Let's not forget some basic facts of life

“Until you can make something and sell it, no wealth has been created.”

-- Christopher Lewinton, Chairman of Tube Investments, speech given in 1991.

I was cordially invited this week to attend the local primary school’s Christmas Bazaar. A cynic might quip that such an event is just a polite way of asking parents to make financial contributions to help in the running of the school, rather than just coldly demanding a handout. On one level, this is true. But there are more issues at play here than filthy lucre.

Each class chose different products/commodities to manufacture. There were Christmas tree decorations, calendars, bookmarks, fridge magnets, framed photographs of topical interest, Christmas cards and a whole host of items produced by child labour. Some might say that the pricing policy was unfair and that the goods were a little overpriced, but this is Christmas after all and the proceeds were going to a good cause.

Some children (the younger, innocent-looking ones) took their wares onto a tray around their necks (cinema ice-cream vendor style) and circulated around the hall, offering their merchandise to the punters. I think they had been told that no one could refuse a child who blatantly demanded “Will you buy my Christmas cards? Only 1 Euro each.” But the hard sell technique won’t wash with some Scrooges around who can say, sorry, I’ve spent all my money today.

There were the ubiquitous refreshments on offer to refresh patrons after exerting themselves and their wallets around the children’s stalls. Naturally, the mothers chipped in and those who could, baked a cake, divided it into miniscule portions and sold off each piece at exploitation prices. I’m not sure if someone got her/his sums mixed up (raw materials plus labour resulting in a prodigious amount of surplus value) but no one was buying cake and absolutely everyone was queuing up for hot, freshly prepared waffles, with a light dusting of icing sugar and cinnamon. The waffle stall displayed no price: it was left up to everyone’s individual conscience to donate any amount as they saw fit into the piggy bank recruited especially for the purpose. Incidentally, the receptacle was such that no one could tell how much each customer donated – theoretically you could have paid for your waffle with an old button and no one would be any the wiser. In these straitened times, a hard pressed parent would soon see the economic sense of feeding hungry mouths with waffles rather than, say, cake. Personally, I think it was the enticing aroma wafting through the corridors ‘wot got them standing in line for hours. We must now paraphrase: “Let them eat waffles!”

The children themselves learned a few good lessons and the experience will stand them in good stead if they should ever find themselves occupying the leather chair of the CEO of, say, Chrysler Motors. We have to find the right materials at competitive prices, make sure the division of labour is fairly apportioned according to talents and skills and come up with the goods on schedule. And on the day itself, we want our pushiest sales person on the counter hawking our wares (and if we can’t find anyone pushy, at least someone who doesn’t have sticky fingers and knows how to count).

The afternoon was pure consumption of commodities, edible and otherwise. There was no service sector, no credit facilities, no discount for bulk purchase and no refunds for dissatisfied customers. The closest thing to a service sector was the choir of first year students performing Christmas carols, and that was free.

The next morning everyone was eager to find the class teacher with the petty cash so that they could balance the books but she was ill.

Judging by the decibel level towards the end of the afternoon (and the flowing mulled wine was not to blame – not cheap enough, not enough alcohol content) everyone seemed to enjoy the event, its sociability, its atmosphere. Here, wealth was created by junior entrepreneurs who took pride in their finished products and presented them to the consuming public with gratification and self-esteem. How many chairmans can still say the same?

Hot off the press

Some stories that made an impression on me from Berliner Zeitung of 14th November.

Many young people are turning towards the army, not out of any patriotic fervour or out of a desire to become career soldiers, but because it will get them off the dole queue. Many new recruits come from the eastern states and place all their hopes in the army providing them with a secure job and a living wage. Recruiting officers, however, stress that whoever sees the armed forces as a last straw is doomed to failure.

