Posted on 08/31/2011 9:17:39 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Germany—buoyed by its cadre of family-owned niche companies—appears to be weathering the global slowdown, countering fears that Europe's economic powerhouse faces a sharp downturn that could deepen the region's debt crisis.
A pair of bullish reports, on German employment and manufacturing, were reassuring on Wednesday: Unemployment remained at its lowest level in nearly two decades last month, while July machine orders jumped 9% from a year earlier.
The latest data suggest that Europe's largest economy, which is expected to grow 3% this year, remains resilient, even as evidence mounts that the U.S. and much of the rest of the world are cooling.
The German news offered a ray of optimism for the rest of Europe as it struggles to overcome its debt crisis.
A downturn in Germany, which accounts for about a third of the euro-zone's economy, would likely worsen the malaise in the Continent's struggling economies, including important export markets such as Spain and Italy.
An economic slowdown in Germany would make it even harder for Chancellor Angela Merkel to justify spending billions in German taxes to prop up countries such as Greece that are buckling under a mountain of debt.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
“buoyed by its cadre of family-owned niche companies”
The key to all successfull economies are the mom and pop small family businesses. It’ll be those that pull Germany though, nothing else.
German inheritance tax laws have favored passing wealth along to the next generation vs. selling businesses to consolidators, which has helped preserve the German economy. A good balance of public policy vs. gov’t interference in the private sector, I think.
Germany has hundreds (thousands?) of precision machine and tool making companies, some 200+ years old. Many are family owned. Germany makes the tools that the world uses to make their exports. They are an amazing country. If Germany had not been destroyed by Hitler and nazism, they would rule the world. They still might.
Unfortunely for Germany the Turks that will take over the German economy in 30 years or so might have different plans.
They have Turks among Germany’s elites?
Unfortunely for Germany the Turks that will take over the German economy in 30 years or so might have different plans
In 30 years Turks will be at least half of Germany’s elites. Most of the rest will be Germans that have converted.
There are several ways to become part of the elite.
By birth,by merit,and by violence and determination.
Guess which path the Turks living in Germnay will take?
Well, not quite 'mom and pop' small. The backbone of the German economy are companies with a few dozen to some hundreds or even thousands of employees. And most of those are still family owned/controlled.
Of course sometimes the heirs start fighting amongst each other and the company is damaged - the Dornier aircraft company was pretty much destroyed by such infighting.
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