Quote:
Originally Posted by W.E.B. Du Bois
It seems that there are several things going on in Germany that are affecting her economy.
Three things stood out:
- 30% of Germany's GDP goes into social programs, which could put a strain on the taxpayers and thus hurt business growth
- Immigrants tend to be poor
- Globalization tends to force Germany to drop some of its social programs, or else German firms will move elsewhere.
I'd say that right off the bat, you've lost control of #3. I'm not sure what kind of immigrants you have there, but by the terms of the EU, you have lost control of stopping immigrants from coming in. So there's nothing that can be done to fix that. You just have to deal with it.
Germany could try to push things through at the EU level, I'd imagine, when it comes to dealing with immigrants. Probably, Europe would have to cut the amount of immigrants who come in from outside of Europe in order to decrease immigration. Immigration would probably mostly occur, coming from new EU states.
WRT, the cuts in social services, I would say that the most important social service to maintain is education. If you can maintain equal funding of education for every class, then at least every class has a fighting chance at the "German dream." 
The latter is something I keep pressing for in the United States. |
I agree with most you said, but the key issue is certainly not immigration.
The poorest states and regions are found in the east of Germany where very few immigrants live, with the exception of Berlin and some cities like Dresden and Leipzig. And full freedom of movement and work is not yet in the cards for citizens of new EU member countries. Also the EU is responsible for many fields, but not particularly how the different states regulate the topic of immigration. A large burden on the german state budget is still the transition and rebuilding in eastern Germany, the former GDR, where an incredible amount of money has been buried but apparently with few results in many areas. Industrial and economical cornerstones have been established, and it is not looking bad everywhere, but the East is still according to the study where most of this "underclass" live. For example people with jobs in the GDR who never got a foot on the ground after 1990, because their professions were not needed anymore they couldnīt find work where they lived and could for some reason not move etc. etc. the reasons are many. Also especially older eastern germans still often share a popular misunderstanding, which is kind off understandable after NAZiism and Kommunism. It is the believe that itīs the stateīs obligation to create , give and grant jobs and politicians could do more than merely provide the framework in which entrepeneurs etc. operate. That is one reason why extremist parties with simple solutions to complicated problems have seen election successes there.
Another point is obviously globalization. German staff tend to be well educated and trained and to make quality products, but since countries without social market economies can produce similar qualities...well...the good old times wonīt come back...
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