Goebbels Would Have Loved This!

Die Amerikaner sind unser Unglück!: Americans Portrayed as Parasites by Germany's Largest Trade Union

Hitler's propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels would be proud of his contemporary German journalism students. If he could only be here now to watch his offsprings' promising attempts at propaganda! 

This is the cover of "metall", the monthly magazine of Germany' largest trade union "IG Metall":

"US-Firms in Germany:
The (Blood-) Suckers"

And the inside story (View the article in PDF format/View the entire magazine in PDF format) would be even more to the liking of the Nazi propaganda master:

Title Page: "The Plunderers are Here"

American Mosquito Parasites Descending on German Companies: This is How IG Metall Portrays American Entrepreneurs...

The article's introductory paragraph (in blue) reads: "Blackstone, KKR, Investcorp - finance investors from America are slaughtering German companies. They buy the companies, only to sell them a bit later for profit. The American investors don't show any consideration for people, regions or traditions. Like flies they suck the money out of companies, then swarm out, repeating the same pattern. People are the ones who suffer."

"Blurp"

OK, Goebbels probably would have preferred to have the Americans look more like Jews, like in these two famous pieces of German anti-Semitic art (1, 2).

But then again, the IG Metall folks aren't professionals yet. They are still working on their education - following the teachings of the chairman of the Social-Democrats, Muentefering - and their results are certainly promising, at least from a Nazi point of view.

Give them more time. Nazi Germany wasn't built in one day either...

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you would like to contact the editors of "metall," the magazine responsible for the content displayed above, you may do so at:

E-Mail: [email protected]

Telephone (If calling from the USA): 011-49-69-6693-2445, Fax 011-49-69-6693-2000
Telephone (If calling within Germany): 069-6693-2445, Fax 069-6693-2000

Mailing Address:
metall-Redaktion
Wilhelm-Leuschner-Straße 79
60329 Frankfurt am Main
GERMANY

Please feel free to publish your emails and letters to the staff of "metall" and their response (if any) in our comments section.

Update: John Rosenthal also has excellent coverage of this story. Be sure to check John's blog. (Hat tip wenk)

Update: Apparently, Guido Westerwelle, the leader of the FDP (Free-Democratic Party in Germany), took notice of the 'metall' cover and harshly criticized it at his party's convention. Bravo Mr. Westerwelle! If only more German politicians had the courage to do the same. Here is a photo:

To listen to a brief audio clip of Mr. Westerwelle criticizing 'metall', click here. Click the link that follows for the English translation...

Westerwelle on IG Metall and 'metall' magazine, our English translation:

"And ladies and gentlemen, just this on the topic of where we have arrived in the meantime. This here is the current magazine of the IG Metall, issued by the Chairman of the IG Metall, from Mr. Peters. I show you this not because it is red-green, instead I show you this because here on the cover page of the official organizational organ of the IG Metall, issued by the Chairman under the title "The (Blood-) Suckers" - inside, of course they talk about those who suck blood and the like - the investors, the entrepreneurs are portrayed as mosquitos, of course with a golden crown in their mouth that glistens. And this mosquito, the investors, that haunts and sucks the blood of one German company after the other - it is all described and illustrated in there - of course is wearing an American hat.

Ladies and gentlemen, I say this as a liberal with the greatest clarity: I am against hate of foreigners from the right, but I am also against hate of foreigners from the left ladies and gentlemen!"

(extended applause)

Note: A liberal in German is often very different from a liberal in North American English. More on that here. For more information on Mr. Westerwelle's convention speech, or to listen to the entire speech, click here.

Comments

[Lou Minatti]

In an earlier thread, Greg was prepared to write Germany off. I disagreed with him and said that Germans could still turn things around.

After seeing this I'm not so sure.

This is disgusting. Are German unions simply incapable of seeing the damage their hatred can and will cause? Not just with Americans, but with investors from other countries? Why would Japanese investors want to invest in German companies when there's this trend to demonize the very actions that create jobs?

