Posted on 05/14/2012 10:23:14 AM PDT by Kaslin
The BBC reports New election blow for Germany's Merkel
Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives have suffered heavy losses in an election in Germany's most populous state, exit polls suggest.
Support for the Christian Democrats dropped from 35% to 26% in North Rhine-Westphalia, with the Social Democrats set to return to power with the Greens.
It is the Christian Democrats' worst result in the state.
Analysts say many voters rejected Mrs Merkel's tough line on fiscal discipline as a cure for state debt.
In another development, the exit polls suggested Germany's Pirate Party had won seats in North Rhine-Westphalia, making it their fourth state parliament.
The Pirate Party has grown in strength recently with its calls for transparency and internet freedom.
According to two exit polls, the Social Democrats (SPD) won around 38%, the Christian Democrats (CDU) 25.5%, the Greens 12%, the Free Democrats (FDP) 8.5%, the Pirates 7.5% and the Left, 2.5%.
The FDP, the CDU's national coalition partner, performed better than expected, increasing their vote by nearly two percentage points and thereby giving the lie to speculation that they might fail to win seats.
When the CDU and FDP recently lost elections in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, Mrs Merkel's party scored its lowest tally there for 50 years.German Voters Reject Austerity
The Financial Times reports German Voters Reject Austerity
Angela Merkel’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union suffered a bruising defeat on Sunday night in the election of a new parliament in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, when the centre-left opposition of Social Democrats and Greens won a clear majority.
The vote for the CDU slumped to just 26 per cent, according to the first exit polls, by far its worst result in the state in the post-war period, and a serious setback for the German chancellor.
The outcome will be seen as a rejection by voters of the strict austerity policy promoted by Ms Merkel’s party at both local and national level, and a boost for the opposition. It will encourage the SPD and Greens to campaign all out for a “red-green” coalition at national level when Ms Merkel stands for re-election in autumn 2013.
However the biggest casualty will be Norbert Röttgen, environment minister in Berlin and leader of the CDU in NRW, who immediately took responsibility for the disastrous defeat and announced his resignation from the local party leadership.
Mr Röttgen, who was regarded as a crown prince and potential successor to Ms Merkel, had sought to make the government’s austerity policy in Berlin and in Europe the central theme of the NRW campaign. The outcome suggests that he made a mistake in doing so, and that the CDU espousal of austerity in NRW actually lost the party votes.Crown Prince Turns Into Frog
It is probably amazing to most US citizens that a political party named "Pirates" running on a platform of internet freedom could win any seats. Such is the nature of European politics where parties get representation if they meet a small threshold, in Germany's case, a mere five percent.
The big news is not the Pirate Party but the trouncing CDU took at the hands of the Social Democrats.
Ex-crown prince, Mr. Röttgen, is now a toad because he played himself as a Merkel clone. He tried to take the blame for this debacle, but without a doubt Merkel will bear the brunt of the blame.
Witness the end result of the Welfare State. These European countries are out of OPM (Other Peoples’ Money) and yet they don’t want the gravy train to stop. They want to keep living above their means so they vote out anyone who says the party has to end. Then when even the Socialists don’t have any more money, like in Greece, the people riot and simply start confiscating the wealth of the rich. Its anarchy and mob rule. And its coming to the USA too. Way too many Americans act like adult children who want to live the good life off someone else’s labor.
Europe is done. Give Obama 4 more years and there will only be 3 types of people in the world. Muslims, Communists and Constitutionalists who will be deemed insurgents and hunted down.
“Way too many Americans act like adult children who want to live the good life off someone else’s labor.”
In the past, this mentality was confined to the perennially indigent and surly losers too stupid, lazy and spoiled to pay their own way.
Now… everyone smells blood in the water.
It will not end well...and Liberals are forcing the matter with their irresponsible and inflammatory rhetoric.
They have all forgotten the oppression and hopeless servitude American colonists rejected just to stand up straight and call themselves FREE, no matter what the cost!
People say Europe shouldn’t matter to us, but major US companies are incurring market loss as Europe steers toward recession.
Please understand Europe that when you again descend into war the USA will not be able to bail you out for a third time.
>These European countries are out of OPM (Other Peoples’ Money) and yet they don’t want the gravy train to stop.<
.
There is an entire generation of voting age Euroweenies who have never known anything but a gravy train.
How can you tell them to tighten their belts when they wear suspenders?
People won’t willing sacrifice to save other people’s money.
Human nature. That is the danger of doing an austerity program once the takers out number the givers.
Also the ChiComs are losing a major market. The Saudis and Iranians are losing a major oil market as well. All of those regimes are in trouble if they can’t somehow keep the sales figures pumped up. Very interesting dynamics at play here.
Basically in any “fair deal” there is enough money for the seller, and enough value for the buyer. Any “third party” (the government) trying to horn in on it thieves either some of the money or the value.
The Welfare State around the world hasn’t been able to adapt to changing times. Buh-bye!!!
Conductor! We’re heading for a cliff!
Quick, ask the passengers if they want us to slam on the brakes, making them very uncomfortable and producing a horrible screeching sound!
Sir, they voted “no”.
OK, full speed ahead!
LOL! Perfect!
People need to be reading ZeroHedge. Daily.
“And its coming to the USA too.”
The 2010 elections indicate otherwise. Also, Obama continues to slip in the polls, which is a good sign.
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