BVG are trying to keep one step ahead of the vandals – they are in the process of covering all windows in underground trains with protective plastic film, which makes it difficult for juvenile scribes to scratch gangland mottos on the glass. The sticking point is that the film is not plain but printed with etchings of the Brandenburg Gate. Vandals are left with very little blank space in which to scratch their inanities. A similar tack has been adopted on the trams, but instead of the Brandenburg Gate, the film is dark green (useful for keeping out the strong rays of summer sunshine in a city where the clouds are permanent residents). BVG had to fork out nearly €9 MILLION last year to repair damage caused by vandals: inevitably these costs end up being passed on to the traveller. You would think that anything that could reduce this figure of €9 million would be welcome, but instead passenger associations are complaining that the patterned/coloured film obstructs their clear view out of the windows and they don’t like it! In all of Germany, the extent of this problem of vandalised trains is worst in Berlin.
p.s. Ticket prices will be raised 2% in the New Year.

I am tempted to suspect that the newspaper scans other local publications, looking for ideas for new material. (Those of you who follow the themes featured in English-language periodicals of Berlin will pick up on the innuendo). Perhaps it is only coincidence that they have a “puffer” article on the Undertakers Guild: half a page of adverts for bespoke funeral parlours (who would actually cut out the page to keep for future reference??) together with a half-page article lamenting the fact that there are too many cemeteries in Berlin and not enough funerals (i.e. deaths). The two go together – too many businesses, not enough customers.

This development is logical, since the population of the city is not growing in leaps and bounds and the numbers have never returned to the peak reached in past decades. A bit sad for the capital of the world’s biggest exporter.

[p.s. Judging by the preponderance of articles/features on death, funerals, hospices etc. in other local papers in recent days, I am more than inclined to believe that such appropriation of ideas for stories continues on a wholesale basis. I shall follow future developments with renewed interest!]

Amongst the mundane police reports of stabbings, raids on drug dealers and flats set on fire by burning candles, one report stuck out. Chicco the police dog singlehandedly apprehended three teenage youths who broke into a youth centre. They tried to hide in a store room but the German Shepherd sniffed them out. They were so frightened of the dog that they surrendered immediately. Chicco’s photo appeared in the report, as a warning to any other would-be miscreants.

Postscript

Technically, it is still autumn even though temperatures have been unseasonably high. However, winter is nigh, the trees are now virtually denuded of their leaves and the forecast predicts colder temperatures and rain in the next few days. My problem is this: I want a picture to illustrate this page that is representative of winter (literal winter and metaphorical, taking into account the current economic climate). But a Google image search only brings up cute, clichéd, sunny photos of villages blanketed in snow, the kinds seen on Christmas cards. I want something more atmospheric, sober, immaterial. All I could come up with was this artist’s impression – the search will continue unabated. (On second thoughts, perhaps the snowy vistas are popular because they are becoming scarce thanks to global warming. Snow will soon be a rarity even in the North Pole).

“I blog, therefore I am”

After an enforced absence from the virtual world, the time is right to return with remarks about the world around me.

I am moved to comment about the student demonstration in Berlin this week, in which high school pupils and other students neglected their studies for a few hours in order to voice their demands for more teachers, more equipment, more money, more everything. En route, they passed outside the historical main building of Humboldt University and some decided to enter the main foyer in order to make their grievances more blatant, in case anyone was still in any doubt. They did this by launching countless rolls of toilet papers from the upper windows into the courtyard, throwing litter around the foyer and destroying an exhibition that was informing visitors in the main entrance. Photocopiers, notice boards and furniture were also rendered useless. Police were caught offguard and Berliner Zeitung reports that the demonstration was accompanied by members of extremist groups (as is the norm in situations like this) – it was a pleasant morning, not raining and they probably had nothing better to do that day.

There comes a point in one’s education (whatever the student’s age and particular situation) where you have to take charge of your own learning growth. Yes, equipment, teachers’ salaries, facilities, teacher/student ratios etc. etc. are important – but only up to a certain point. The student cannot blame a lousy school system for the deficiencies in his education when he himself never opens a book of his own accord, never does any independent research, never questions or takes initiatives, always watches television with religious fervour or hangs about street corners. While students are young, the onus is on the parents as well as the school to ensure that the child begins his education as he means to go on. The parents cannot absolve themselves of all responsibility: they too must teach their child (where “teach” here is used in all senses of the word).

