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2006-03-02 Europe
German unemployment rises to 12.2 per cent
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Posted by lotp 2006-03-02 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11136 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 But then...In seasonally adjusted terms, which economists consider to be a more important indicator of labour market trends, unemployment dropped by 5,000 this month to 4.695 million.
Posted by Rafael 2006-03-02 01:23||   2006-03-02 01:23|| Front Page Top

#2 Wotta disingenuous comment, Raphael. The article is far from neutral or optimistic - it is a litany of worse than expected - and worsening - conditions. Sheesh. Foolish little parry there - did it make you puff up and feel good? -- if anyone bothers to read the thing you look like a pluperfect fool. Go figure, huh?
Posted by .com 2006-03-02 03:15||   2006-03-02 03:15|| Front Page Top

#3 To compound matters, the European Central Bank is to raise interest rates today.
Posted by Jake-the-Peg 2006-03-02 06:59||   2006-03-02 06:59|| Front Page Top

#4 Even if they don't read it...
Posted by Nimble Spemble 2006-03-02 08:27||   2006-03-02 08:27|| Front Page Top

#5 In response to the high unemployment data Franz Muentefering said "there must be more jobs in Germany."
Whoaa..with insight like that they should make him Labour Minister or something...er nevermind.
Posted by DepotGuy 2006-03-02 08:47||   2006-03-02 08:47|| Front Page Top

#6 Wotta disingenuous comment, Raphael. The article is far from neutral or optimistic

I'm glad you commented because it shows perfectly just what a prick you really are.

I posted my comment to point out that the headline is not the entire story, and it's far from doom and gloom.
In fact, the whole point of the article was this and only this:
The latest data means that unemployment has remained above the politically sensitive five million mark for two consecutive months.

That's seasonally unadjusted. This may or may not be meaningful, depending on what happens in the following months when the labour market is expected to stabilise. It says so in the article.
Posted by Rafael 2006-03-02 13:24||   2006-03-02 13:24|| Front Page Top

#7 The Weimer Republic had it worse. Just hope they don't follow a similar prescription.
Posted by rjschwarz 2006-03-02 13:55||   2006-03-02 13:55|| Front Page Top

#8 Up or down, it's still 12 percent. It sucks. Bad.
Posted by Mark E. 2006-03-02 16:24||   2006-03-02 16:24|| Front Page Top

#9 But it's a bit unfair to include eastern Germany in this rate. Even the article admits the western unemployment rate is at about 10%, which is about 3% higher than the pre-unification rate circa 1990.

I'm not sure exactly what lotp's point was in posting this article. And I'm asking sincerely. Is it to show that Germany is paying the price for its stubborn socialism? Because there's more to it than that.

Manufacturing plays a more significant role in Germany's economy than perhaps any other advanced economy. Industrial output itself accounts for about 23% of GDP. This doesn't bode well for a country that now sits next to a cheaper source of labour and production. What we are seeing here is the repercussion of admitting eastern Europe to the European Union. Combined with socialist policies makes this especially painful for Germany, and they have to learn to adjust.

But before I would say the sky is falling, I'd watch those GDP figures, and as of this moment they are stable.
Posted by Rafael 2006-03-02 17:16||   2006-03-02 17:16|| Front Page Top

#10 "I'm glad you commented because it shows perfectly just what a prick you really are."

ROFL! Other than making no sense, that's brilliant! Perhaps, you're the one's who's a prickly little dick.

Um, please don't cry, K?

If I want to comment on an article, I will do so you fucking asstard. What IS your major malfunction, other than being a Tranzi Europhile with full-blown Power / Relevance Envy?

The article is, indeed, pretty gloomy. Typical of such limp-symp reporting, it has all the brave (read: weasel) words up front and all the bad news at the end.

But this really isn't about Germany. [historical references follow] Or perfidious Turkey. Or moronic dual passports. Or unarmed Border Receptionists. Nah. Everybody knows those things aren't "it". It's about a very very bad, probably terminal, case of purest 100% Grade A Power Envy.

You're a variant of Aris' gig - you don't claim to know everything, no - your shtick is to be the Master Sensitive and Defender of The Tranzis. You're the nittiest pickiest nuanciest hair-splitter of all time. No hair is too small or thin for you to go Ginsu on. You're capable, cuz you're so very uber-sensitive (and seem to have a Gov't job, so plenty of time to blog), to spend hours and hours typing airy silliness which you believe proves that gray isn't really gray, it's some white mixed with some black and, somehow, only you know the right proportions. Wotta fucking nitwit.

Yesterday you said "The reasons for this are documented on Rantburg, going back to well before .com's days here." in this thread in Comment #11.

Oooh, Rafael the wizened Old Hand, eh? Wow! But, y'know what?, I found that curious. The post content is what matters, but since you brought it up and seemed to attach some self-inflating significance to it, I thought I'd have a look.

Guess what? My first post on RB is on 04/06/2003, as PD. I started lurking around RB from Saudi in early March - cuz of the war - but just reading soon wasn't enough... I was in damned good company, too - LOTS of new RBers came out of the closet in April, 2003. War will do that, I guess. So I thought I'd start there and stroll backward through the archives to see what wisdom and original thought you had revealed to the world via RB... and I found lots of interesting stuff and posters*, but...

But no Rafael or Raphael. Hmmm. Were you posting as Hugh Jorgan? Dreaming out loud, again? Lol. Naw, you're a little Qanuck weenie. So, lessee...

No posts by you in April. None in March. Zero in February. Zip, zilch, nada in January. A full third of 2003 and no posts from you. A very eventful time period, too. Wotta loss! No Rafael Expositions of The Major Truths! Holy smokes! Can it be? Yeah, it can...

