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An exceptional account by Melissa Eddy of how Germans are reacting to the German government's underinvestment in childcare centers. Germany's cabinet approved a bill that provides $190 monthly child care allowance for mothers who opt not to use day care centers provided by the government. This is supported by the Bavarian party, Christian Social Union, on the grounds that it gives an alternative to mothers to use private day care or nanny care. In practice many of the mothers using the allowance are expected to be lower paid workers who may decide not to work. The government has budgeted $500 million for the allowance for 2013. This is opposed by all opposition parties , and in a rare show of unity by business employer associations and unions, both say it "creates a false incentive to quit work." Axel Plunnecke of the Cologne Institute for Economic Research, says studies show low income families are among those who benefit most from early childhood education. About 100,000 lower qualified and lower paid workers could see this as attractive and quit working. The western part of Germany lacks enough child day care slots, so this is seen as not investing enough where its most needed, and Germany lags behind other countries like France in day care centers. The government is investing $15 million over five years to expand the number of child care centers. The goal is to have 750,000 child care slots by 2013, according to Ms. Kristina Schroeder, the family minister, herself a mother giving birth while in office. The measure was vigorously debated and controversial from the beginning because most many Germans see the $15 million years over 5 years as underinvestment in vital educational infrastructure. The $500 million is better invested in building modern day care facilities, they believe, especially because the children from lower income mothers not benefitting from daycare facilities will still need educational help, and German industry needs more women in the labor force to be competitive. Five years ago under reforms of parental support the 3 years of help to mothers was reduced to 1 year, resulting in an increase in the numbers of women working from 32% in 2002 to 40% by 2011, according to the Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth....

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Former German chancellor Angela Merkel and foreign minister Steinmeier are singled out for their policies that likely emboldened Russia into its invasion of Ukraine. The DW.com says Merkel's tenure now shows deep seated flaws in leadership with her policies with Russia having gone too far in the other direction and leaving Europe in a vulnerable position. Merkel saw herself as continuing old policies from the period of SPD chancellor Willy Brandt of engaging with Russia, then called the Soviet Union. Yet looking at it closely the policy of Brandt was to reach accomodation with the eastern half of Germany, called the GDR, not to weaken Germany's position. By distancing herself from the US Merkel was in sense out on her own. Consider says DW.com that in 2014 Germany imported 36% of its gas from Moscow, by 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine it was 55%. The SPD under Gerhard Schroeder and Steinmeier following Schroeder share responsibility with Merkel for this dependence.    A similar integration of the German economy with China's economy happened under the 4 term administration of Angela Merkel. This can be seen in the port of Hamburg. This may have similarly emboldened China in its relations with neighbors in the Indo-Pacific region and with Taiwan. German chancellor Scholz is by one report reading Cambridge historian Brendan Simms- "Europe The Struggle for Supremacy 1453 to the Present." This historical account of the relations of major European states in the 5 centuries before the present period shows the Balance of Power as critical to the liberty and freedom that Britain and Netherlands as well as other countries were able to keep. Sweden was attacked in 1700 with sign of weakness, Britain faced challenges from France in 1700 and in 1800, and allied with the Hapsburgs and German states to maintain its democracy and way of life. Merkel of CSU and Steinmeier of SPD may have failed to realize this when they ignored the history of Europe. The WSJ report on the miscalculations on the German and French side with Sarkozy, Hollande and Macron show that all these leaders failed to grasp that by leaving the issue unsettled of Ukraine's NATO admission they had created the situation that was bad for both Russia and for Ukraine, creating seeds for serious differences that could lead to future conflict and war. By not respecting and giving room to the lessons of history these leaders in Western Europe have created the conditions for the very opposite of what they intended to do.  ...

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The founder of the modern Olympics is Pierre de Cobertin, a Frenchman. In 1894 he came up with the concept of reviving the ancient games in Greece held every 4 years. In 1896 the first Olympics were held in Athens, Greece. Coubertin is criticized for his colonialist views and for preventing women from participating. His name rarely comes up in the Paris Olympics. Englishmen Thomas Arnold of the Rugby School and William Brookes helped Coubertin develop his ideas on the value of athletics in forming character and the complementing role of sport with intellectual work. Early in his life Coubertin tried to bring the English use of sports in schools to France. He saw the value of athletics competitions in building a core group that could take part in France's defense following the war with Gemany in 1871. His participation in bringing he Olympics of 1936 to Germany is seen as giving credibility to the Nazi regime, which colors his record.