Teaching and learning are reciprocal actions. Learning is not a passive activity such as, for example, watching television. Perhaps by putting all the blame on the state, detractors are looking for a hook on which to hang their own detachedness from the whole education system? Here endeth the first lesson.

“Don’t mention the ‘R’ word!”

Germany is in recession. As an indicator of how bad things must be, the BBC World Service disrupted its regular flow of news of insurrections, genocides, dictatorships and other run-of-the-mill events from the former colonies. Instead, they provided an in-depth analysis with interviews and reports from the capital. Ministers were at pains to point out, however, that the world’s biggest exporter is in difficulty not because they are financially inept but because the rest of the world at the moment can’t afford to buy German technology and big Mercs.

Christmas fair

It’s that time of the year (again) and Alexander Platz has been commandeered, this time for the purposes of a traditional Weihnachtsmarkt. Observing the erection of faux mountain houses and traditional stalls somewhat takes away the magic, especially when you see wooden panels being fixed onto metal structures. Still, in the dark with all the fairy lights and in the eyes of small children, it should look very fairytale.

Incidentally, the hot dog vendors in the square have upped their prices a whopping 20%!! A hot dog with mustard and ketchup will now set you back €1.20. I’m not sure if they are anticipating huge crowds of Christmas shoppers/tourists in the Christmas fair and are hoping to make a fast buck or whether they are simply further victims of the credit crunch. P.s. the photo is of the market in Jena.

The Bay City Rollers are back!

I had to walk back and take a second look. A poster in the street advertised an appearance by Les McKeown's Legendary Bay City Rollers, a reincarnation of the original Bay City Rollers. I am obviously betraying my age but this was a group that I was crazy about MANY decades ago. The very first single (on vinyl, if you please) that I ever bought was one of their hit songs. I was astounded that they were staging a comeback but even more amazed that this was to happen here and not in Britain – perhaps there, they would be pelted off the stage with rotten tomatoes. They obviously anticipate enough people here in Berlin will pay money to go and see them: this assumption quite honestly leaves me flabbergasted. As if this blast from the past wasn’t enough, more posters down the road announce a different event featuring Suzy Quattro and sundry other acts not of this decade (nor indeed of this century).

Don’t tell me there has been a sudden surge of interest in pop music of the 70s and former teenybopper Berliners are pining for nostalgia from their youth. These performers must be as old as Tina Turner (who is also coming here in the New Year), so what has induced them to come out of retirement, when they should be booking cruises or writing their memoirs? Could it be, like the hot dog vendors in Alexander Platz, they are a bit strapped for cash in these straitened times and the pension plan needs a top up?

(Dis)Unity

On 3rd October the German nation celebrates unification of East and West – Tag der Deutschen Einheit. Everything is closed for the day, flags fly on public buildings and the ordinary worker marks the occasion by partaking of an extra long lie-in, lazing about at home and not venturing outdoors until the next day. Here in our building at least, there was no sign of life whatsoever. Nobody came out even to empty their rubbish.

The Great and the Good, on the other hand, could not take advantage of a lie-in in their dressing gowns (life’s tough at the top). They were on public show, participating in various events, beating the drum to boost the morale of the masses and reminding them that solidarity and uniformity still reign.

Horst Köhler, Federal President, braved torrential rain together with Mrs Merkel and virtually the entire government, in attending a special ceremony of thanksgiving in Hamburg. In Berlin, the people celebrated on their own in front of the Brandenburg Gate – events for the folks had been organised with live rock performances, shows, children’s entertainments and such like.

“Our people are free and politically united. We live within secure borders surrounded by friends and partners.” Herr Köhler talked of what unites the German people but omitted to talk about the many things that divide them still.

