Is Germany a model country?
Germany has been enjoying decent economic growth while other Eurozone members crash and burn, but John Vinocour writes that the German model is weaker than it may appear:
Singling out Germany (and China and the United States) by name, the International Monetary Fund warned two weeks ago of a re-emerging â??pre-crisis patternâ? of global imbalances. Basically, concerning Germany, that means the I.M.F. thinks Berlin has not heeded an admonition by the G-20 consultative group to reduce its export surpluses through imports and investments....On German banks, Wolfgang Franz, the chairman of the German Council of Economic Experts, an advisory panel to the chancellor, said flatly in January, â??We donâ??t know what skeletons they still have in their cellars.â?
Rating social justice in Germany â?? its assumed high level is an insistent argument in support of the countryâ??s taking of command in Europe â?? the Bertelsmann Foundation has issued a survey that ranks Germany â?? gasp â?? in 15th place of the 31 prosperous and democratic countries surveyed. (The United States came in 26th.)
The foundation found inequality in German income distribution over the last two decades growing "almost like no otherâ? of the countries studied. Germany ranked next to last in long-term unemployment, it said, and reported that the effects of poverty there, particularly among children, were deeper than in Hungary or the Czech Republic.
(AP Photo)
