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August 23, 2010: Germany is getting attention because of its recovery from the recent recession and financial crisis. Germany's economic growth for April, May and June (the 2nd quarter) is 2.2 percent. This stretched to a performance of one year would be a growth rate of almost 9 percent. And Germany's unemployment rate continues to decline: to 7.5 percent, or approximately 7.0 using the U.S. method of measurement. This is more than a point lower than it was a few years ago before the financial crisis.
Part of the credit for Germany's recovery goes to the spending habits of the German people. They did not go into debt to the extent that people in the United States have. German consumers are not paying off personal debt to the extent that people are in the United States. Without this debt, German consumers are spending their money.
German exports are booming again. Germany has maintained its manufacturing base rather than shipping jobs overseas. Germany, according the the CIA World Factbook, "is a leading exporter of machinery, vehicles, chemicals, and household equipment and benefits from a highly skilled labor force."
Germany has a conservative government that supports national health care and maintains an unemployment benefits system more generous than that offered in the United States. Health figures listed below indicate a population benefiting from better health care.
East of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. West of Poland and the Czech Republic. North of Austria. Germany has two northern coastlines, one on the North Sea, the other along the Baltic Sea. Together they are 2,389 kilometers (1,493 miles) long. At its widest point east and west, Germany is about 970 kilometers (400 miles). At its widest point north and south, it is 750 kilometers (450 miles). Capital: Berlin.
Official name: Federal Republic of Germany
The Federal Republic of Germany absorbed what had been East Germany (German Democratic Republic) in 1990.
The Federal Republic of Germany has been a member of NATO since May 5, 1955. It is one of the founding members of what is now the European Union.
Germany is a parliamentary democracy with a bicameral legislature. The Bundestag (lower house) is the principal legislative body. Either body can initiate legislation. To become law, most legislation must be approved by both bodies and by the executive branch of government -- the prime minister.
Germany has twenty-four or more political parties, including the Animal Welfare Party, the German Communist Party, the Green Party, and a party that some call neo-fascist: the NPD (Nationalist Party of Germany). But the logic of politics gives dominance to two political parties: the center-conservative CDU (Christian Democratic Union) and the center-left SPD (Social Democratic Party), historically a moderate socialist party.
Figures unless otherwise stated are from the CIA Factbook.
Factbook: "The German economy -- the fifth largest economy in the world in PPP terms and Europe's largest -- began to contract in the second quarter of 2008 as the strong euro, high oil prices, tighter credit markets, and slowing growth abroad took their toll on Germany's export-dependent economy."
2009: $34,100 (ranks 37th)
2008: $35,900
2007: $35,500
2009: -5%
2008: 1.3%
2007: 2.5%
2006: 3%
2009: 77.2% compared to 52.9 for the United States
2008: 66.0
2009: 7.5%
2008: 7.3%
Germany provides 90 percent of its nutritional needs.
The Germans have been working an average of 10 percent fewer hours than workers in the United States, but Siemens, the telecommunications giant, has extended the work week from 35 to 40 hours per week.
Favorable: imports, $0.967 trillion; exports, $1.159 trillion.
2005: 1.5%
Gender Gap: The World Economic Forum lists Germany as ninth in the world in the elimination of a gender gap. This is ahead of the United States, which does not appear among the top ten.
Vitualien Market in the city center is an example of good local government intervention in the a city's economy. It is in an area of expensive real estate, but the city keeps the rents low enough for old-time shops to continue rather than be replaced by fast food franchises.
Pedestrians are around, and a few bicycles and no cars. Rick Steves, the travel guy, says Viktualien Markt is a favorite with locals for fresh produce and friendly service. Says Rick Steves, the PBS travel guy, "The Viktualien Market's beer garden taps you into great budget eating. Stalls sell the best Wurst, sandwiches, produce and more."
Here is a look at Vitualien Markt, a bit different from the mall's in my home city and different from what I see from the parking lot at the local WalMart. http://www.stadtpanoramen.de/muenchen/viktualienmarkt.html
Germany has had a flatter distribution of wealth than Britain or
the United States.
Household income or consumption for the year 2000,
highest 10%: 32.7%.
In 2003 Germany spent $67.96 per capita on foreign aid, less than the UK at $74.88, much less than Norway at $307.95, but more than the United States, at $23.76.
As a percentage of GDP, the federal tax burden in Germany is about half way between that of Sweden and the United States -- for 1999. Germany was at 36.6 percent, Sweden at 52.5 percent and the U.S. at 26 percent. In total tax revenues, Germany was $9,733 per person, Sweden $13,404 per person, and the U.S. $6,702 per person.
Living in an urban area: 74%. A litle less than France. (2008)
July 2010: 82.28 million. Growth: -0.61% per year.
July 2009: 82.33 million.
July 2008: 82.37 million.
Estimated for 2010, the death and births per 1,000 population are 11 and 8.21 respectively -- births are up from 8.18 per 1,000 in 2009.
According to 2005 estimates, Germany has 232 persons per square kilometer (601 per square mile). The median for the United States (2000 U.S Census) is 34 persons per square kilometer (88 per square mile).
2010: More arriving than leaving, a net gain of 2.19 persons per 1,000 population.
2010: 3.55 compared to 6.14 for the United States
2009: 3.99
2008: 4.03
2005: in 4.16
2010: 79.41 years
2009: 79.26
2008: 79.01
Living with HIV/AIDS, ages 15 to 49: less than 0.1 percent (2001)
As of 2004, Germany had a health care plan in which working people paid from 8 to 16 percent of their wages into the system, while the unemployed and retirees received health care free. Those with incomes who were affluent enough could opt out of the system and avail themselves to private health care.
Germans in 1999 spent on average $2,697 per person on health care, compared to $4,271 in the United States.
In 1949, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) abolished the death penalty. The death penalty remained in Communist East Germany, the former German Democratic Republic, until 1987.
In the year 2000, the German government banned corporal punishment in child rearing. (My German-American mother would have been dismayed by such a law.)
15 percent of Catholics attend mass weekly (New York Times, April 19, 2005).
Germany has stretches of highway with no speed limit. Cars are built for speeds over 100 miles per hour. And they do it with fewer car accident deaths per capita than do people in the United States. Data from 1999, at nationmaster.com, has the U.S. leading in "motor vehicle" deaths per 100,000 population, at 15.5. Germany is 9.8, Canada 9.6, Sweden is 5.6. (Swedes also do not like the music of Richard Wagner as much as Germans. They tend more toward emotional moderation.)
In 2002, 41 percent of Germany's population was accessing the internet.
SOURCES:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
http://www.nationmaster.com/index.php
Copyright © 2010 by Frank E. Smitha. All rights reserved.