[Sandy P]

Considering I just read in the WSJ that Saxony-Anhalt sold their tax office buildings to muslims...

[Joseph]

Strange...I thought the great wisdom was that America would soon collapse and besides the EU would be the economic superpower by 2010. Unions are the same worldwide. They have a purpose at first but eventually they become more greedy, self-centered and bureaucraticaly petrified than the companies their members work for. It is interesting to note that when a company is run into the ground and the union workers have to make concessions the union leadership apparently doesn't have to sacrifice. The best union jobs are working for the union itself.

[John J. Coupal]

General Motors complains that they spend so much money on insuring retired workers for health, life, and every possible catastrophe that capital isn't sufficient to design better cars.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) and German unions seem hell-bent on plundering their respective golden geese.

Meanwhile, the Japanese plan to overcome GM as the "world's largest car company".

[Anthony (Los Angeles)]

I think these unionists should consider themselves lucky that these images aren't likely to be seen by their union brethren here in the States. Otherwise, things could get quite ugly at the next get-together.

There is freedom of opinion in Germany. This is just one opinion of many. German press would be so boring if everything was super neutral.
And why are you comparing everything to Nazi Germany (I see this in many threads lately)? Is this some kind of obsession? The geman press has always been like this, and I think it is a lot more interesting to read than the press here in the US.

[PacRim Jim]

Now we know what IG Metall does when it isn't on strike. Losers.

[Erik Eisel]

If there is any doubt that the German media's attack on the neocons in the White House wasn't motivated by anti-Semitism, this confirms it.

This meme wasn't pretty the first time, 60 years ago, it wasn't pretty during the runup to the Iraq war, and it isn't pretty now.

Keep on top of it, though. It needs to be exposed.

I see no anti-semitism. Sure, it's anti-american, anti-capitalism, stupid, disgusting. But anti-semitic?

[Jewels (AKA Julian)]

Blank,

That's fine. And IG Metal can feel free to KMA next time it wants any business from me or anyone who knows me. I've already spread examples of this sort of love around to people I know. Who will spread it to people they know, and so forth.

If you want business, you learn to keep your mouth shut about your customers. This sort of crap comes out, watch your business dry up. There are consequences for actions. We've been long aware of that over here andare willing to pay the price.

IG Metall is going to learn the hard way what happens when it cheezes it's customers off. Gee kinda like France that way, who is still smarting at the loss of tourist revene.

[doug]

Hey all.
I work for a company here in Nürnberg that is vey much IG Metal. The secratary in our department is alson one of the"Betriebsräte/ Shop Steward. She comes n at 6:00. Shoots the shit´(quatches) with a buddy for around 45min. before getting down to work. EVERY FRIGGING DAY!! DAY IN!! DAY OUT!!!
And she´s also sick 5 to 6 weeks a year because of her back! AND SINCE SHE`S WORKING FOR THE UNION SHE CAN`T BE FIRED!!! AND THEY RE CALLING USPARASITES AND BLOOD SUCKERS!!
@Blank...
Show me one example were the U.S. MSM is guilty of Volkverhetzung or hate propaganda like here in Germany.
Daimler laid off 30,000 or so in the states.Did one US mag complain about the "Rotten Germans",. Did time print a cover of Schröder wearing a Pickelhelm and sporting a Hitler mustache while he impales helpless US workers on a bayonet??
Don´t think so bud!
Thank God somebody here in house went and threw the whole stack of that IG Metal Propaganda rag in the trash! :-)

[mca]

Well, I think the reason why you dont see hate propaganda like this in the US is simply because there are few to no german private equity firms which are attacking US companies. I think if german raider companies would operate in the US we would see similar caricatures in US Union Papers, I think that works the same way in every country (think of british Rover workers crushing BMWs in the streets).So, yes its dumb and ugly, but not necessarily a typical german habit.

