Germany replaces US as world´s largest exporter

[DuctapeFatwa]

Britain signed a landmark enterprise agreement last week with the US to celebrate our aspiration to follow the American way. Yet this alleged enterprise capital of the world has a trade deficit equal to 5 per cent of its gross national product, has racked up international debts now close to $3 trillion and last April lost its place as number one world exporter to Germany.
This latter economy, running trade surpluses as proportionately big as the US's trade deficits, is written off as an economic basket case whose approach we want to avoid like the plague. But perhaps, just perhaps, the story is a little more complicated than America works and Germany doesn't.

To see any merit in the German economic and social model in Britain these days is to invite howls of derision, especially from the Treasury. And it's true that German economic performance has not been much to write home about recently; one in 12 Germans is unemployed while economic stagnation, inflating social expenditure and an eroded tax base have meant that the German budget deficit has exceeded the eurozone rules for three successive years, rules the Germans lobbied hard for. You'd have to be a saint not to enjoy just a little Schadenfreude at Germany's plight.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1091230,00.html

[Prodemsouth]

1. Great article, Thanks for sharing. It is sad that politicans don't

look at the total economic picture both short term and long term as in this article. A moderate adjustable social market is the way to go. Germany despite its current problems will prove this. I didn't know that it had replaced the US as the number one exporter. Leave it to the Guardian to tell me something I don't know that is important. Just more evidence here again how horrible the American press is at this moment.

[Iverson]

2. kick

n/t