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To: smolejv@gmx.net who wrote (25718)	11/25/2002 4:58:19 AM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

They have been wrong for 17 years! The capital-work social contract that made sense when the British, Italians and French would strike, lose days of work and consequence business to Germany, doesn't make sense anymore. I tell you again my own experience: In 1985 I worked for Siemens in Nigeria. I told then I would be wiling to work for them. They called to Munich and told me they couldn't hire me. The workers' representatives in the board wouldn't accept. And any foreigner hired had to be approved by those workers representatives. What about all those Austrians working down there? I asked. They have German names no one spots them. That's why we hire them. They replied. But you need me there, there isn't any German engineers to do what I do for your company. The problem is, the director continued, we have to give preference to the German engineers. Then we get a 40 to 45 year old unemployed engineer and tell him we want him to go to Nigeria. Very good money, tax free and all the goodies. Then the engineer says he would love to start working again, but, and he pulls a couple of papers from the doctors, he has this pain on his back that prevent him to carry even measuring equipment, besides the hot weather would also not going to be good to his lungs. So he couldn't go. So there the company was. They couldn't hire me. And they couldn't get what was on offer. They said: Here is what we do. You continue work for us like now. As a token of our appreciation we will give 5.000 DM bonus for you to spend on your holidays this month in Munich. I said thanks. I take it. I went to the pub and drunk a few pilsners because only when drunk the whole thing made sense to me. I left them in 1991. Two years later I asked for my job back. They said. Now we can give you a good deal. We hire you as a contractor. They told me how much I would get. I said: "Ich bin Kampfsbereits, mein herr!"

To: smolejv@gmx.net who wrote (25718)	11/25/2002 5:10:41 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 74559

Eichel 'misled voters over budget deficit' By Bertrand Benoit in Frankfurt Published: November 25 2002 4:00 \| Last Updated: November 25 2002 4:00 Opposition calls for a parliamentary inquiry into alleged misleading of the electorate by Germany's ruling Social Democrat-led coalition in the run-up to September's poll grew louder yesterday after reports that Hans Eichel, finance minister, had ignored early warnings of a steep rise in this year's budget deficit. According to Der Spiegel, the weekly magazine, Mr Eichel was informed by ministry memo in August that the 2002 funding shortfall could reach 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product, suggesting he knew ahead of the September 22 national poll that unpopular tax increases were inevitable. "Many documents land on Mr Eichel's desk every day and I do not get to see every one of them," a spokeswoman for the minister told the FT. She said the probable scale of the deficit had only become measurable last month with the publication of much lower than expected September tax proceeds. Christian Democrat leaders, who have accused Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of misleading the electorate about the economy ahead of his re-election, said it was almost certain a parliamentary commission of inquiry would convene before the end of the year. Friedrich Merz, deputy leader of the CDU in parliament, told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung the revelations reinforced the suspicion "Eichel had consciously misled public opinion". Although a commission may be unable to pronounce any sanction against the government, embarrassing testimonies could further undermine the Social Democrats, seriously eroded popularity ahead of key regional elections in early February. With sweeping victories in the states of Hesse and Lower Saxony, the CDU would consolidate its majority in the Bundesrat, the German parliament's upper chamber, reinforcing its power to veto the government's legislative initiatives. Edmund Stoiber, the defeated conservative candidate for the chancellery, said the chancellor would have to resign if the commission concluded he had "misled and defrauded the public". An opinion poll by the NFO-Infratest institute yesterday showed 62 per cent of respondents felt they had been "deceived" by the ruling coalition.