Berliner Morgenpost reveals on page 3 that the new Germany may have come of age (having celebrated 18 years of existence) but bare statistics tell a different story.

East (incl. Berlin) West
Population 16.6 million 65.66 million
Jobless 15.1% 7.5%
Wage per hour €19.79 €25.93

Having said this, it is unrealistic of commentators to expect the country (or any other progressive, democratic, western, free market economy) to aspire to total unity in everything. It is somewhat utopian to expect high salaries, services, benefits etc. to be spread uniformly throughout a nation, especially one the size of Germany (both in terms of population and land mass). In this respect, Germany is no different to any other European nation – some regions enjoy prosperity while others do not. Our modern societies are characterised by fragmentation, by regionalism, by local narratives and not grand, national narratives. The Union in Britain is on its last legs thanks to devolution. The war-ravaged Balkans have reverted to their tribal allegiances. The Soviet Union is history. For Germany to try to stay united at this particular historical moment is swimming against the current. It is to their credit that they have achieved so much in just 18 years.

p.s. I don’t know if this is a good sign or not but Herr Köhler closed his speech at the thanksgiving service with an Americanised “God bless our German Fatherland”.

GERMANY HAS THE BEST IMAGE

International market research places Germany at No1 when compared to other nations. Here are the Top 10.

1. Deutschland
2. France
3. Great Britain
4. Canada
5. Japan
6. Italy
7. USA
8. Switzerland
9. Australia
10. Sweden

[Of course, the Brits will be cheesed off: not because they didn’t make it to Number 1, but because France got ahead of them!]

The survey asked respondents to judge countries as brand names and each country was assessed according to exports, government, culture, people, tourism, immigration, investment. In other words, what image does a particular country have with the rest of the world. Note the preponderance of European nations.

LOOK AFTER YOURSELF

As it is the season for dreaded infections, the weather is changeable and not many citizens believe in the benefits of fresh air via open tram windows, it is more than likely that you will catch a cold sooner or later. The newspaper recommends, NOT going to your local doctor and dosing up on expensive antibiotics but taking instead salt-water gargles for a sore throat. If your problem is a blocked nose, try oil from eucalyptus or pine needles in a bowl of hot water and inhale the fumes. The article even compares symptoms of the common cold and influenza, just in case you are tempted to exagerrate.

[All the above snippets from Berliner Morgenpost of Saturday 4 October]

ANOTHER ANNIVERSARY

The Berliner Zeitung reported this week on another anniversary, that of Potsdamer Platz.

It has been ten years since its reopening.

For five years, the area was a permanent building site with a forest of cranes visible from all parts of the city and piles of mud and rubble everywhere. Everyone had big expectations – surely all this time, trouble and expense would come to something. A desolate wasteland could not be left as a scar on the face of the city; it would be a reminder of bleaker days in the past and we must erase those dark days and move forward.

Potsdamer Platz is now a mecca for commuters. Literally thousands of them end their morning journeys here when they arrive for work in their shiny, sanitised, high-tec, impersonal office blocks. A sort of European imitation of Manhattan, but instead of draughty boulevards we have bare open spaces.

Aside from the office park, what else can you actually do in Potsdamer Platz? What is its real use? According to the writer, all you can do in the area is go shopping for shoes and eat a Big Mac afterwards. This is the net result of the investment and work of five years.

A poignant piece of irrelevancy – the world’s first pedestrian lights were installed in Potsdamer Platz.

Let it rain!

Today the heavens opened and it rained like it’s never rained before. It rained that much that the tram system came to a juddering halt. One tram broke down at a stop and twenty others piled up in a row behind it, unable to make any progress. Passengers had to abandon ship and make their own arrangements. For a short time, the road (a major artery out of the city centre) was obstructed as a second tram towed away the disabled one. Some drivers became extremely tetchy and short tempered in the wet weather and were inclined to rely on their car horns more than usual. Particular offenders were those driving vans delivering a specific brand of soft drink. Maybe they get paid according to how many bottles they deliver, so their impatience perhaps is understandable. Drivers, however, of locally manufactured vehicles showed consideration of the inclement weather and waited stoically for the mother of all traffic jams to dissolve.