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Demographic trends and Muslim populations around the world. some of the fastest growing populations are in Pakistan, India, Nigeria. Slower growth in Indonesia. In Europe faster growth in Spain and France relative to other countries. The Muslim popullation in Europe will be about 10% in places like Sweden and France in 2030. Where multiculturalism has been denounced, in Germany the Muslim population grows from 5% in 2010 to 7% in 2030, and a little over 4% to 8% in Britain. In France it goes up from close to 8% to a little over 10% in 2030. This is from research and forecasts done by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life in January 2011. It does not suggest a huge problem especially if the Muslim populations are affected by the trend to democracy in their home countries and improving standards of living, and a move towards integration in the different societies in Europe.

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The Nordstream gas supplies pipeline which runs 760 miles from northwest Russia under the Baltic Sea to Germany will go into maintenance for 10 days. Russia says that a turbine that is being repaired in Canada could delay resumption of the pipeline that is already down to 40% of its pre Ukraine war supply.  Germany says Russia may turn off the Nordstream pipeline completely in response to more western sanctions. Russia could attribute it to maintenance issues. Germany's manufacturing companies that depend on the gas supplies are already scrambling for other sources. Some like Uniper SE one of Europe's largest utilities are turning to the German government for aid as it turns to the spot market for supplies at much higher prices. France's EDF SA is losing billions of euros under a government imposed price cap on electricity prices. It will be nationalized. Yara fertilizer company with 15 production sites in Europe uses Russian gas to make ammonia for fertilizer. Now it is turning to other sources for ammonia, a key ingredient for nitrogen fertilizer.  WSJ gives examples of many more companies in industries in Germany from glass making to coating steel in melted zinc using furnaces powered by gas, that are affected. Two VW power plants in Wolfsburg will shift back to coal after spending 400 million euros in a conversion to natural gas. The list goes on and on. There is the need to conserve natural gas and LNG supplies to heat and power homes for the winter. Thermostats will be turned down to 62 degrees in many places in Germany, hot showers will be shortened, and every effort made for conservation, and even this may not be enough. ...

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Gregory White and Anton Troianovski provide this exceptional account of how Russian president Putin miscalculated all through 2013 and 2014 about the way Germany and the EU would respond to Russia's actions in Ukraine. Putin also according to other accounts miscalculated how Saudi Arabia and OPEC nations would act on maintaining oil production in the middle of a slowdown in the economies of Asia and Europe. A combination of events beyond his control such as the economic slowdown in the second half of 2014, with the miscalculations on OPEC price moves particularly following Russia's failed Syrian intervention disrupting Saudi-Russian relations, caused the damage. Major miscalculations were made about German cooperation in the face of Putin's moves- the changed convictions of German chancellor Merkel about Russian intentions following repeated Ukraine interventions, and changes in German public opinion following the downing of a Malaysian airliner flight in which many Dutch citizens lost their lives. Putin used subterfuge to coverup his actions making his story line less credible with Germans with each repetition. The result of these miscalculations and lost confidence in Russia's economy and policymaking is that the Ruble dropped to 62 to the dollar, losing nearly half its value in 2014, and a deep recession expected in 2015. Even though Russian takeover in Crimea enjoys support and Putin still has widespread support for nationalist policy with a tightly controlled media, many officials in the government and business leaders warned about the dangers for Russia's economy in 2014. Former finance minister Kudrin, and the head of Sberbank, who were principal architects for Russian finances and economic policy reforms, were clear about the dangers. Only by Nov- Dec 2014 were their voices being heard. ...