[Ripclawe]

If it wasn't for the German language on the cover,it looks like something a US-based union would put out.

[Jose Rouse]

I am really getting sick and tired of the anti-American bashing coming out of Europe. I can't wait for our military to leave it's shores and people to defend themselves against the rising restless tide of muslims. Good luck, we'll turn the lights off when we leave.

[Neoplot]

Whatever you can say about this - it isn't mainstream media. German trade unions are losing members rapidly anyway.

[ulrich speck]

Yes, it isn't mainstram media. But unfortunately it's mainstream thought. Two thirds of Germans share Münteferings views. That's why the opposition - Merkel - doesn't attac.
The fundamental problem is that German economy is only partly adapted to global economy. A lot of people is "saved" from competition, thanks to a kind of system of rents. Imagine that in Berlin only 20 percent of people do work. The others get transfers from the state. If you would expose them to the market, they would get much less money. You have five millions (or even much more) who depend from the state, from the welfare system. They see global capitalism as a threat. Maybe they are right.
If they look in the future, Germans only see potential losses. They have no hopes, they see no chances. Thats why they don't have children.
But there is no real discussion. People in parties are mostly stupid. We don't have good think tanks. Journals. Experts. Nobody who wants to respond tho the challenge. Thats the real German crisis.

[Jewels (AKA Julian)]

Well, a relentless diet of negativity, steadfast refusal to believe in something greater than yourself (I don't nessesarily mean religon) and a prediliction towards self-indulgence will tend to suck out hope. especially when someone wakes up in the morning and sees there is nothing else staring back at them.

[John Rosenthal]

David,

You suggest that the IG Metall issue at least avoided the anti-Semitic physical stereotyping of Nazi-era caricatures. I'm not entirely sure. The IG Metall cartoonist is not quite Der Stuermer material, but nonetheless these cartoons are very close to the edge. I've posted a scan of another image from the IG Metall issue on Trans-Int. Here's the permalink - http://trans-int.blogspot.com/2005/05/locust-round-up.html - or you can just click on my name for the homepage. It is, I think, (even) more disturbing than the others.

[James]

@Ulrich

If you would expose them to the market, they would get much less money. You have five millions (or even much more) who depend from the state, from the welfare system. They see global capitalism as a threat. Maybe they are right.

How true, how true. Isn't this the irony of German "socialist conscience?" They are all well and for socialist institutions, so long as they get their hand outs. But, come time they are expected to work and contribute back, they fight against capitalist exploitation. Those arguements are so passé at a time when robber barrons and bever hats were the fashion, time to move on!

If they look in the future, Germans only see potential losses.

Of course they don't, those that don't work and get paid see no benefit and future. Unless they are willing to contribute back to society, or even give it there rhetorice, they are just parasites...

They have no hopes, they see no chances. Thats why they don't have children.

I take a more grim view. I find Germans to be very spießig, they are always interested to know, how much you earn, what you have, where you go on holiday, etc. They don't want to understand the amount of risk/reward that you engauge in to acheive this level. They want something for nothing (not all, but the SPD certainly does). For those Germans who are married, or with a significant other, and earn decently (by German standards), they enjoy life. They are able to go on their holidays, buy clothes, own a car, etc. But, a second child or even a child, could damage their ability to enjoy the good life...

But there is no real discussion. People in parties are mostly stupid. We don't have good think tanks. Journals. Experts. Nobody who wants to respond tho the challenge. Thats the real German crisis.

And this is the real threat. Societies only can adapt slowly, revolution and shock like Russia in 1917 caused huge amounts of problems and deaths. Germany has choosen NOT to change and adapt at all, not even slowly. Unfortunately, I share the opinion that the German economy must really really hit rock bottom before the 2/3rds of society has awoken. As a German friend of mine once told me: "Deutschland muß wirklich am Boden sein bevor die was unternehmen."