The radio reports that conditions were much worse to the west in Spandau. The storm brought down a tree, injuring two women.

Luckily today I had my umbrella with me, otherwise I would have been soaked to the skin. I have learned my lesson and now pay heed to what the weather forecast predicts for the next day. They are accurate 99.9% of the time – ignore the forecast at your peril!

No matter what the weather, life goes on. A school party of toddlers was spotted setting off on their school trip this morning. Crowded into a packed tram, fitted out with Wellington boots and waterproof macs, nothing would daunt them. Four lucky little boys (perhaps teacher’s pets?) occupied prime position in a wooden hand cart being pushed by one of the teachers. At least they could get wet without having to walk anywhere.

Serious and not so serious

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,581077,00.html
09/29/2008

GERMAN CONSERVATIVES IN TROUBLE

A Political Monopoly Ends in Bavaria

The conservative Christian Social Union turned in its worst election result since 1954 in Bavarian state elections on Sunday. The ballot box collapse brings a decades-long political monopoly to an end -- and may call Chancellor Angela Merkel’s re-election into question.

In the run up to Sunday’s state parliamentary elections in Bavaria, it was clear that the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), the party which has dominated the state’s political leadership almost since World War II, was in trouble. Nobody, though, expected the result to be quite as bad as it turned out.

The CSU, the Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), ended up with just 43.4 percent of the vote. It was the party’s worst result since 1954 and fully 17.3 percentage points lower than its vote total in the last state elections five years ago. Even worse, the ballot-box flop could indicate that Merkel’s re-election next autumn might not be the foregone conclusion many have taken it to be.

“We were caught totally unprepared,” said Erwin Huber, head of the CSU, on Sunday evening on Bavarian television. “It has been a black and painful day.” Günther Beckstein, the CSU governor of Bavaria, said that “none of us expected that we would lose 17 percent.”

The vote also marks the first time since 1962 that the CSU has not won an absolute majority in Bavaria, meaning that Beckstein will now have to begin the search for a coalition partner. And he’s got a number of parties to choose from. The pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) made large gains over its 2003 result to finish with 8.0 percent of the vote, the Greens ended up with an impressive 9.4 percent, and the conservative protest group Freie Wähler (free voters) came out of nowhere to get 10.2 percent. The far-left Left Party grabbed 4.7 percent of the votes, but did not manage to clear the 5 percent hurdle necessary to send representatives to the state parliament.

Indeed, the only party that didn’t benefit from the collapse of the CSU was the hapless Social Democrats. The party has fallen on hard times across Germany, and on Sunday in Bavaria it garnered only 18.6 percent of the vote, the SPD’s worst result in Bavaria since 1945 and one percentage point lower than its disastrous showing in 2003.

Beckstein has made it clear that the only party he is unwilling to consider as a coalition partner is the Green Party, but most observers say that a match-up with the FDP is the most likely outcome. The SPD has raised the possibility of creating a so-called “rainbow coalition” made up of the SPD, the FDP, the Freie Wähler and the Greens, but that seems unlikely given the FDP’s stated opposition to such a combination.

Given the dimensions of the election-day disaster, however, the CSU leadership itself is also up for discussion. A number of party honchos have begun questioning whether Huber will be allowed to remain in his position as leader of the party. Horst Seehofer, a minister in Merkel’s cabinet, likewise said that “changes will have to be made.” One leading CSU member even raised the possibility that Seehofer could take over as both CSU party head and as Bavarian governor.