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The title about Indians in America as an Experiment is a misnomer, and reflects a loss of understanding of American and European civilization, the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions that created the Modern World starting in Britain and the US, and of India's aspirations for modernization. When both China and India aspire to the modern world that the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution have created.  India's Mohandas Gandhi read Emerson, had the support of FDR, of Christian missionary Charlie in the Bardoli Satyagraha, of a British Admiral's daughter at the Gandhi Ashram,  and Gandhi's prayer service included his favorite Christian hymns. This report shows no appreciation of this India and its relations with America. No country does that, what the US has done for 2 decades according to the National Science Foundation cited in this article, not the countries in the European Union, not France, Germany, Italy and Britain, not India, not China- provide tution and stipend and educate more foreign students than Americans or citizens of the home country in advanced engineering. It has never happened in the history of the world for the major nations that participated in the Renaissance in Europe and the Scientific Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, that have created the Modern World. It puts at risk what we know as the Modern World. It also puts at risk the countries such as China and India in addition to the US, as either these Indian or Chinese engineers stay in the US and take jobs and lower wages for Americans, or go back to their home country and help the development of their home country which has invested vital resouces for their previous education. Only if they return to their home country can 2.4 billion people of China and India gain from the investment made in these engineers education. This is particularly true for India, which is now emerging as the fastest growing country in the world with the access to pools of capital, labor and technology needed to match the US and China in modernization and development. For India these computer and other engineers can play a vital role in development for 1.4 billion people.  India like Germany, Italy and France in Europe and Japan, Indonesia Philippines, need the US and Britain as the leader of parliamentary democracies with a long history of parliament since 1600. Need Britain and the US as the cradle of the scientific and Industrial Revolutions, and see their vital interests in the making of a strong Nation in the American continent that can fulfill this role through it's religious values, scientific spirit, pioneering spirit, and generous impulses towards other nations. ...

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Arminia Bielefield is one of Germany's well known soccer teams today. One cannot say it is a unknown town. I took a picture of the stadium and the passionate soccer fans on a major television station on German television just yesterday. It is in North Rhine Westphalia, and like other German teams in the Bundesliga has a whole soccer fan culture behind its stadium, the city and its surrounding areas, that one can only find in Germany. Entire families different generations grow up attending and cheering for their team.

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One fifth of Kviv's population of 3 million has left the city, 4000 apartment buildings are without electricity in Kviv, this winter January 2026. This is the worst of the last couple of winters of the war, as Russia attacks energy infrastructure in Kviv on a large scale even as peace talks continue. Russia insists on control of Donbas region. Much of Ukraine today remembers a famine from the Soviet period, Russia remembers its proud history, language and culture from its beginnings in the Kviv region around the 14th century, that is the what this conflict is about. On one dimension it is about NATO and European Union expansion on another about the history and culture, language in a Russian language part of the world and the effort of Ukraine in the 21st century to seek a new identity. It is a struggle between fraternal people in the Russian region and in that sense a tragedy. It doesn't have to be one for Europe, for Germany. NATO was created when the Soviet Union expanded after 1948 and Britain was a key protagonist of NATO. Would its disbanding after Soviet Union disbanded leaving Russia as a country with centuries of its own history, would this have been the right action. If needed a new organization with a new name and Russia invited to join, would this have helped? Could this have focused attention on a new power as chancellor Merz has said, the new power being China being something requiring attention. The US is beginning to have new thoughts in this winter on 2026. The northern European nations (Britain, Poland, Finland and the Nordic countries, Baltics) have historical conflicts for centuries among themselves, they appear to be using NATO for their own historical conflicts. The US understands this, it is looking for a way to get a peace settlement so it can focus on the western hemisphere and not entangle itself in northern European conflicts that have been happening since 1600 with changing actors. The Republican have taken the lead under DJT for a new approach to put American people and their wellbeing, their right to live free of drugs(Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia), to live free of illegal migrants (Guatemala, Mexico, Venezuela), and improve on the shaky supply chains that were concentrated in China to bring jobs home that were lost by the millions (tariff policy), and to make living affordable (energy, agriculture).  ...

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How one can meet the needs of older people in small rural communities is the subject of this video report in DW.com. Cottbus is 12 kilometres away and the nearest town to a small rural community Neuhausen in Brandenburg state, Germany. Many older people rely on public transport and there are no stores in the small rural areas. Hildegard Blaske in her 90, still goes cycling, and remembers the time before unification in 1990 when older people still counted in a different way and quaint little stores provided their needs in the area.  

Former Day center employees Ulrich and Cindy use a retrofitted Peugeot Boxer vehicle to take groceries to older people where they live. Older people hesitate to go to stores during the pandemic. And they offer a chat and local news. This kind of effort is also a part of life in France today.

