Oh, it’s meeeeee …
The last German General Election was a bore. Both candidates were as exciting as a medical bill. All parties avoided talking about the serious issues still waiting to be solved. Since the great Fatty (Helmut Kohl) left politics Germany had "Reform Stau" – Health Care, Taxes, Social Services and very important Education need a serious overhaul.
But all recent Governments dragged their feet and made small changes, but nothing that really worked.
Modern Germany has always been a consensus driven society. Our "Soziale Marktwirtschaft" was created as a working compromise between Capitalism and Socialism. This worked pretty well. Germany is one of the World’s leading Industrial Nations, although it’s a small country without serious resources …
Watch this political ad to experience the "excitement" of the last general German election.
It was a success story till the mid 1980’s, since then the competition has heated up and the old consensus driven system hasn’t been updated, but the economy and society have changed tremendously. Plus there was the huge reunification between East & West.
Like in most Western Nations the idea of Free Markets came in and have slowly destroyed the Middle Class, Educational System and Social Services. Compared to the US we still have good government services, but Germany has slipped a lot in Education. Mention "Pisa" to any German Parent and they will roll their eyes. Our Dual-Education System has once been the pride of the nation, now it’s a shame …
Free Education – yes we can!
Plus Poverty is on the rise – something unheard in Germany for a long time. Most people and political parties are unwilling to recognize the new poverty.
Back to the election …
Frau Merkel and her Christian Democratic Party used to be Germany’s leading Conservative "Volkspartei". But like all old "Volksparteien" the CDU/CSU has lost the backing of the people. Big parties like CDU/CSU and the SPD always had +35% of the popular vote. Small parties rarely reached more than 10%.
In this election the CDU/CSU was the strongest party with only 33% and the SPD only 23%. But there was a surge of the small parties: FDP 14% (Liberal Democrats) , Linke 12% (New Left) and Greens 10%.
The political will of the German people has become more fragmented, which means that smaller parties have more influence.
Frau Merkel will now rule with the FDP and it’s Party Leader Guido Westerwelle, who wants to reintroduce many 1980’s Neo-Liberal ideas like cutting taxes to raise state income etc.
This has never worked in Germany, especially since our National Deficit has been ballooning since Herr Kohl and thanks to the financial crises it has exploded this year.
The FDP also is anti-regulation, which is a stupid idea – they seem oblivious after the banker’s crashing the global economy. The FPD has always been the party of big business, but also the party that was the "smartass" without really making a positive impact on German society.
So Frau Merkel has to rule the country with a feisty junior partner with rather idiotic ideas.
So I expect some new mini reforms trying to turn back the clock with a negative impact on what Germany really needs. There will be more unhealthy entanglement between politics and big business, instead of working out an updated version of the "Sozial Marktwirtschaft".
