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To: Martin who wrote (6932)	1/17/1998 3:49:00 AM
From: Holger Johannsen	Read Replies (1) of 64865

Off topic: Martin, I have to admit that I'm very pessimistic about the economic conditions in Germany and France. I agree that the cost of social welfare are tremendous and pose a problem since this drives up labour cost. However, people with jobs still do much better than those without. Claiming the opposite is obscene. Actually we have very few of the so-called McJobs variety. (McJobs in Germany is a term for the jobs which don't make you enough of a living such that you have to accept more than one). I'm not talking about McJobs, I'm talking about the "Facharbeiter" the skilled worker who works for 52 hours per week. Some days ago there was an interesting special on TV where the situation of workers in Germany, Japan and the US were compared. They all had to support a family worked in the same industry and the German worker was the only skilled one. Guess what, the German worker had only 38% of his gross earnings left after all the taxes and social welfare costs were deducted. This was a sum of DM 2.800 for a family with three children. Now you tell me if social welfare is much lower. No wonder domestic demand is at an all time low. Greatly exaggerated. Where have the Conservatives and that so-called Liberal Party i.e. current government since '83 brought us ? Exactly to the saddening state the country is in these days. It's time for a change, it cannot get any worse. I agree that the current government did nothing whatsoever. They failed in almost everything and are very much responsible for the current situation. But the economic plans by the opposition will make it even worse. Raise more taxes, redistribute more money, increase government spending and so on and on. To make an extreme point: We are back to the planned economy. The only positive of this situation would be that we get faster to the point where radical reforms will be unavoidable. My reception of the situation in France is different. People expected that under the "Socialists" spending for social welfare would be increased by huge amounts. Their expectation didn't come true as Jospin is far more realistic, people are disappointed and hence the social troubles which hit the news almost every night. Jospin more realistic? You've got to be kidding. How realistic is a plan to reduce work week to 35 hours by a state law? Does it make French companies more competitive? Does it raise the living standard of the average worker? This was also a question the reporter asked the interviewed German workers. They work 52 hours and they need every hour otherwise they would be better off unemployed. One even said that if the unions ever get through with their plan this would be his last day as a union member. How many more economic examples do we all need before we realize that our kind on economy will lead us right into a collapse? Holger

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