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What did Biden mean when he said- "history is watching," about his call for Ukraine aid to Congress. After a swift course of events and British withdrawal from Greece and Turkey by March 1947 this is the address to the US Congress made by US president Harry Truman on March 12, 1947, for $351 million in aid to Greece and Turkey facing Soviet threat to the two democracies after German armies had destroyed most of the infrastructure in Greece, thousand villages burned, 85% of children tubercular, with no savings, tragic conditions and facing political chaos. Truman said in this address aid was one tenth of one percent of the $341 billion spent to fight threats to democracy in World War II. "One of the primary objectives of the foreign policy of the United States is the creation of conditions in which we and other nations will be able to work out a way of life free from coercion. This was a fundamental issue in the war with Germany and Japan. Our victory was won over countries which sought to impose their will, and their way of life, upon other nations." "At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one. One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression. The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio; fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms." "I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way."   ...

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What is it like crossing borders today in Europe during the coronavirus, and what are European cities like at this time. Two NYT journalists Kingsley and Vancon are finding out by driving 3700 miles by car across many European borders. The hardest they find is entering Germany from the Czech border, where they were stopped and questioned in every way. Germany has strict restrictions- you can only leave for 48 hours if it is longer than this one has to do 14 days in quarantine. Germany also has managed the coronavirus better than its other neighbors France, Switzerland and Eastern European countries.

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Dagmar Breitenbach of DW.com  discusses today's youth in an interview with Albert Wunsch, author of the book "The Pampering Trap." Wunsch is a psychologist and education expert, who says today's youth lack the perseverance of their parent's generation. When confronted with difficult situations today's young people in Germany are seen as lacking maturity, persistence, and patience. Part of the problem is that parents have shielded their children from life's realities, says Wunsch. Parents want to be their kid's friends, and not act like an authority figure. In Germany authority figures still have the taint of looking bad, and parent shy away from that perception. The avoidance of conflict, including constructive conflict leaves children and youth at a disadvantage, because they go through life not having had to experience difficulties and learn from these experiences. Lacking this sensible kind of conflict in which parents have to ask themselves what is of value that they can transfer, the transfer of what one generation has learned is not being transferred to the next. Another problem is that young people prefer to hedge, not make commitments, says Wunsch. Financial literacy on how to manage money is also at a lower level. Some of these problems are mentioned for young people in America in the best selling book by Ben Sasse- "The Vanishing American Adult." Developments in Germany are also evident in other places. The dropout rate in Germany is also high. Studies cited here show this to be about 25% to 33% of college students dropping out.   ...

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Anthony Hopkins is Pope Benedict XVI in November's Netflix Movie The Two Popes. Hopkins, a Welsh actor, is now famous for the way he talks about not taking himself so seriously. His view of life, just be glad you are alive and have fun doing things while you can, all this talk about getting to the top, once you get up there you find there is nothing there, just nonsense, all lies. For Hopkins it has freed up a lot of energy and makes him come alive at 81 years. Another thing he says keep working thats the only way to live, and not go into decline. So what better way to take on the role of Benedict, a German pope who becomes the first to resign his office, and have his chosen successor follow him, cardinal Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina, (actor Jonathan Pryce) succeed him. Just be laid back and fill the role without thinking too much about it. So no intensity, he does not do research, actually a bit clueless, he says. Life is too short to be overconscious about oneself, he was intense once, now since about ten years he just wants to relax. Benedict he sees as an easy role especially with Pryce as cardinal Bergoglio. Fernando Meirelles directs and he is good with that. In the movie a day long conversation takes place, and two people who are from opposite ends of the world and ideologically too, have a sense of lightness about them, talking the World cup and soccer, and Hopkins playing the piano for Bergoglio. Hopkins just intent on having a lot of fun and doing it that way on the set. He sees the to popes as not walking on water, just human beings, and that make it easy for him. The human touches like going along with Bergoglio to watch football, though he nows nothing about it, and having a beer together. When playing Benedict Hopkins tells himself he is just pretending, just kidding, that makes it easy for him. His wife has encouraged Hopkins to relax by taking on painting and playing music. ...