Of more concern for Merkel’s conservatives, however, is what implications the CSU collapse might have for nationwide elections a year from now. Even as the Social Democrats have experienced one of their most difficult years in the 125 year history of the party, Germany’s conservatives have not benefited as much as one might expect. In 2005, Merkel’s victory was razor thin -- and she would have found herself on the outside looking in without the almost 50 percent result achieved by the CSU in Bavaria.

It is difficult to imagine the SPD coming back far enough to effectively challenge a still popular Chancellor Merkel. But a number of smaller parties -- including the FDP, the Greens and especially the Left Party -- have managed to wrest voters away from both the SPD and the CDU. In Bavaria, the rise of the Freie Wähler seems symptomatic of an electorate frustrated with the two parties that have dominated German politics since World War II.

In Bavaria, the most immediate reason for that frustration can be found in the last two years of chaos within the CSU. Long-time Bavarian governor and ex-party head Edmund Stoiber stepped down last year following an uprising from the party’s grassroots. Many of the party’s younger members had grown increasingly tired of his controlling leadership style.

Stoiber left Germany for Brussels, where he is now battling bureaucracy in the European Union, but the leadership tandem of Beckstein and Huber has hardly fared better than its predecessor. The significant troubles run into by the Bavarian state bank BayernLB combined with the state’s failure to secure funding for the high-profile magnetic-levitation project linking the Munich airport to the city’s train station led many to question the CSU leadership.

* * * * *

Bavarian politicians are bemoaning the fact that they only scraped by with a lamentable 43.4% of the vote. In national elections in some other states this result would be greeted with much fanfare and jubilation. A result of this magnitude constitutes a landslide victory elsewhere.

In the 1997 elections, New Labour’s landslide came about with 43.2% of all the votes cast (marginally less than that of the CSU). Those voting for New Labour only slightly outnumbered those who were too busy to vote. Turnout was 71.4% - the lowest general election figure since 1935. Nevertheless, these figures were enough to ensure the ruling party enjoyed a 179-seat majority. Mrs Merkel & Co should not be too downhearted.

* * * * *

Coffee and the spreading of news

On a more aromatic note …

There was a time in the 17th century when people (i.e. men) would gather in the London coffee houses to read all the newspapers available there and exchange business gossip with other customers. Coffee and the spreading of local intelligence went hand in hand. Things seem to have come full circle now with businesses like Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts where you can not only drink a mediocre cup of brown sludge (trying to pass itself off as coffee) accompanied by something high in calories/fat and low in taste, but also use your laptop to surf the Web. The irony is that the person reading your blog may be sitting at the table next to you but you will never know. Even social communication has entered the digital sphere. I can’t turn on a computer anywhere (other than my own) and not find links for Facebook and other suchlike “networking” gizmos. Is the real world out there really that bad? Networking has always existed as long as human society has been around: only in the past people found common connections face-to-face via their local communities – church, sports clubs, evening classes, voluntary societies and so on. All these have fallen by the wayside or else mutated into electronic versions in Cyberspace.

They say the art of letter writing is dead: I predict that the art of social intercourse will also soon bite the dust.

Personally, I like to drink my own (homemade) coffee in the comfort of domesticity while perusing the local paper that a beloved family member still continues to bring home for us.

Money does NOT make the world go round

Peer Steinbruck is quite right (in my humble opinion) to fear a global financial disaster of seismic proportions, the size of which the world has never seen. Laissez-faire politics may seem an easy option for governments: they get to share in the good times and yet when things get messy they can just blame the financiers and come up smelling of roses themselves.

I hold the naïve belief that all these economists with impressive degrees from prestige, elitist educational institutions must surely know what they are doing. They are scions of members of the Establishment – finance is in their genes. Current events, however, suggest two possible options. Either the money men have no idea what they are doing (and thus must face accusations of ineptitude) or they know perfectly well what they are doing and they just don’t care about the consequences. My money’s on the second option: they know full well they can’t lose. No one (at the top) loses his job or his money and certainly no one will go to jail just because a few home owners became home losers.

