Germany – A Leading Economy with an Arguable life Quality

The article “Vorsprung Durch Exports”, translated “Advance Through Exports” was published online in the “Economist” on Feb 3rd 2011 from their print edition. The author who is not named concentrates on the economic performance of the G7 member countries, mainly on Germany. Compared to the other countries of the G7, Germany is the best performer of the last decade. With a GDP expansion rate of 3.6% Germany put itself ahead of most other rich countries, including the United States. Furthermore, the author covers the growth of Germany’s GDP per person compared to that of the United States. It also contrasts unemployment rates of East Berlin and California. Other major points mentioned in the article include Germany’s healthy and conservative mortgage system, but also its lag in the service sector. Overall, Germany has the best performing economy of any G7 member (Economics Focus).

The German economy is important for me. I grew up in Germany and lived there until I was 20. Numbers might appraise Germany’s economic wealth but the people who live in the country have a different opinion and feel a negative pressure of the economy. To the outside world Germany seems to be a democratic country with a free market but on the subsurface socialist measures are enforced to favor the government. Germany wants to be recognized as a capitalist in the business world but camouflage their interferences with the market.

Unreasonable tax rates of 19% cover all purchases in consumer goods and services and hurt the buyers. The GDP growth per person over the last decade might be higher in Germany than in the United States, but the disposable income of a German resident is less than that of an US resident.

Germany’s after-income taxation intensely diffe...

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...ported good is easier to afford than domestically produced goods, even if the German government has two tariffs on imported goods from outside the EU (Custom and Import-Tax).

The German economy is a lie; numbers can’t say what people feel and how people struggle. Numbers don’t mean anything to the hard workers who receive almost 50% less of their wages and the government doesn’t fulfill their duties in supplying the benefits they get paid for. The German government needs a mind change, younger politicians mixed with all races and ethnicities to introduce proper laws and better economic strategies for Germany.

Works Cited

Unknown. Economics Focus. 11 2 2011. 11 2 2011 .

Auswandern Info. Auswandern Info. 26 4 2009. 22 2 2011 .