BBC NEWS | Business | Is Germany’s economy recovering?
Blogged mainly for those people with an interest in economics, Germany or both. Quite an interesting report on Germany’s economy in the days before Chancellor Schroeder loses his job.
I’ve long felt that Germany needs to revamp it’s labour laws significantly to get back to being the powerful economy they were before unification. And the mindset needs to change; Most countries seek foreign investment to bolster their economy, but Germany resists this passionately, seeing it almost as an invasion. Recall when Vodafone wanted to buy Mannesman, a diverse German manufacturing company, just so it could grab it’s mobile wing and flog the rest. The entire country was up in arms, it was the first successful hostile take-over of a German company by a foreign investor. I believe this mindset must change to make the economy more dynamic.
But then I’m hardly a trained economist!
One Response to “Is Germany’s economy recovering?”
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Germany’s labour laws are gashbag. They need to make it easier to fire.. as in doing so – you make people more desirable to hire.
Companies in Germany (and France for that matter) are less willing to take on staff than companies in the UK as getting rid of them if times get hard and demand fluctuates can be so costly it can sink the whole company.
The sooner they get over the job for life mentality they have and get with the program, the better for Germany and the better for Europe as a whole. As a revival in German optimism and growth would drive demand across Europe massively.