Germany has the economic strengths America once boasted

Los Angeles Times ^ | January 21, 2012 | Don Lee

[EnjoyingLife]

Every summer, Volkmar and Vera Kruger spend three weeks vacationing in the south of France or at a cool getaway in Denmark. For the other three weeks of their annual vacation, they garden or travel a few hours away to root for their favorite team in Germany's biggest soccer stadium.

The couple, in their early 50s, aren't retired or well off. They live in a small Tudor-style house in this middle-class town about 30 miles northwest of Frankfurt. He's a foreman at a glass factory; she works part time for a company that tracks inventories for retailers. Their combined income is a modest $40,000.

Yet the Krugers have a higher standard of living than many Americans who have twice that income.

[LibsRJerks]

Well, sure. They’re very frugal and disciplined, but they also give up a lot of freedom. No one mentions that not everyone can get into the “free” university system. Germans will decide that FOR each other at the age of 12. Either you’re college material or your’e not — and once you miss that boat, you can’t get back on. By age 12, you’d better have it all together or your’e doomed to working as a machinist at the BMW factory.

They can also thank Americans for providing their defense for the past 50 years. That saves a LOT of dough for them!

We lived in Germany for six years. Yes, they are very disciplined, and we can learn a lot from them. But a lot of their lifestyle really sort of depressed me. They sit around in the dark a lot, and the reason the wife can only work part time is that there are not a lot of conveniences. She’s got to get up at 8 a.m. and fight her battles at the stores because they’ll be closed by noon. There’s not a lot of fun in that lifestyle. I don’t know. It has its charms, but after three years, I was always SCREAMING ready to get back to the good old USA.

[rbg81]

Germany was smart enough not to nurture, not outsource or drive away, its manufacturing base. In the US, the focus is on short term profit. The fact that the US has to borrow to maintain its lifestyle does not bother our companies one whit. When the time comes, they figure they can always sell to whoever has the $$.

[mosaicwolf]

If Americans got rid of all credit cards except one that was paid off each month they would have a high standard of living too.

[NeverForgetBataan]

“Germany was smart enough not to nurture, not outsource or drive away, its manufacturing base”
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Well said and spot on.

[Fiji Hill]

They live in a small Tudor-style house in this middle-class town about 30 miles northwest of Frankfurt.

That's not a "Tudor-style" house, but a traditional German Fachwerkhaus. Fachwerk, or post-and-beam architecture, closely resembles what in the US is called the "Tudor style," but it dates from around the early fourteenth century, long before anyone had heard of the Tudors, and it continued in use long after the Tudors had disappeared from history.

[Rinnwald]

Wow, I thought the “best by” date had passed for all the European socialist paradise stories. The couple has an ancient camper van and can vacation in France, my driving equivalent to going to Idaho. Their lot in life is static, and so decreed by the state, as are the lives of their children. What happens to the slackers that have potential to be software geniuses, but are boxed in at an early age?

Let’s see how that German work ethic swims when yoked to the PIGS millstone.

[T-Bird45]

It has its charms, but after three years, I was always SCREAMING ready to get back to the good old USA.

I only did one tour of 3 years in the FRG (1978-81) but I can totally identify with this statement. My wife only lasted 18 months before she was ready for a trip back to the land of the round door knobs. I was TDY so she flew back to the states for Thanksgiving and Christmas 1979 with her family. Our son was born over there in October 1980...draw your own conclusions :-).

I'd love to go back for a visit.

[CGalen]

“Germany was smart enough not to nurture, not outsource or drive away, its manufacturing base. “

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There used to be a time when the USA protected its jobs and its industry. For nearly 200 years the United States used protective tariffs, not only to bring in revenue, but also make the USA strong. IT worked!!

The decline in the USA, the loss of good paying jobs, the deterioration of our infrastructure, coincides with “free trade” and the steady elimination of those tariffs that the Founding Fathers instituted.