Müntefering is old school communist/socialist. Time to move on, please for the love of the country, move on.

[Jabba the Tutt]

@mca: "Well, I think the reason why you dont see hate propaganda like this in the US is simply because there are few to no german private equity firms which are attacking US companies."

Ah, have you ever heard of Daimler-Chrysler mca? I live here in Michigan, home of Detroit and the "Big Three" (now Big Two) auto companies. The Daimler and Chrysler merger was sold on the basis of a merger of equals. Big time investor Kirk Kirkorian sued Daimler for this falsehood, but you DON'T SEE ANTI-GERMAN VOLKSHETZE in the media, even here, where tons of people lost their jobs and some lost a ton of money on the deal. It's hardball capitalism, not a game for cry-babies, like Metall and the Germans. If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen. But to play the hate card is a sign of psychological instability and immaturity. It's sick. If you don't see that mca, you're part of the problem. Grow up people, fix your own problems and don't blame others for your own weaknesses.

[Veraciraptor]

"» The Conversation Has Just Ended from PapaScott
Like Tobias, I wish that Godwin's Law (that any discussion should be ended once anything is compared to Hitler or the Nazis) would be enforced more strictly in German politics, and in weblogs about Germany as well."

Sounds like a license for impunity.

The similarity between the cartoons is striking. Perhaps people should be careful of insect and vermin comparisons in general. Calling someone a bug, parasite, virus, vermin... is the first step in their dehumanization. Tacking on nationalistic or xenophobic tones justs makes the whole thing worse.

Brings me back to the point about Hitler's socialism and the fact the Left feels no responsibility because the Nazis were supposedly on the Right. Therefore, the Left doesn't need to be careful because it's hands are clean. LOL

http://veraciraptor.blogspot.com

[frank]

Ulrich,

You said, "We don't have good think tanks. Journals. Experts. Nobody who wants to respond tho the challenge. Thats the real German crisis."

I completely agree, and the tragedt here goes beyond Germany. How much intellectual and economic capital is being wasted here I shudder to think.

Germany could be one of the greatest countries on earth, if they'd just get to work. Oh, well.

[Greg Schreiber]

I lived in Germany 3 and a half years while in the Army. It appears that things have only gotten worse since I left in 1990. The "acquisition" of East Germany for over 1 trillion dollars was the worst corporate takeover in history. Kohl caved in to the unions, so why would you expect anything better from Schroeder?

The first step in fixing a problem is to recognize the source of the problem!

As long as America gets blamed for everything, and I do mean everything, Germany will fade away even fast than their Frog friends next door.

[GC]

Just when you think it couldn't get any more vile and vicious. We should be pulling out all American businesses and not investing in the German economy. You think the unemployment is high now, see how much worse it will get when there are no business who will invest in anything German. Let the Germans and the French take care of themselves, I've finally had enough of their stupidity.

[Pogue Mahone]

OT - seems we got the #3 AQ thug take a look at the picture - I swear it looks exactly like the guy from Team America - World Police when he went undercover disguised as an arab :)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7732035/

[mca]

@jabba
I never said that german unionists are psycholigical stable oder mature.
But I think you misunderstood my whole post: the reason why there are few german corporate raiders trying to take american companies is not that germans are so friendly but simply the fact that germany is very weak in the private equity sector, which is dominated by british and american companies. And can we say that the one example you picked belongs to the „few“ I mentioned?

Moreover you cant compare a takeover within one industry with the operations of an investment company. Even if a lot of people lost their jobs because of the merger, DC still is a company which understands the business of Chrysler and has a long term interest in the brands of the company (they already did a lot to get the Chrysler brand back on track). So in your example a weak player in one industry was taken over by a strong. Something completetly different to a healthy company taken over by a financial investment firm, which mainly have short term interests.

