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Wages for factory workers actually declined over the last two decades. Outshoring led to reduced wages in manufacturing. The auto industry crises after 2000 increased this decline. This trend is finally being corrected after the pandemic exposed the risks of a supply chain dependent on unrelaible partners overseas. The Biden administration has also eased the way for unions to win wage increases, similar to the role of the Scholz administration in Germany for German unions to win wage increases. Both presidents say this is important for the dignity of workers and for workers to earn a living wage. The cost of living crisis has further increased the sense that worker incomes have suffered for too long. Germany's transport union negotiated wage increases of 410 euros a month with Deutsche Bahn this week, and the UAW union is negotiating a new wage agreement with Stellantis, Ford and GM.

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Deutsche Bank's image takes a hit in a criminal investigation of alleged tax fraud at Deutsche Bank involving cross border trading of carbon emissions certificates by traders. Co-CEO Jurgen Fitschen called the Governor of Hesse to protest a raid by 500 German police officers and investigators of the headquarters of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt. The officers arrested some executives and confiscated data. Fitschen and co-CEO Jain were in a supervisory role for the trading and not directly involved. Fitschen signed a tax declaration that is part of the case. Over 20 Deutsche Bank executives are under investigation in the case. Because Fitschen was also being examined in the case this is being viewed in Germany as placing himself ''above the law," by interfering in a criminal investigation. Christopher Frank, head of the German Association of Judges, a senior prosecutor in Freiburg, said in an interview: "Its disturbing that a bank executive believes he can influence the independence of the judiciary through a phone call...This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the principle of separation of powers."...

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Germany is adjusting its requirements for residency permits and work permits for refugees. It will let asylum applicants take temporary jobs by 3 months after applying for asylum. Current law bans migrants from working through temp agencies for the first 4 years in Germany. The government will lower hurdles for job applicants who are refugees. Government policy of Angela Merkel's coaltion is- "people who have the right to protection and stay in Germany permanently should find employment rapidly and earn their living themselves." This is critical to the large effort to absorb about 1 million refugees in 2015, as it will meet the needs of companies and not cost the government additional outlays for social payments to refugees. The initial response from companies such as SAP, Thyssen Krupp, and smaller companies has been very positive, and shows why Germany is uniquely positioned of all EU countries to be able to take on this challenge on both humanitarian and mutually beneficial basis.

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About 600 US and European company brands are leaving Russia. This report in the WSJ shows how ordinary Russians are coping with jobs in limbo. Many of these companies are continuing to pay employees but jobs remain uncertain. This includes companies like Sweden's IKEA that are popular in Russia. As western sanctions make operating difficult companies future is uncertain. This is creating anti-Western sentiment particularly in the rural areas which use mostly Russian made products and which are Putin's main source of support. Even Russians who question the attacks on Ukraine are skeptical how the withdrawal of these companies helps find a solution for Ukraine. This is happening even as the errors made by 4 term German chancellor of increasing the dependence of Germany on Russian energy supplies from 36% during Putin's annexation of Crimea to 55% today are becoming abundantly clear.That makes an energy embargo on Russia difficult for Europe, with German business saying this would be "catastrophic" because it is unprepared even though this alone provides about $1 billion a day to Putin's Russia. Meanwhile EU and other western leaders call attention to India's drawing 1-2% of its energy supplies from Russia even though one month of Indian imports is equal to just one afternoon of European oil and gas imports from Russia. India has done more than Merkel's Germany to meet the need for humanitarian vaccine assistance for the poor countries of Asia and Africa, Middle East, and is now engaged in meeting the needs of the world for foodgrains after the fallout from an Ukraine crisis that is a result of emboldening of Russia from Merkel's policies.  ...

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Jorg Asmussen, senior member of the executive board of the ECB from Germany says in a speech in Hamburg; "The markets are pricing in a disintegration of the eurozone. Such systemic doubt is dramatic- and for the European Central Bank, unacceptable." He supports buying of bonds of member countries by the ECB. Both Asmussen and Jens Weidmann were economics students of former Bundesbank head, Axel Weber at the University of Bonn. Asmussen who is from the SPD party, was deputy finance minister and then nominated to the executive board of the ECB. Jens Wieidmann was an advisor to German chancellor Angela Merkel and was nominated to head the Bundesbank. Weidmann has continued the Bundesbank position opposing buying of sovereign bonds by the ECB, increasing the split in German opinion on this issue.