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Even though immigration makes the headlines for the average German and daily German life polls and surveys show says the NYT that the main concerns center around a failing economy. For 5 years Germany has experienced little growth. According to Eurostat, Germany's GDP growth rate is 2023 -0.2% 2022: 1.37% 2021: 3.67% 2020 -4.1% Tankersley and Eddy report from Lutherstadt Wittenberg Eastern Germany. As Germany's economy slows companies may move jobs and manufacturing to Austria and France says one CEO of a company that makes fertilizer and additives for diesel motors. This could lead to loss of 10,000 jobs in an already depressed region. The problems faced buy German industry are increasing with higher costs of energy- even after prices have come down energy is 20% costlier than the European average according to Eurostat. Industry leaders say this is the result partly of efforts to reduce fossil fuel emissions. Increasing competition from China means Germany cannot compete as before. Investment in public infrastructure has not kept up with crumbling roads and bridges and a rail system with underinvestment and plagued with delays. Investment in digital technology has lagged behind China, India and France.   ...

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There can be some comfort with the loss of the usual social contact during the period of lockdown and working from home. There are is the opportunity to slow down, pause and reflect in prayer or meditation. There is also time to spend in gardens or parks, a patio or balcony to be outside. As Adrian Higgins of the Washington Post- who has two books on gardening and covered it since the 1980's- points out here we are not apart from nature or above it, we are nature, and plants and birds outside are fellow beings of a sort. Most of us live in tight urban environments and this is a great opportunity to break away from all the noise and bustle and experience some time with nature and with ourselves. A time for renewal and listening to our inner voices, as the gods may be reminding us about living a better and slower life. Higgins reminds us that sometimes it is an experience that is alive in memory as there is a word for it in Japanese and in German, and in other languages. In Japan shinrin-yoku is about forest bathing, by finding a woodland or park and experiencing the stillness. Germans call it a forest walk or waldspaziergang. Plant gardens or parks will do, even landscaped areas in urban settings. The shades in a garden with sunlight falling in different ways on leaves and plants. We develop a capacity to notice things we stopped noticing as we grew up. Just walk or sit quietly and look. Plants and trees also take away some of the isolation and loneliness as they are fellow travelers of a sort. As anyone who has planted will know we can look forward to the new flowering, and the growth into next year, and the next. We have got too intertwined with the short term and the immediate fulfillment, and this draws us out of this in ways that enrich and nourish our lives.     ...

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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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Anthony Faiola provides this exceptional look at the thinking of Chancellor Merkel and German experts, about the refugees creating more opportunities than risks for Germany. Germany is an aging society, with low birth rates. How to reverse this, so that there will be more young workers to meet future needs long term ten or twenty years from now, is a problem facing Japan and Germany. Germany is also fortunate with the timing, with Germany's unemployment rate at a low of 6.2%, and years of growth ahead from a eurozone recovery. A fortunate circumstance in the nature of refugees from Syria, is that many of them are young, well educated, skilled workers, doctors, engineers and architects, from a relatively moderate Arab country. This is a better immigrant pool than the one Germany took in from Turkey in early postwar years, in terms of education, youthfulness and skills, and one in which the lessons learned from that pool's inadequate integration could be applied here. This is why Germany is not only willing to take in 800,000, but German leaders are saying they could take in 500,000 a year for several years. Just as Germany has taken a long term view, and has the strength to execute it in its shift to renewable energy, Germany's centre right Christian Democrats and centre left Social Democrats in the coalition government see the issue long term around which they can bring a cohesive understanding and consensus in their country. Merkel addressing parliament said on September 9, 2015- "The refugees need help to learn German, and they should find a job quickly. Many of them will become new citizens of our country. If we do it well, this will bring more opportunities than risks." The decision to shift to renewable required a whole new mindset and leadership, in the same way German leaders are articulating the position based on a careful understanding of the situation and Germany's long term interests in reversing Germany's population decline and lower working age people. There are about 3 million Turkish people in the country, adding about 1.8 million Syrian and other refugees would still bring the percentage of people of foreign origin to less than 6% of the 81 million population, just a little bit less Christian and just a little bit less German in origin, which is in keeping with changes in a globalized world and no different than its neigbor France. What looked like a problem, if handled and managed well could be an opportunity knocking at Germany's door. Merkel's genuine convictions about universal civil rights make the "wilkommen refugees" very real in other ways....

