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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated
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To: unclewest who wrote (103108)3/5/2005 6:34:01 AM
From: Elsewhere  Read Replies (2) of 793830
 
Hi unclewest,

<I know the unemployment rate in the former E Germany was reported very high (25+%) when the wall came down. Is that where most of the problem still exists or has it spread into the entire country?>

The following page has a map with the unemployment distribution across Germany:
pub.arbeitsamt.de

In the former GDR the ratio is above 30%. But even in the former FRG the average has risen above 10%.

<And is it white or blue collar jobs?>

Many unemployed people have little or no job education. Some employers fail to find specialists for advanced jobs. But unemployment is a phenomenon which has reached white collar jobs, too. Deutsche Bank (DB) has announced that they will cut thousands of jobs. For DB it's a necessity to catch up with the return on equity of other international players.

<I ask because I wondered just how badly the Bonn area would get hurt by moving the federal government back to Berlin and how far the damage would spread.>

I once talked to a real estate broker in Bonn and was surprised to hear that the government move to Berlin hardly made any dent in the Bonn real estate market. The trouble spot in Northrhine-Westphalia is the Ruhr area which is still working hard to get past its coal and steel area.

<I was surprised at how fast (for example) the Potsdam inner city was being restored but driving around the countryside nobody seemed to be working>

Good observation. There are shining examples in some centers - three involving US companies: AMD is very successful with 64-bit chips in Dresden,
www3pub.amd.com
General Motors/Opel has one of the most productive car plants worldwide in Eisenach,
opel.de
Dow Chemical operates a big plant in Schkopau.
plastics-technology.com

But many villages in the east German countryside are dying. The young and productive people move to the cities.

<During the second trip, I was on the Ku-Damm twice at night. The deterioration was shocking.>

Ku-Damm was the heart of West Berlin as long as the Wall was present. But after the reunification the "center of gravity" moved to "Berlin-Mitte", the area between Brandenburg Gate and Alexanderplatz.

<My thoughts then were that the heart of Berlin is succumbing to the drug and prostitution culture.>

The police is doing a good job but it is strained. The public debt of Berlin is extreme ($80 billion), and there are cut-backs in vital sectors which also affect security work.

<We have Germany setting record unemployment figures while German lawmakers are being quoted in the German press as planning to half the federal deficit by next year. Empty promises for sure.>

I haven't heard about plans to half the deficit but there are definitely games going on regarding the Maastricht Treaty of the EU. It demands 3% or less new annual public debt compared to GDP. Finance minister Eichel has repeatedly promised to stay below the threshold but has topped it for three consecutive years.
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