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This report in DW.com looks at the response of Germany to the coronavirus epidemic and says Germany may have let a window of opportunity to act quickly slip from its grasp. It says Germany's leader Merkel has not shown the leadership required by the health crisis. Germany DW.com points out recorded its first case on January 27, yet Merkel's first press conference on the subject of coronavirus came on March 11, when Italy was on lockdown quarantine for 2 days.  Germany lacks a quarantine and effective government action to mandate and require social distancing across the country to limit the spread. The steps this report points out pale in comparison with the actions taken in other neighboring countries. Spain earlier and Belgium on March 17th joined a lockdown in Italy. Merkel called on Germans to stay home, yet enforcement is lacking.  In this situation the calm and reacting with reason may be obsolete, a proactive approach being the right one. And a braver one because it would anticipate what happens a week two weeks from now based on experience of China and Italy, and act quickly with a lockdown and quarantine to prevent spread. Waiting in this manner risks too much says DW.com.  ...

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The world would need 3 Germanys to provide the resources that one Germany consumes today. Earth Overshoot Day looks at the sustainable resources and how much each country consumes of resources. By July 28 planet earth had already consumed all the natural resources it could sustainably regenerate for the year. Experts say Earth would need three quarters of another Earth to provide the amount of resources consumed by our planet today. Everything makes a difference as European Union plans to cut energy use by 15%. Drying clothes on a line instead of in the dryer, shorter hot water baths, turning off lighting for monuments in cities, changing household lights to LED's, lowering the thermostats by a few degrees in winter, cutting out meat for just one or two days a week. The way Overshoot Day works out the arithmetic 1970 was the year when Earth passed the line where sustainable resources that could be regenerated and the consumption of these resources were equal. From then on it was a wild spree in places like Germany and then China, and it is how countries like India take up the work of renewable energy and limiting use of valuable resources that will affect the future. ...

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Coordinated action by the governments of France, Britain and Germany each with its own package depending on its own circumstances but committing over a trillion dollars to rescue plans for financial institutions. In Britain the government moved to take majority stakes in 2 of its largest banks, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and the newly combied bank of Lloyds TSB and HBOS in exchange for a $64 billion capital infusion. In Berlin the German government setup a 480 billion euros package consisting mostly of loan guarantees, with 400 billon euros in guarantees for inter-bank loans and another $80 billion euros for direct injections of capital to help weak balance sheets and purchase toxic or illiquid assets of German banks that are at the brink of collapse. The French have setup their own 360 billion euros package. The French government will create a fund to raise money to guarantee debt for upto 5 years in a bid to make cash available to banks. The banks can access these funds in exchange for putting up their own collateral, including debt not currently accepted by the ECB. And a state sponsored company will provide upto 40 billion euros in direct capital injections to banks that request it in exchange for equity stakes. In addition Netherlands made $220 billion euros available for capital injection into banks and other efforts and Spain will insure upto 100 billion euros in bank debt. Britain's step are the boldest ones yet and Britain's crisis is also likely to be one of the worst because of years of leveraging and overborrowing. But the German financial system is also under heavy strain and strong swift action was necessary to keep its banking system functioning. While other countries have setup the funds for capital injection like other European countries and the USA, Britain has also take the lead in taking majority stakes in two of its largest banks by Monday, October 13, with the departure of the executives who got these banks into such a mess. Gordon Brown has shown cosiderable leadership in this crisis and has been at the forefront in proposing and acting on workable solutions and swift response while Germany and the USA lagged behind. France's Sarkozy's contribution has been in the area of global coordination which he has argued and worked for and successfully achieved during the last 2 weeks....