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Britain to lead coalition efforts in Strait of Hormuz- in the 1950's this part of the world was still part of the British Empire. Britain was the dominant power in Iran in 1900 and was also dominant in Turkey for a period after the First War in 1918 in Turkey. With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire Britain and France assumed a stewardship role over what is now Israel, Iraq, Syria. Only after the rise of Ataturk in Turkey in the 1930's were there independence movements and anti-monarchial movements in the region. Ataturk was an avowed modernizer who Europeanized Turkey, that was not so with the anti-monarchial movements in Iraq, Syria, which led to a great deal of unheavals and the wars we know today as Iraq war, Afghan war, Iran war. In Iraq and Syria it was a form of Soviet Communist/ Socialist  style movements that took power, and in Iran it came in the form of a religious movement based on Shia Islam that by the 1990's clashed with the socialist movements in Iraq and Syria. Syria and Iraq disintegrated costing the US dearly in resources and men, and the Afghan wars hurt both the Soviets (Russia) and the US. The Iran war may be the last of these wars as the US and Europe, and Russian Europe, China, India and Japan, close this chapter in their interactions to a region that is impervious to the kind of modernization that started in 17th century Europe with the Renaissance, in 18th and 19th century Europe with the Scientific Revolution, and in 20th century Europe with the Industrial Revolution, that was fervently desired in Russia, Japan, China and India as these ideas spread over western and southern Asia like wild fire and were adopted as emancipating and with a sense of wonder by the Asian people as their own.  The world may soon decide it can do without Hormuz. China Japan, and India can secure alternative supplies of oil from US and Russia, and ramp up their production of renewable energy to make Hormuz redundant by 2030 and- history. Germany already has shown the way - getting only 6% of imports of energy from that region. ...

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Ruchir Sharma, chief global strategist at Morgan Stanley, says Poland has achieved a remarkable transformation over 25 years with steady growth of 4% year after year. The bright spot is manufacturing. For emerging nations the average percentage of GDP from manufacturing exports is 22%. Poland is at 33 percent of GDP for manufacturing exports. Countries dependent on commodity exports such as Argentina, Brazil, Russia, lack this steady growth from a manufacturing base and are less likely to cross the line of $15,000 of GDP per person that qualifies for it to be called an "advanced economy" for the IMF. South Korea, the Czech Republic and Poland are some of the countries that have benefited from manufacturing exports. Poland's wages are one third of that in Germany and its currency is cheap, giving it an advantage as an export hub for German companies. Germany is the main destination for exports and the German automobile industry uses the Czech Republic and Poland as export hubs. Poland's and Czech Republic's geographical location near Germany with a highly educated population makes it attractive for German companies. Poland has gone from $2300 per capita GDP to about $13,000 in 25 years according to the IMF, and is likely to be the next country to make it to advanced economy status by 2020, says Sharma. It is important not to run up debt, to manage finances carefully, and to maintain steady growth not growth in spurts interrupted by declines, and have a manufacturing base, says Sharma.  ...

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The German French plan for 500 billion euro of outright aid as non repayable subsidies is supported fully by Merkel as she calls for massive amounts of aid to help the EU recover from th pandemic. Asd the pandemic was exceptional so must the aid be exceptional says Merkel.  The Bavarian state premier Soder supports it, so does the FDP's Lindner.  This report looks at why Merkel has pushed forward with this plan after supporting a decade of austerity in Europe following the Greek loan bailouts. Merkel sees aid that is repayable worsening the debt ratios of countries like Italy to the point that this would be stones not bread. This would strangle Italy's and other economies such as Spain and Portugal. It is not in Germany's interest, it is best to make partners. Only Austria, Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark oppose this. Yet this is shortsighted. Most of these northern tier countries have pursued their own self oriented interests not that of a European community of nations in crisis. ...