My main point is: The fact, that Münteferings and his fellow unionist-cartoonists statements were stupid, dangerous and alarming (and embarrassing, if you are german) does not automatically mean that the actions of private equity companies and the mere existence of these companies is a good and harmless thing to the economy.

[Patricia]

My husband and I left Germany 4 weeks ago. I am an American who had lived there for 25 years, my husband is 52. A week or so prior to our leaving Germany Schröder went on national television and said only 30% of all people over the age of 55 have a job. Both my husband and I (45) were told we were to old, but qualified by potential employers. We were told that they would not be able to get rid of us if they were to hire us. What is amazing is that Schröder can go on TV and make such a statement and still has his job.

This whole "capitalismus debatte" just confirms our decision. We are starting from ground 0 and let me say it's great!!! The atmosphere here is positive, the business atmosphere is business-like and results oriented (thank God).

The funniest part of Muntis plan is that he wants banks to give the Mittlestand low interest loans. 5 years ago Germany agreed to stop providing government guarantees to the Sparkassen and banks (European Union Monte Erlass)for loans to the mittelstand, that combined with Basel II (now companies receive loans based on a transparent rating system and not based on their relationship with the bank) the German Relationship-Based banking (Hausbank) died. This forced German sparkassen and banks to work within the rating system, turn a profit and could no longer go to the Government to recoup their losses. The German banking industry played with the idea of a Debt Bank to pick up the slack. Sounds like cooking the books to me. The funny thing is that back then the press and so-called experts said that his would not affect the mittelstand. (As an aside many state banks and sparkassen only have BBB ratings. This is a direct result of the Monte Erlass and Basel II).

The mittelstand and small businesses had their credit lines canceled overnight. In anticipation of the Monte Erlass the sparkassen and Hausbanks started canceling credit lines which lead to the tremendous number of bankruptcies.

While I was still living in Germany I was confronted with Anti-Americanism everyday, in the media and in the prevailing attitudes from friends and the people on the street. Now that I am back home I feel that a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

Germans are only hurting themselves by placing the focus on the US. They have so many home-made problems that they need to address. In the seventies Franz Josef Strauss said Freiheit statt Sozialismus (Freedom instead of Socialism) well now that the iron curtain has fallen the question is Freiheit statt Communismus (Freedom instead of Communism)

Anyways now that I am here I can observe all this from a save distance. I don’t mean to sound arrogant but let the German Unions, Socialists, Communists and Greens continue to shadow box, the only effect they will have on Germany is that the economy will continue to tank, more people will loose their jobs, more companies will fold or leave the country and more people like myself and my husband will choose to leave and more investors will choose to earn 4% in a savings account rather than investing in a sinking ship. Investment companies will continue to buy up brain power in Germany, but no sane person will carry capital to a country where the Government is seriously discussing the regulation of capital.

Ronald Reagan was successful at killing communism. Now the enemy is Socialism, Margret Thatcher saved her country.

I am beginning to think that German socialism is nothing more than communism with “Reisefreiheit” (the right to travel).

[frank]

Patricia,
I lived in Germany for a year and a half, got back a bout a year agoa nd I can completly sympathize. Living in green Freiburg during the run up to the Iraq War, when McDonalds had to put up a sign stating that they didn't necessarily support US foreign policy and there we weekly wednesday and saturday protests, was hard. Particularly being adamantly pro-war. Welcome back!

Also, to the group, Slate has an article on the suessigkeit, 'Negerkuss' that makes me feel relieved at how appualed I was when I first heard the turn of phrase, here's the link:
http://slate.msn.com/id/2118016/

[Sandy P]

The DC irony is that the "weak" company is beginning to surpass the "strong" company.

Didn't the CEO just get roasted at the stockholders' meeting?

[lemmy]

This IG Metall insanity just make me want to see Opel plants in Germany close now.

Granted, I can remember stories of members of the UAW (United Auto Workers) in the US vandalizing foreign made cars that were in the parking lots of the various auto factories (how really wide-spread that was, I don't know), but depictions such as the ones PUBLISHED in a union journal is absolutely sickening.

