a US translation), is prone to exaggeration of smaller problems while ignoring some big ones, and most of all, this is the English site which has a habit of putting issues in a specific light so as to drive Brits and Americans mad. There aren't many details here, but you can get the picture.

"Despite Boom, Little Hope of Big Pay Hikes in Germany"

"After years of restraint, German trade unions have a strong case for demanding big pay increases in the current boom. Much of Europe hopes they will succeed because this could lessen German competitiveness and boost its imports. But for many workers, hopes of a pay bonanza are likely to be dashed."
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,716376,00.html

"'I Would Love to Show My Children other Countries'"

"The German government plans to increase its benefit for the long-term unemployed by 5 euros a month, but life will still be a struggle for families like the Schades. Jacqueline Schade and her three children have settled into a difficult life on social benefits in Berlin. It is a life of unfufilled dreams and sometimes even bruises."
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,720438,00.html

"Merkel's Austerity Program Is 'Faint-Hearted and Unbalanced'"

"After eight months of in-fighting, stalling and setbacks, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government finally took a landmark decision on Monday, announcing the country's largest package of budget cutbacks since World War II. It plans to cut the budget by a total of around €80 billion ($95 billion) by 2014 to meet the requirements of the EU's stability pact and of the so-called "debt brake" enshrined in the German constitution.

The savings involve cuts in social spending, including reductions in allowances for the long-term unemployed. There will also be several new business levies including an air travel tax, a tax on nuclear power station operators and a financial transactions tax, although the latter would only be introduced if it were agreed at a European level.

The government also plans to axe 15,000 jobs from federal payrolls by 2014, and to scale back several tax subsidies, including reducing the number of exemptions to Germany's environmental tax."
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,699416,00.html

That amounts to about a 1% budget cut, just enough to get in line with the EU standard. To me, this is a wrong move, but calling this an "austerity" package is a bit overboard. There are plenty of deep, systemic problems and trends, but no one is talking about them.

To quote the nearest available real German, "Oh, it sounds very...austere, but I don't know anyone who's been affected."
To quote the second nearest available real German, a social services counselor, "No, we have not cut our services, but we cannot hire a new person."

Oh, and the health care system is fine.

[CTyankee]

6. What about their six weeks mandatory vacation time?

Or state subsidized child care? Or am I thinking of another European country?

By comparison, American workers would think they'd died and gone to heaven with Germany's "austere" environment! Nobody on Joe's show (that I've seen) has challenged what he's said.

Moreover, Germany is an exporting nation, a far better position to be in than our importing, consumerist nation. That was touched on today by Robert Reich, but just briefly...even Chrystia Freeland, who has lived abroad and travels extensively for her job at Reuters, talks about how even Turkey's economy is booming and has great infrastructure improvements...

Americans smug ignorance of socialism in Europe's constitutional democracies is intolerable. So many of us are stupid enough to believe the out and out lies being told by the RW and repeated ad nauseum in the MSM. It's just a real shame...

[Iterate]

8. Whatever is good for the community

So much ground-truth here either doesn't make it into the US conversation, or gets distorted for political purposes when it does. No one seems to make the effort to understand why another nation would make other choices for itself, so when the political agenda is "confirmed" it means Germans are right and brilliant, but when it is denied they are silly, or evil, or just plain dumb. What can't be denied is that it is a system that works for them, and it works well.

It's almost as if the focus is on unlimited autobahn speeds without a conversation about bi-annual and complete auto inspections, a driver's license that costs about 3,000 euros and several month's worth of classes (at age 18 minimum), plus required insurance where your plates are taken off if the bill isn't paid. That sort of thing. There are only a few times I've even dared have a cup of coffee while driving here.

One Krankenkasse card gets access to the health care system with little or no paperwork. The non-profit insurance companies actively compete for customers and initiate better service (though they still aren't likable). I don't think that would fit into the right's narrative.

Childcare is subsidized, Kindergeld it's called, about 200 euros/per child per month. Progressive, up to age 27, unlimited for handicapped children.