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A recent WSJ report on the miscalculations on all sides on Ukraine show the errors by presidents Bush and Obama and German chancellor Merkel that created the situation that led to war in Ukraine- Ukraine not outside or inside but somewhere in the middle for joining NATO. This WSJ editorial says Obama policies reinforced by Angela Merkel's policies as four term German chancellor is one reason Mr. Putin was emboldened to launch the invasion of Ukraine.  Looking even further one sees American and German leaders integrating the economies of the US and Germany with that of China and Russia which also is one reason for emboldening Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. Considering that Russian and Chinese leaders joined in a "no limits" alliance during Putin's visit to Beijing for the winter Olympics just before the invasion. Both Russia and China saw their countries as rivals to the US and European Union in political and economic terms even as Merkel and Bush-Obama supported growing integration of the US and EU economies with Russia and China, and saw no problem with that. ...

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Bundesliga site writeup for Miroslav Klose talks about the modesty and humility of this player born in Poland of a Polish mother and German father- an all time leader in World Cup Soccer goals (16 goals), one who made his country proud. In his last stint as a player at Lazio club in Italy he was loved by fans in Italy who wanted him not to retire. A player with the same confidence and humility now is headed to surpassing Klose's record in this year's 2026 World Cup Soccer- Kylian Mbappe of France.

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The jobless rate of 7.1% in Germany in April 2011, is down from 7.8% in the prior year. In the states of Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg, where BMW and Daimler are located, the unemployment rate is down to 4% in April. Jurg Kramer, chief economist at Commerzbank in Frankfurt, says this could lead to higher inflation. Inflation went up to an annual rate of 2.6% in April. The ECB raised the official interest rate to 1.25% in April, but Kramer says the rate appropriate for Germany is more like 3%. The euro is rising with expectations that the ECB will raise rates further. The euro was at $1.49 on April 28, 2011. Kramer also cites some factors that could slow inflation and wage increases in Germany- most union wage contracts continue till 2012, and the change that allows people from Eastern European countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic to be easily hired.

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Five of eight unions in the German Confederation of Trade Unions DGB have increased membership. There is a shift to younger members as older workers retire. Membership is more engaged than ever before. More unions are taking up the issue of wage increases after workers were accomodative during the pandemic and Ukraine war. DW.com shows graphs of German workers having lost 18 days due to strikes coming ninth in the developed economies compared to 92 days in France, Canada 78, and the US 9 days. Cost of living action is seen as needed by workers for fair wages. There are 1.8 million open jobs and workers are now getting more confident to ask for better working conditions and higher pay, say experts. This is also happening in the US with president Biden's support. The problem is that only 50% of jobs in Germany are covered by collective bargaining agreements designed to ensure that companies pay decent wages. The EU directive in 2022 set a target of 80% for collective bargaining agreements. This makes it harder for unions yet the unions and workers are taking up the work with enthusiasm.   ...

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Of the 27 nations represented at the EU summit meeting on January 30, 2012, all except Britain and the Czech Republic agreed to the new measures for budgetary discipline. The new fiscal compact will come into effect after 12 eurozone countries have ratified the compact. This prevents one or two countries holding up the agreement. This provides the Merkel government in Germany an agreement on concrete measures for budgetary discipline- evidence of specific action to dissenters inside the Christian Democratic party and in German public opinion- which would enable it to support efforts by the ECB, the IMF and the EU to address the crisis, including the funding of the European Financial Stability Fund. The text of the fiscal compact makes it harder to block sanctions against countries that fail to impose budgetary discipline, while at the same time making allowance for countries with excessive debt such as Italy.