In a time when Germans should be doing everything they can to ATTRACT investment (from everywhere, not just the United States), they are doing everything 'umgekehrt' (opposite).

If I were an entrepreneur and I was reading all of this nonsense from IG Metall and Franz Müntefering, do you really think I'd want to consider investing here in Germany? I'd probably say, "nein, danke".

[Pogue Mahone]

I was looking for some Nazi era cartoons that portrayed the Jews as vermin to show a comparison and found an excellent source on propaganda of the period at

http://history1900s.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.calvin.edu%2Facademic%2Fcas%2Fgpa%2Fww2era.htm

Far too "current" to pass on - its interesting to note the many ways the themes about the USA are recycled today

"Background: This is a translation of a 22-page pamphlet from 1942 titled Roosevelt Betrays America! The author is Robert Ley, head of the German Labor Front, though I rather suspect he had help. It is a good example of anti-American propaganda at the beginning of the war. I include some, but not all, of the accompanying illustrations as well. I assume this pamphlet was widely distributed by the DAF.

The source: Robert Ley, Roosevelt verrät Amerika! (Berlin: Verlag der Deutschen Arbeitsfront, 1942).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roosevelt Betrays America!

by Dr. Robert Ley"

"They are all the same, Dillinger, Al Capone, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Morgan and so on: gangsters, pirates, stock traders, businessmen. They have a single ideal: money-making, and still more money-making. American lawlessness and the double morality of Calvinism and Puritanism conceals it all"

"American workers know nothing about such social benefits as old age care, care for the handicapped or accident and health insurance. Roosevelt's New Deal has attempted to copy the German model. The copy is a bad one. The renowned social apostle is bluffing here as everywhere else. Despite complicated regulations, only a small number of workers enjoy a decent retirement. Insurance against accidents, industries and illness simply does not exist."

WOW - that second part could have been said by the Union boss himself

[Tom Penn]

The troubling thing to me is the way these perceived "sins" of individual companies are projected onto an entire nation. The US government is not participating in these business dealings, so why the uncle sam hats?

[Pogue Mahone]

For the same reason the Stars of David represented even the completely non-religious jews

Step 1 - label your opponents in a clear and easily understood way with some symbol

Step 2 - ensure that everybody understands what those with such a label are like

Step 3 - .......

[Ray D.]

@ Tom,

I could not agree more. I think you summed up the problem in a nutshell.

---Ray D.

[Scott]

I agree with Ripclawe. Coming from a union, this shouldn't be surprising. I've seen worse from US unions, especially during the corporate raider and LBO heydays. They railed against some of the very same businesses back in the 80's. And, during my short stint in West Virginia I saw the same hostility between coal miners and their employers.

I think bashing capitalism is a universal union trait.

[Sandy P]

I swear, the more I read about Europe, the more I think we should have acted in an imperialistic manner and imposed the Constitution on them.

That land mass needs an enema.

[Lou Minatti]

Pogue, you RULE. Presenting al-Qaida No. 3 Abu Faraj al-Libbi and Team America's No. 2 Gary:

http://louminatti.blogspot.com/

Someone please find a better Gary "beard and shoe polish" picture and e-mail it to me!

[dubya]

The "capitalism debate" is getting freakier by the minute. The "Tierschutzbeauftragter" (animal protection representative) of the SPD and member of Parliament is suggesting that the locust-comparison is an insult - to the animal (!).
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,354703,00.html

[John Austin]

E-mail sent to metal:
Dear Victims of America,
Scream and cry all you want; I'm sitting here laughing, as your socialist policies destroy your economy. You betrayed us and now you will pay the price. We saved you twice; it won't happen again. You betrayed us and are now on your own. You are just entering the hell of your own creation...have fun!
Hugs and kisses,
John Austin
USA

[Joe]

@ Pogue,

LOL......well as effective as our CIA has been it could be the guy from Team America.