I call BULLSHIT. On that idiotic little bit of self-inflation and, well, most everything else you post. Gosh, I don't wanna give you hives or make you cry or anything, but it kinda looks like you're a fucking liar.

Typical puffery and insecurity, or relevance envy, perhaps. Who cares?

Everything else rather pales.

*I see, in no particular order, Ptah and tu3031 and Tresho and Penguin and seafarious and Steve White and Frank G and Paul/Alaska Paul and Dave and Dave D and and Steve and mojo and Chuck Simmins and Raj and john and Just John and John Anderson and Robert Crawford and Dar and Barbara Skolaut and Tony and liberalhawk and Tom Roberts and Anonymous (amazingly prolific!) and VAMark and Angie Shultz and Meryl Yourish and Dreadnought and Patrick Phillips and Rex Mundi and Yank and Tripartite and Brian and Peter and Scooter McGruder and Atomic Conspiracy and Yosemite Sam and R McLeod and Hiryu and JAB and JDB and paj, and Dan and Hugh Jorgan (lol) and raptor and flash91 and Spot and eLaron and rg117 and Doug De Bono and mhw and Old Patriot and Pete Stanley and someone and TJ Jackson and Kathy K and OldSpook and Bulldog and Hermetic and Caton and Capsu78 and Matt and matt and Parabellum and Zhang Fei and B-A-R and BarCodeKing and phil_b (Phil B back then) and Ernest Brown and Anonon and Deviant Saint and Kalle and anon1 and Frank Martin and Wills and becky and Tibor and Tokyo Taro and El Id and True German Ally and Former Russian Major and Dixie Normus and Bent Pyramid and growler and Bodyguard and white-collar redneck and Dishman and Denny and George and Rw / RW (RWV?) and Mike N and Old Grouch and Poitiers and sonnie and Down Under and Rifle308 and mjh and Hodenon and Michael and MommaBear and jrosevear and Rawsnacks and FOTSGreg and Mark IV and defscribe and dorf and Ben and Joe and Tom and Christopher Johnson and Mike and Bobbing4Kittens and Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire and Tadderly and Nik Karanikos and Murat and me and some guy named Fred... and many others, of course - even Jabba the Tutt and Pink & Fluffy, lol - no offense intended if I left anyone out. I even found the comments are broken back on 01/13/03 and 01/15/03, lol, including comments from other dates, lol. It was a lot of fun looking back, in fact.
Posted by .com 2006-03-02 18:27||   2006-03-02 18:27|| Front Page Top

#11 I'm not sure exactly what lotp's point was in posting this article

I posted it because Merkel has to deal with the public response to this sustained, psychologically frightening (and structurally damaging) unemployment in Germany. She promised economic reforms but had to back off immediately after being elected due to public outcry.

Merkel is a great improvement over Schroeder. But if the German economy is perceived by Germans to be tanking, there is the potential for a backlash that might make Germany far less helpful and stable than it is at the moment.

We've already seen German companies and citizens accused of selling nuclear arms-related stuff to Iran. The last thing we need is for that to accelerate while Germany implodes economically.

In other words, I posted it because economic issues can have political - and geopolitical - consequences.
Posted by lotp 2006-03-02 18:32||   2006-03-02 18:32|| Front Page Top

#12 .com, ye'r lucky that I am getting new glasses tomorrow! ;-)
I squinted as hard as I could, but it still looks like a white noise graphic!
Posted by twobyfour 2006-03-02 23:25||   2006-03-02 23:25|| Front Page Top

#13 I call BULLSHIT. On that idiotic little bit of self-inflation and, well, most everything else you post. Gosh, I don't wanna give you hives or make you cry or anything, but it kinda looks like you're a fucking liar.

If I remember, my very first post was using "RW". Those are my initials. Fred can verify that because he knows my real name (but please Fred don't disclose it). If I recall even further, you posted your first comment after me, but I may be wrong. I even remember why you changed from "PD" to ".com", at TGA's behest I think it was. Anyway, no matter, you win. (Hey look, I'm even on that list of yours!)


lotp, just as a note, Merkel is enjoying an 80% approval rating thus far. So far, so good. Time will tell.
Posted by Rafael 2006-03-02 23:39||   2006-03-02 23:39|| Front Page Top

#14 Yup, it's all doom and gloom:

The surprising 2.7 per cent rise in January’s retail sales is the latest evidence that the upswing in Europe’s largest economy is broadening beyond exports and investments.

The eurozone’s broadening economic recovery is expected to be cited by the ECB when it lifts its main interest rate this afternoon by a quarter percentage point to 2.5 per cent, following a similar rise in December.

Also underscoring Germany’s economic recovery were figures from the VDMA engineering association showing orders in January were 25 per cent higher than the same month a year before. Inland orders were up 27 per cent – another sign that the domestic economy is stirring.

Source

For every gloomy article there's one that suggests otherwise.
Posted by Rafael 2006-03-02 23:51||   2006-03-02 23:51|| Front Page Top

#15 Fred can verify that because he knows my real name

And if that's not enough there's always the IP and domain thingie. What else...I think that's it.
Posted by Rafael 2006-03-02 23:55||   2006-03-02 23:55|| Front Page Top

23:55 Rafael
23:54 KBK
23:51 Rafael
23:50 twobyfour
23:48 Pappy
23:39 Rafael
23:30 trailing wife
23:29 twobyfour
23:29 JosephMendiola
23:28 Inspector Clueso
23:25 twobyfour
23:15 Skidmark
23:10 3dc
22:52 Frank G
22:45 Barbara Skolaut
22:42 ed
22:23 49 Pan
22:13 trailing wife
22:08 Dreadnought
22:07 xbalanke
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22:02 RD
21:45 Pappy
21:40 Captain America









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