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Germany's Chancellor, Angela Merkel announced that she will not seek reelection. She will finish her term in 2021 and retire from politics. She led the CDU party for 18 years and Germany for thirteen years. She started out as a youth leader in the communist German Democratic Republic shortly before the collapse of the Berlin Wall. After reunification she was given roles in the government by Chancellor Kohl of the CDU, and was favored by Kohl.  During her years in office the CDU moved to the centre adopting some of the policies of the Social Democrats party. Merkel's last two terms were marked by her leadership of the European Union in tackling the debt crisis in Greece and other countries. Her leadership of the CDU was challenged by conservative leaders from Bavaria of the CSU party who had different views than Merkel on immigration and accepting wartime and economic refugees. By the beginning of her current term in office the CDU and the Social Democrats Party which alternated in running Germany in the postwar period had lost support as voters shifted their allegiances to parties on the right such as the AfD opposing immigration, and parties on the left, and to the Greens party advocating environmental issues. One of the main drawbacks during this period were the austerity policies during Merkel's terms in office that were implemented in the EU leading to higher unemployment before a tenuous recovery, and the lack of building infrastructure. The acceptance of a large number of refugees the official tally being about 890,000 entering Germany in 2017 and 200,000 in 2018, has strained the system and created tensions in society. About 480,000 had applied for asylum in Germany by the end of December 2017. Merkel defends her decision to accept refugees in these numbers, yet she says she was wholly unprepared for the influx of refugees that happened in 2017 and the year before. She says she wishes she had many more years experience to prepare herself for handling a crisis of this kind. The decision has created dissension in Germany especially in the eastern part which was part of the former communist German Democratic Republic.  ...

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Moody's downgraded its outlook on Germany's triple-A credit rating to negative. It also shifted to negative the outlook on triple-A ratings of Netherlands. Spain's ten year bond yield went up to 7.51% on July 23, 2012 according to Tradeweb. Analysts estimate Spain needs to issue 28 billion euros of debt for the rest of 2012 to cover deficits and repay maturing debt, and 50 billion euros in short term Treasury bills. An additional 30 billion euros may be needed if tax revenues decline increasing the deficit, and to meet the needs of regional governments. In changing the outlook for Germany, Moody's emphasized the costs Germany would incur if Spain needed a full bailout and if the situation spread to Italy, including the large exposures of German banks to Italy and Spain.

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A look at how Germany voted on a map of Germany gives a better idea of what really happened in the 2021 election. The narrow margin of about 2% of Social Democrats over Christian Democrats looks different from the map. The CDU black color region is mostly all of southern Germany, the region includes Bavaria with its capital Munich. And parts of West Germany around Cologne.

In Cologne and Berlin the Greens dominated.

The rest of Germany is all Social Democrats red. Only in parts of the  east in Saxony and Thuringia one finds AfD far right.

Geographically SPD red is all over Germany except for the southern region of Bavaria. A seat Merkel held for 30 years went to the Social Democrats SPD party,

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Germany has performed poorly in banking by copying practices of American banks. Deutsche Bank is a notable example. After years of government scrutiny and investigations into faulty practices, efforts to merge it with other German bank by the government, and losses plus penalties, legal liabilities, the bank's management is now retrenching by cutting down the size of the bank. Tens of thousands of jobs will be cut and the bank returning to a more traditional role of what a bank should be before the faulty practices and mismanagement of the bank resulted in this mess. 

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Bayer CEO, Marijn Dekkers, plans to divest its plastics business, called Material Science. The plastics division requires large investments with lower returns than can be made in health care or the agricultural crop science business. Crop Science generated earnings before interest and taxes of 1.81 billion euros in 2014, and Health Care helped by 5 new prescription drugs reported EBIT of 3.58 billion euros, compared to poor returns of 555 million euros on the polyurethane and polymers used for laptops to soccer balls in the Materials Science division. CEO Dekkers is a Dutch born executive who worked for 25 years in the U.S. Since taking over in 2010 he has brought a significant culture change to Bayer, by insisting on speed and agility from executives. Division heads with marketing backgrounds are preferred to science degrees, and the planning orientation of the company is being changed to one where the company executives are not afraid to take risks based on incomplete information. Dekkers prefers an IPO for the $10 billion plastics business to generate more cash and reduce the debt of 20 billion euros. He acquired the over the counter drug business of Merck for $14.2 billion, and has boosted drug sales with the introduction of Xarelto in partnership with J&J, eye treatment Eylea, cancer drugs Stivarga and Xofigo, pulmonary hypertension drug Adempas. Sales of these 5 drugs are expected to go up from 2.9 billion euros in 2014 to 4 billion euros in 2015, contributing significantly to Bayer's profits. Dekker's venture capitalist type focus on profit margins is showing results in share price performance- Bayer's share price has advanced 60% in 2015 mid-March price of 145.85 euros compared to the prior year month. In the small town of Leverkusen, Germany, where Bayer is located, there were initially fears that Dekkers was "too American" and too focussed on shareholder value to understand the need to respect tradition. Since then Germans have realized that Dekkers understands tradition and is only bringing necessary change- the transition to being a life sciences company makes sense to shareholders in Germany, for employee representatives on the supervisory board the guarantee of current level of 17,000 jobs in the plastics division for a few years shows his concern for job protection during the transition period. For Dekkers who left Holland in 1985, and has a U.S. passport with an American wife and kids who speak no Dutch or German, the important thing is to get the right balance- he says the system of 99-1 where 99% of the information had to be in before a decision could be made is making the change to 90-10 where only 90% of the information is now necessary to go ahead, even if he would like to see it at 80-20. Bayer still sponsors the local soccer team known as Bayer Leverkausen, and 26 other clubs. Dekkers steps down at the end of 2016....

