Chris Brauer Media Project [BLOG]

According to The Economist: "Germany's economic growth has lagged far behind that of the rest of the rich world during the past few years". The recommended solution is cutting taxes, allowing more skilled immigration, and making the education system more efficient.

But the causes of Germany's economic distress are possibly rooted in deeper cultural misgivings about the "economization" of all aspects of civic life. Even political advisor Wolfgang Schäuble, architect of a German Conservative Credo promotes a notion that "the market is merely a tool, not an answer to every human problem".

One day in 1991 I sat on the stoop of an elite Frieburg University frat house with the magnificent Naomi Creutzfeldt and a couple of friends who were members of the university fencing club and had the chivalrous battle scars to prove it. The subject was the economy and there was a cockiness to the German perspective, at the end of a flourishing run where the Mark (R.I.P.) had soared. Even I remembered getting 2.5 to one against the Canadian dollar and was astonished to see the currencies near equal.

But then something strange happened to a nation that I have learned to love, having been to the country over a dozen times in the last 20 years. My father was born in Bremerhaven on the North Sea in 1940 (significant date?), and I have deep nostalgic connection through my grandmother and relatives, many still in the country.

But after 1992 Germany made a stutter step, and then another, and shortly stopped moving all together. It was around that time that I worked on the floor of a coffee factory for Jacobs-Suchard, makers of fine coffee and chocolate (beauty Toblerone). One day in my first week I opened one of the coffee vats one turn too far and couldn't get it closed. Three tons of coffee spilled out on the floor and all around me. "Helfen! Helfen!" I hollered but my co-workers simply gathered in a circle around my misfortune, my boss smiling and slapping me on the shoulder. They helped me shovel it into the trash and later in the shower I brewed some of the gourmet lost in the unfortunate accident. It reminded me again of the teamwork and pride that have made the German brand respected for reliability and quality. But it is precisely these workers, unionized, apparently overpaid and over benefited according to economic theories, that are at the center of the economic dispute. Those workers were proud of their jobs, made a good living, were loyal to their company, and contributed back into the economy. But those jobs are getting squeezed and it looks like Germany faces no alternative but to assimilate.

Their malaise extends beyond the economy into their national sport of football (soccer) where they seem unable to exhibit anything close to support. While the stands are filled for many a Bundesliga game anyone who has spoken to a German national team supporter will tell you that they are the most self-depreciating lot in all of the world's most popular game. When I went to World Cup 2002 in Japan I had to stand alone in supporting the team even though they went all the way to the final before falling to a Brazilian team that was the best in the world by some distance. No shame in that surely? Wrong. German fans will tell you that their team was boring and played uninspiring football. You can bet that if the English made it to their first World Cup final since 1966 the fans wouldn't care if they did it by scoring in the first minute and kicking the ball into the stands for the rest of the game.

So why can't Germans get back on their feet after the boastful 80s? Nationalism and pride are dirty words in Germany, associated with their collective guilt at past endeavours. Maybe hosting the 2006 World Cup will invite the world to see a happier and more stable Germany, aware of the unique contributions they can offer to the world, and not afraid to admit it.

Labels: politics, sociology