Here's the wiki page translated:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindergeld&ei=0sK0TLrUII7Bswb0qYSxCA&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CB8Q7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dkindergeld%2Bdeutschland%26hl%3Den%26prmd%3Div

Quirky things:
You need a class and a test to get a fishing license.
"Quiet hours" in residential neighborhoods which run from 1pm to 3 pm (to let the children sleep), and between 10pm (or 9?) until 8AM. Exceptions galore, especially during summer holidays.
Four bin trash disposal and recycling, plus plenty of specialty categories. Really expensive. I can't imagine the shit that would rain down if you ever got caught dumping oil on the ground.
Voluntarily high electricity rates ~$.25-$.30 per Kw/hr.
Illegal to leave your car running for more than 3 minutes without moving.
Illegal to leave your car unlocked in your driveway.

A university education is almost completely covered if you have the coursework and test scores. "If you can get the degree, we want you to do so because it is good for all Germans" as one German academic told me.

And the holidays, yes everyone takes off the time to stay fresh for a 37-40 hour workweek. But it's also illegal for a state worker to have a second job.

Theoretically, a twenty minute walk from any part of any village will get you to a train station and a ticket anywhere else in the country (or Vladivostok, for that matter).

Handguns and long guns are registered, classes are required, and it's expensive. Still though, there are plenty of clubs, hunters, and enthusiasts. Golf is also uncommon and expensive. Hiking and bicycling are for everyone -as it's common to see the 70+ crowd on bikes or with walking sticks.

I do see problems and trends I don't like, mainly because of the consequences you can see in the US: overheated trade with China, suburbanization of villages near cities, reduction in the ownership of grocery stores, the creeping influence of factory foods, more junk mail that 10 years ago, unsecured credit cards (which were very rare), road building, and occasional whiffs of consumerism. Walmart failed miserably though.

I could go on but that's enough to support an observation of a core difference: The rights, responsibilities, support, laws, they're in place not because they're good for you, but because they are good for the community. And that is not something the right/libertarians in the US will ever want to confront.

[CTyankee]

9. It's interesting. The right/libertarians are all for the "republic" idea of the late 18th/early 19th

century America, but don't seem to have any clue as to what a "republic" basically IS. A republic is a res publico, a public thing, and if you look at its articulation in Florence of the 14th century it is a place where i popoli, the people, are in charge. Insufficient as it was, they had a democracy. They did NOT want an overlord, a duke with a fiefdom and serfs (them). They wanted liberty. But that meant paying taxes and being good citizens. The "commune" was damn important to them. Unfortunately, the Medici undid them by undermining their republic and democratic elections. They corrupted their system, while pretending to be good "republicans" and finished that republic off.

thanks for your insights. They are wonderful and I appreciate them. More fodder for my arguments against the dumbkopfs of the right wing...

[Iterate]

10. Sure, well,

thank you for your efforts, especially every Friday eve.

And a good prompt for me to focus again on the history just over the Alps.

[CTyankee]

11. Hey, thankis for cheering on the Friday challenge. Join us next Friday.

It will be another teaser for you.

I appreciate your information...without it I wouldn't have the ammunition I need to convert some of these hard headed Americans who don't know what they are talking about!

[librechik]

4. it's all about branding the Dems as Big Spenders and austerity as "responsible"

which it isn't in an economy like this. It's a Republican talking point.

[Blue_Tires]

5. he probably also neglected to mention a few big differences

Germany believes strongly in keeping jobs and its manufacturing base at home, instead of shipping them out to Asia...

Not to mention the fact that their fiscal philosophies would never allow Wall Street's brand of drunken casino orgies to happen...

And the fact that Germany could slash their social safety net by 2/3 and still have a better one than we have here now....

[CTyankee]

7. And he can be certain that many in his audience don't know any better.

At one point, I remember he kept making snarky remarks about Obama trying to please people in Luxembourg. So I googled it and found out that it had socialized medicine and at the same time the highest GDP per capita in the world! Of course, that's a bit disingenuous considering all the BANKS in Luxembourg but that place looks gorgeous! So I thought it was quite amusing that he brought in a quaint little duchy between Holland and Belgium...LOL...