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Two German Patriot air defense systems are to be transferred to Ukraine and replaced by the US. The decision by Germany's Merz comes as Kyiv suffers a cruise missile attack that destroys an apartment block leading to 31 dead and 159 wounded on July 31, 2025. Five of 8 cruise missiles used evaded air defense systems.  The war brings ancient history important to Russia in the founding of the Russian state in European history before 1450 and complicated history after the Communist Bolshevik Russian revolution in the Ukraine region, the Cold War and Russia returning to its historic role of a Northern European Power. Russian commentary on Russian nationalism today suggests Russia seeks acceptance as a major European power without Wall Street's evaluation based on GDP of nations leaving Russia middling status. Wall Street gives disproportionate importance to China relative to India, Russia and Brazil three large nations on 3 continents for example. Witkoff is on the way as DJT emissary to Russia to seek some solution, but the war drags on as Russia sees itself making slow yet steady progress and seeks to end the war on terms favorable to it following huge loss of life estimated at hundreds of thousands. In August both sides including DJT are losing patience. DJT offers more sanctions but says at the same time that this may not deter Russia. Following SPD's Scholz frustrated yet restrained approach to the war, Chancellor Merz is investing in a rebuilding of Germany's defense forces and it's infrastructure. ...

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This report in the WSJ shows in an extraordinary detailed way going back 20 years how under each administration Bush, Obama, Trump in the US and Angela Merkel in Germany, Hollande and Macron in France, the serious differences in the world view and thinking between president Putin of Russia and western leaders were simply ignored or overlooked. Mr. Putin truly believed in Ukraine and Russia as one people, researched history on his own and wrote an essay that made him more convinced than ever about his views that separation of Ukraine from Russia was an artificial construct, more so in the last two years.  By integrating the German and European Union economies with Russia and China without coming to terms with the large separation in views of the world and ignoring Russian views because of its economic size as an economy the size of France, both Merkel and Obama's policies failed to grasp what was happening. This report shows in much detail each event since 2005 that led to increasing distrust by Putin of western leaders.  The integration of the economies of the west and the integration of supply chains with China and Russia continued even after serious concerns had developed during the Trump administration. US and European business was operating on a completely different path not taking this into account in any way. It was only in the Biden administration and after the election of Scholz in Germany in 2021 that the situation was becoming clear. On the other side Ukraine itself and its people had changed in ways that were not anticipated by people in Germany or Russia, much less the leaders in Germany or Russia. There was a genuine sense that Ukraine was a national identity leading to the Ukraine resistance and a prolonged conflict. Brendan Simms, Cambridge historian shows how Europe went through conflicts and wars in its history as each of the major European nations sought advantage from 1453 to the present in his book, "Europe- The Struggle for Supremacy 1453 to the Present." Small gains were made in these wars that dragged on bringing great suffering to ordinary people.These wars involved England, France, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Russia. ...

