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To: Holger Johannsen who wrote (6921)	1/16/1998 10:21:00 AM
From: Martin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 64865

Holger, although I agree with most of your general description of the situation in Europe is quite good (it saved me some time since I felt compelled to write a reply myself ;) you are overdoing some bits. I especially disagree with your following paragraph: ... taxes and social welfare costs are that high that the average worker in Germany is barely doing any better than someone who lives on social welfare. 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). The economy has turned into a state driven economy because the state absorbs most of the money and then redistributes it. This kind of system will ultimately lead to a collapse of the economy and with the upcoming election and a good chance that the Socialists will win, Germany will get even into deeper trouble. 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. One can already see this in France because the situation has worsened there after the Socialists took over. My reception of the situation in France is different. People expected that under the "Socialists" spending for social wellfare 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. Martin.

To: Holger Johannsen who wrote (6921)	1/16/1998 10:34:00 AM
From: LKO	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 64865

No problem, I know that my Swedish name gives Americans a tough time..... ..... The Scandinavian nations are a mystery to me, don't know much about them. Couldn't help but notice those two sentences in the same email :-). I think Scandinavian economies are good at building james-bond-remote-car-controllers (i.e. Ericsson, Nokia etc)...oh yeah they work as cell phones too. Germany is good at building good cars and gummy bears How about that for some pop-economics from America :-) You also wrote: The situation is quite different in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, Italy and the UK. They have adopted a more Anglo-Saxon view of the economy and despite high unemployment in some southern countries their economies are back on track. What on earth is the "anglo saxon view of the economy" ? I sort of know what "socialist view" means ...but couldn't get this european concept. :-)

To: Holger Johannsen who wrote (6921)	1/16/1998 9:07:00 PM
From: Beachbumm	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 64865

Holger, you wrote: The Scandinavian nations are a mystery to me, don't know much about them. What I know is that Norway is kind of like the United Arab Emirates. Four million people living on a lot of oil. They don't really have to work very hard. Denmark apparently earns all its foreign exchange from exports of Legos and pornography. Sweden has world-class industries, but I'm not sure of growth prospects. Finland has given us Nokia and some stellar contemporary architecture. Overall, with the exception of Sweden, I don't think Scandanavia has enough population to be much of a factor in European growth for our high tech companies. Beachbumm