And if we follow the rules of interrogation wanted by teddy the drunk, we might never find out he is our guy...

[Joe]

Well round 2 should be coming soon as IBM is going to restructure after reporting 1stQtr losses. Part of this is going to be the layoff of between 10-13 thousand employees mostly it would appear in Europe.

This should add fuel to the fire the spd is building.

[Hector]

I was considering taking a job back in Germany later in the year but the more I see this sort of thing, the more likely I'll turn when they it down.

I wonder how much foreign investment Munterfering and his brownshirts are scaring away from Germany at a time when they need it most.

I predict in a few years we'll have a number of asylum seekers from Germany's mittelstand moving to the USA since they'll be unable to conduct business in their own country anymore. We should welcome them with open arms.

[lemmy]

@ Joe

They want "Amis Raus", let's give it to 'em.

[Ray D.]

@ Hector,

If you can at all avoid Germany, you would be well advised to do so at the present time. The atmosphere towards Americans and towards American business people is growing more hostile by the day.

[TYranno]

. . . For the same reason the Stars of David represented even the completely non-religious jews

Step 1 - label your opponents in a clear and easily understood way with some symbol

Step 2 - ensure that everybody understands what those with such a label are like

Step 3 - .......
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pogue, are you saying that our more "complex" and "sophisticate" thinking euro-bretheren are guilty of a "bumpersticker" mentality. Needing curt, cute phrases to capture simple thoughts, to sway the masses?
I am shocked, shocked I tell you, to discover there are redneck amerikanisch, habits trickling into the superior European thought processes.
Next thing you know McDonalds franchises and Disneyland will start succeeding in Europe!!!
Quelle horreur!

Tyranno

[tyranno]

Not at all hard to grasp the article if you begin with the understanding that the vast majority of Germans are socialist. Not American University or Starbucks ~ solve the problems of the world over a double latte in the quad socialist (the Tom Hayden opens the electronic gates of his estate to chase away protestors with a baseball bat ~ Jane Fonda deriding the evils of capitalism from her 111,000 acre ranch in norther New Mexico, type) ~ but a dyed-in-the wool, ideological, all goodness comes from the state, we are all glorious and poor together socialists. Capital "S" socialists. The disturbing aspect of articles like this for me, is the ease with which the Germans/ Europeans slip back into an almost ghetto-ish, victimized mentality ~ capped off with finding and blaming a convenient scapegoat. I am having flashbacks, an uncomfortable deja-vu, . . . haven't we been here before?
In spite of their more "complex" and "sophisticated" thinking, many (most?) Europeans never have to walk very far to
"discover" the crux of their "problem!" It is not oppressive taxation that demotivates workers, it's not innovation crushing regulations, it's not flexibility stifling, costly labor unions, all which work to price German products out of the competitive open market, nope, it is . . . for all too many here, only and always . . . AMERICA's fault !
Schroeder uses it to get elected inspite of the moribund state he has brought Germany down too. IG Metall uses it to cover up their negative effect upon German industry and the resulting unemployment. The "progressive German/European medias use it to cover up a world not of their making nor liking, that they no longer control and appear to be losing even their influence in . . . but no sense addressing the core of these and other problems . . . not when you don't have a solution ~ and not when it is so much easier to blame somebody else.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Follow up; Reality and the truth are always tough on this ilk and their Party line. The Thursday May 5th International Herald Tribune has the following article on the bottom of it's front page; "Germany bristles at foreign "locust." Written by Mark Landler, it highlights the following about one of the companies alleged in the IG Metall story to have been ruined :

" Wincor Nixdorf, has completed a grueling five year run during which it was sold to a pair of demanding American private-equity investors, rebuilt from the ground up, and taken public in Germany's first major stock offering sine the Internet bubble burst in 2000. Not only did Wincor survive, it thrived. The company, which makes automatic teller machines and cash registers, has hired 3,200 employees since 1999. It's stock has risen 57% since the offering a year ago. But last week, it was stunned to find that the company had won notoriety of a very different sort, when its name and the name of its former investors, Kohlberg, Kravis and Roberts, and Goldman Sachs, the leveraged buyout firms, turned up on the so-called locust list."