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Recent polls suggest that 4 out of 5 Germans say they are not benefitting from the rebound. Germany has experienced growth with the recovery in export markets in Asia, but the benefits are not being seen at home. Experts at the OECD, and at Duisburg-Essen University's employment institute, say that there has been a downside to the unemployment rate having reached 7.6%; much of this gain has been achieved by expanding the low wage sector. Something like this has not happened in other European countries. The OECD employment outlook report 2010, reveals that 21.5% of Germans were employed in the low-wage sector in 2008, compared to 16% in 1998. The Duisburg-Essen University estimate is that 2.3 million workers were added in this sector from 1998 to 2008, with a total of 6.55 million workers in this sector in 2008. What is happening according to experts is that the Hartz IV labor-market reform is subsidizing the low wages paid by the private sector. And the German government has spent $50 billion in subsidies for people in this sector since 2005. The concern relates to consumer spending which is tight in Germany, even as exports have done well in the recovery from 2008. Average net income has actually fallen since 2004 in Germany, reaching 15,815 euros in 2009 from the figure of 16,471 euros in 2004. Germay has no minimum wage across all sectors. To have a minimum wage comparable to other European countries, hourly pay would have to be between 5.93 euros and 9.18 euros. The DGB group of unions have called for a 8.50 euro minimum wage. ...

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"You don't have to vote AfD for what you want. There is a democratic alternative to the AfD." Julia Klockner Bundestag president points out that CDU like Mette Frederiksen's Social Democrats in Denmark need to take a stand so that they reflect the views of ordinary people who see Merkel's illegal migration policies hurting social cohesion in Germany. She and chancelor Merz, finance minister Klingbeil of the Social Democrats, have the task of revitalizing all of Germany east and west, after the failed Merkel years. This is important for Germany and the world because of the failure of elites to understand the people and their struggles with cost of living, crime and migration, disinvestment in infrastructure that deepened the feeling of ineffectiveness, and other social trends that have disrupted the basic structure of society by 2025. 

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Instead of a jinx much to the contrary the US economy outlook for 2030 in Feb 2026- a surge in investment spending in 2026-2030, new manufacturing investments and lower energy costs, moderating inflation, are likely to propel the US economy ahead to 2030.The effect of tariffs as a policy making tool has been muted because of exemptions, reversal of tariff rates once key objectives were secure for tariffs as a way to get action on foreign policy as with Indian purchases of Russian oil, deals with Japan, South Korea and China, India, UK and the EU. Some sources such as the Philadelphia Fed see price rises reaching 3% in some inflation guages more than the moderate 2.5% in the consumer price index for January 2026. These sources see the hiring slowing down just as layoffs begin to happen in the latter part of the year which is a possibility but less likely. At this point in Feb 2026 there is a tendency not to layoff and to hang onto employees, and hiring has been slow in 2025. January's report of 130,000 jobs added is the first sign of strengthening of the jobs market. Overall a cautious view would be to call it a soft landing after the inflation surge of the covid period. Another way of looking at is is more in line with the strategic direction of the US economy- freeing up the economy with investments in energy,  reducing the key costs of production, tax policy of Bessent's complete one shot depreciation of equipment increasing business investment, tariff policy making the world trading system fairer and now more attuned to US interests, all creating an investment and jobs surge in 2026-2027. There is an added benefit from US efforts to free up the world trading system from the stranglehold placed on it by China with its control over world manufacturing. A dominance and unwise concentration gained from the serious mistakes of the Bush-Clinton period of not putting in safeguards for US factories and jobs (that form the backbone for families in neighborhoods towns and regions across the US), and US business interests growing indifference to the very communities they were based in by outshoring to China destroying whole regions in America. Even where it is criticized or seen as negative there are huge benefits when the US acted. Tariff increase on India is a clear example- it built Indian resilient attitude in June-Feb 2026, and during this period it cut funding Russia's war in Ukraine by sourcing energy from other sources, the US policy led to India and EU+ Germany signing trade agreements to double their effort and double trade and scientific cooperation ( a goal secured for the US as it reduces concentration in China), was followed by US signing its own trade agreement with India within days, and increases world trade of US and EU and Germany in ways that will bring 2.5 billion people into a strong partnership that overshadows anything that happened in China in the Clinton-Bush-Obama years of failure. ...

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As car sales drop and Chrysler drops some models from its production line, it is running many plants on one shift, leaving the factories idle the rest of the time. This means higher costs per car, as the fixed costs do't change by that much with lower production. Chrysler may also have steeper sales decline than the other carmakers, because it has fewer small cars in its lineup. All this means losses that won't be disclosed as it is privately owned, through 2009, as the economy goes through what looks like a prolonged recession of at least a couple of years. As losses are not disclosed management does not have to worry about the effect on stock price, but the longer this situation lasts, the harder its going to get for Chrysler, for a long time the weakest player in the American car market compared to the others from the US, Germany and Japan.