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After the German election the next election in France in 2022 will provide new direction for Europe. As in Germany with Olaf Scolz of the Social Democrats, in France an alternative is emerging with Xavier Bertrand of the Les Republicains. Like Scholz Bertrand was Labor Minister working to tackle difficult problems of increasing employment in the French economy going back a decade. In recent elections the party French president Emmanuel Macron created as a member of Francois Hollande's government has floundered. Macron hastily put together the En Marche in Amiens on April 16, 2017, when he was minister of Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs in the government of president Hollande. During the eight year period in which the centre right Christian Democrats CDU and center left Social Democrats SPD had ruled in a coalition government in Germany some version of centrist politics and government had also prevailed in France. After the Sarkozy years 2007-2012 under the centre right Les Republicains party  France turning to the centre left Socialists under Francois Hollande. As a young minister 39 years Macron lacked experience, and the initial enthusiasm that helped him win the 2017 presidential election is now missing. As in Germany voters are looking for change not just in slogans but in substance in a new Trans Atlantic partnership of US, Germany and France to tackle the may problems that were neglected in the last two decades of changing administrations in US and France and the Merkel administration in Germany- problems of social cohesion, of income inequality, division of country into rural and urban, eastern and western in Germany, southern and northern in the US, neglect of infrastructure, and failure to invest in the future.  France is now turning to the Les Republicains party in recent elections, and away from Le Pen's far right party and Macron's party.  Both Macron and Le Pen did very poorly in recent regional elections. This report in FR24 points out that the candidate for the Les Republicains party will be chosen at a convention, and not at a primary as happened in 2017 leading to the elimination of former Republicains president Nicholas Sarkozy. The president of the Haute France regional council Xavier Bertrand is the leading candidate from the regional election results. Bertrand was Sarkozy's minister of Labor and Solidarity from 2007 to 2009, and Minister of Labor, Employment and Health in 2009. Today Olaf Scholz, winner of the German elections in September 2021 was also Minister of Labor- in the Social Democrats/ Greens government under Gerhard Schroeder 1998 to 2005. Voters now realize that it is important to value experience, stability, combined with humility and a determination to get things done, compared to charismatic leaders with little to show in results, and tangible improvements in the quality of life, in national renewal.      ...

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German attitudes of caution towards the coronavirus. This caution extends to facial coverings and social distancing guidelines. About 89% say they wash hands more often. 88% say they keep a clear distance from others. And 72% say they meet friends and relatives only to a limited extent. Survey is by Infratest dimap conducted for ARD the public broadcaster. That caution has helped Germany, and is being followed in Italy and France. It is in sharp contrast to parts of the U.S. and in places such as Texas where masks became mandatory in public  spaces only on July 3, 2020. 

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OPLAN is the German defense plan draft by Lt. Gen. Andre Bodeman which was started after chancellor Schulz's Zeitenwende "epochal change" speech in 2022. After that speech Schulz created a plan for $100 billion euros for defense of Germany.The intent is to prepare to defend Europe in case of clash with Russia. It goes back to a different era the Cold War of the 1960's. To improve infrastructure Gemany now plans to spend 166 billion euros, of which 100 billion euros go to railways, to update essential infrastructure. The new Merz of CDU government with SPD's Pistorius as Defense Minister is a relatively strong coalition government which plans to spend 500 billion euros for defense and upgrade the Bundeswehr for military readiness.

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Germany's chancellor Merkel sees Britain as necessary for Europe and the European spirit. This even though she has differences with British prime minister Cameron on how to elect the new president of the EU following EU parliamentary elections in May 2014. She told the German parliament in June 2014- "Britain is really no cozy partner. Yet Germany and Britain share values and interests. I consider it grossly negligent, in fact unacceptable, how easily some people say that it is really all the same whether Britain goes along or not, or more: whether Britain remains a member of the European Union or not."

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The Gallois Report commissioned by the new government in France to restore France's manufacturing competitiveness. Louis Gallois is the former head of aerospace firm EADS. It calls for a 30 billion euro cut in payroll taxes to help French companies compete in global markets. Gallois proposes 22 main measures to "stop the slide and support the economy." He called this a "competitiveness shock." Gallois points to France's 70 billion euro trade deficit in contrast to booming German exports. The cost to the economy was 2 million French jobs over 3 decades, says the report. Unemployment today is around 10%. Measures suggested include the payroll tax cuts of 1.5% of GDP for salaries upto 4900 euros a month, and employee representatives to sit on board of directors of French companies similiar to Germany.