Granted the average reader needs to be astute enough to recognize that IG Metall is not an unbias source/ perspective, but as l live, look and listen, around Germany these last 6 years I absolutely think it is "schiezen" like this, one more piece of the ubiquitous anti-american propaganda machine -- each with their own separate motivation, but each using the U.S.A. as their giant rohrschat blot -- that are the building blocks of the growing disagreements/ lack of understanding between the U.S.A. and Europe. And, as much as my European friends want to believe in the "NEOCON" "Bush dominated," "Rightwing controlled media in America," not a one of them have been able to produce a single article from that bad ol', "propaganda arm of the Republican party" (even from the center of evil neocon gravity ~ FOX news) that is remotely similar to this article or others I have found and posted.

I don't give a damn whether or not Europe likes the U.S. A. or is its ally. Sure it would be nice, sure we are like minded nations and people, but it is hardly necessary anymore. If, however, they choose to part ways, it should be an honest conscious choice based on the reality of our growing differences of perspectives and diverging national interests; not one driven by hatefilled, emotional leftist tripe like this, or rather, what passes for "objective new" in Europe.

Tyranno

[lemmy]

Kudos to Guido Westerwelle, but enough of him. We need more pictures of Silvana Mehrin-Koch. What a babe! LOL!

@ ulrich speck

"Yes, it isn't mainstram media. But unfortunately it's mainstream thought. Two thirds of Germans share Münteferings views. That's why the opposition - Merkel - doesn't attac."

Interesting point.

"We should be pulling out all American businesses and not investing in the German economy. "

'We' are. Not the US specifically but global caital is not flowing to Germany because it is not a good place to do business. In large part because of IG Metall and their bretheren in the German labor movement. The investment is going to China, India, SE Asia, Ireland, Spain, even the UK. All places where one can make a buck without too much trouble.

So someone at IG Metall blames the US. Not accurate - that cartoon ought to have an oriental face on it. Or maybe Mahatma Ghandi....

Capital flows are no longer national. The 'US' does not invest in 'Germany'. Comanies make investments in places where the returns look promising. Right now Germany doesn't qualify.

[M. Simon]

I live in a Chrysler town in Mid-America.

There is an awful lot of grumbling about the way Benz is running Chrysler.

I've never seen in any of the local rags any thing like te IM cover. We suck up our losses and try to do better.

[Joe]

As Germans collective gaze at their navels, the world around them is in a constant state of change. It should be apparent to anyone who dares to seek what is taking place outside of their social welfare state that reforms are occurring with or without input from the elites in Berlin or elsewhere in Germany or from the Germans themselves.

International business both foreign and domestic will restructure the German economy. This is already taking place. The most recent example of these changes will be the soon to be taken actions by IBM. This is just one of many hundreds of decisions being made by corporations and individuals worldwide.

Just as part of the social welfare state efforts to promote social justice by making it difficult to down size the labor force, there is also a second part of this equation many Germans choose to ignore. This second part is once a firm learns of the cost and the difficult of down sizing, you can be assured it will not invest in new jobs in the same environment in the future unless absolutely necessary.

In the case of IBM should at some point in the future they find that they need to add to their European workforce, I can assure you they will not be adding jobs in places like france and Germany.

So the elites of Germany and the citizens of Germany really have to do nothing. They need not make any hard choices. Those choices will be made for them. The more difficult they make it for those organization who actually create jobs, the less likely those organizations will invest in Germany when there are more attractive options.

So welcome to reality Germany.