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| German unemployment rose for the ninth month in October, |
| 2004-11-04 |
| Not all is well in Euroland. German unemployment rose for the ninth month in October, keeping the jobless rate at a five-year high of 10.7 percent, as companies including General Motors Corp. announced plans to fire thousands of workers. The number of jobseekers in Europe's largest economy rose a seasonally adjusted 12,000 to 4.46 million, the Nuremberg-based Federal Labor Agency said. Economists expected an increase of 15,000, the median of 41 forecasts in a Bloomberg survey showed. The increase in German unemployment underlines the divergence between the economy of the 12 nations sharing the euro and the U.S. and U.K. The U.S. jobless rate probably held at 5.4 percent in October as 175,000 jobs were created, a Bloomberg survey of 68 economists showed. The Labor Department releases the report on Friday. The U.K. unemployment rate held at a 29-year low of 2.7 percent in September. |
| Posted by:Mark Espinola |
| #7 Smalltalk? |
| Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) 2004-11-04 11:37:22 PM |
| #6 Drain:Circle |
| Posted by: mojo 2004-11-04 5:22:32 PM |
| #5 I think the best policy that the US can have with France, Germany, Spain...Old Euro is to disengage from them. They've gone the way of the Muslims - looking outward for a Satan to blame rather than demanding that their leaders fix their problems. Welfare states are a bit like alcoholics - addicted to the freebies and always demanding more. They need to hit rock bottom before they can get it together. The best message we can send to the Euros's is the same message that needs to be sent to an addict - you are on your own...good luck to you. |
| Posted by: 2b 2004-11-04 11:11:06 AM |
| #4 phil_b, The REAL cause of European economic self-destruction is the ever-expanding welfare state, the labor laws (if you can't fire 'em why hire 'em), and the lack of entrepreneurial spirit. I grew up and lived in several European countries, I've seen it all. Anyone with self-respect and ambitions for their happiness and prosperity emigrates to the anglo-sphere. Cheaper manufacturing in China should free up more advanced economies to invest capital in higher productivity jobs (law of comparative advantage). That it is barely happening in Europe (apart from the UK where the Thatcher revolution re-invigorated a bit of entrepreneurial spirit and dismantled most deleterious labor laws) is evidence that European economies are frozen by socialist interference and unable to respond to market changes. The EU has made matters worse overall -- once you discount the initial positive effects of removing borders, customs, and tariffs. European economic woes will only dissipate after they abandon Marxist economics and return to reading Smith, Say, and Bastiat -- and things will really improve once they learn to read von Mises. (There are exceptions, my comments apply directly to Old European countries.) |
| Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) 2004-11-04 7:29:33 AM |
| #3 Although I take a certain glee over the demise of German economy, we will have to help them fix it somehow. The last time we let them try to fix it we got the National Socialists. I know TGA will tell me I am wrong, but unemployed and hungry people are ripe for recruiting. It has always been that way with radicals. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2004-11-04 7:24:24 AM |
| #2 Whilst I am no fan of Eurosocialism, this has more to do with metal bashing industries going to China. The UK was arguably the first country to get a post-industrial economy (all praise to Maggie Thatcher) and it will be a few years (generations) before the Chinese become competative with the UK's knowledge and information based economy. By way of example, a couple of days ago I bought a set of knives made in China for 5 AUD. The brand was a German name, although I knew at that price there was no way they were made in Germany. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2004-11-04 4:04:10 AM |
| #1 That olive branch our (former) "allies" are holding out to the US appears to be attached to a hand rapidly disappearing beneath the quicksand of socialism. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2004-11-04 1:18:34 AM |