Herr Steinbruck has probably read his history lesson. Laissez-faire economics did not help the newly industrialised nations during the Industrial Revolution. It helped the industrialists but did little to provide comfort for their workers. Industrialists were simply left free to abuse the system with impunity, as they saw fit. For example, child workers could be freely used to swell profits for factory owners. Yes, the “invisible hand” of capitalism produced wealth but there is no reason why that hand should distribute all its hard earned benefits to all and sundry. And in any event, in a free market economy, individuals take financial decisions on a “what’s in it for me” basis, not on the basis of “what is good for society as a whole”. Yes, it is theoretically possible for all to participate in this free market economy and do well. But there will always be the dispossessed in society who need the kind of help/services that do not provide a healthy yield on one’s investment, such “loss making” enterprises as schools, health services, social housing, policing etc. You can’t farm out everything to private initiative – a private entity running e.g. a hospital will expect to make a profit, something hospitals are notoriously bad at doing.

Ireland too knew phenomenal economic success, thanks to a progressive government that actively sought to bring in foreign companies, with tax breaks and minimal beaurocracy. However, this cannot last especially when so much of the economy depends on prices in the housing market and how many new homes are going up. If everybody rented their home (as is the custom in central Europe) and invested their savings in other more stable areas, then perhaps the mess would not be so extensive.

It may be that the good days are over for the States and that they will have to acquire a taste for humble pie in place of apple pie. I leave the last word for Hamlet: “Every dog has its day”


Reward for Mismanagement
(Berliner Zeitung, 29 Sept)

The paper’s Opinion section quite logically observes that if a company does not conduct its business well, it will go bankrupt. Not so in the US. There Congress has approved further billions to support the American automobile industry. The money will help fund factories convert to producing more environmentally friendly cars. The industry will receive $25 billion at favourable rates of interest. There is nothing wrong in a government supporting the production of environmentally friendly products. However, what the government is really doing (continues Berliner Zeitung) is using the environment excuse as a guise for a billion-dollar reward for the auto company bosses’ mismanagement of years. European and Asian car manufacturers, in contrast, have long known that the trend was for low-consumption vehicles. Faced with rising fuel prices, drivers can no longer afford to fill their gas-guzzlers and don’t want to buy new ones. The net result – the big American auto companies are thrown deeper into trouble. This injection of billions is unfair competition for some European car manufacturers and a subsidy that they can only dream about. [Vive la difference, the Old World versus the New World.]


Global financial crisis putting German infrastructure at risk
Published: 29 Sep 08Online: http://www.thelocal.de/14581/20080929/

German states that have financed their infrastructure through cross border leasing with the United States are at risk of losing their transportation systems as the global financial crisis looms, daily Berliner Zeitung reported on Monday.

“The crisis can have an affect on all cross border leasing businesses,” Winfreid Fuest from the IW institute for German economy told the paper. The German cities who financed their metro systems, canals and even trade fair centres may have to pay the price for failing US banks and insurers. “Established securities are becoming worthless from one day to the next,” Fuest said, adding that it’s difficult to predict the sums of money this problem might involve because such cross border leasing contracts are rarely transparent. The practice involves a city selling its assets to a foreign entity, which then leases the business to the city - which then avoids certain tax expenses. Among other cities, Berlin has financed up to six trade fair halls. Subway and street car vehicles and equipment have also been rented from the US. Meanwhile Cologne‘s canal system, Ulm’s power plants, and Gelsenkirchen’s schools and public buildings were all financed through this system. The paper estimates that the practice involved some €40 billion in the 1990s alone.

* * *

I sincerely hope Germany is not trying to emulate Britain in looking to private enterprise to help fulfil its civic responsibilities. It it does, then it can only come a cropper! Britain favours a system whereby public bodies enter into long-term contracts with private firms to design, build and operate assets such as hospitals or schools (a grand system going by the name of Public Financial Initiative). Usually the private firms lack the expertise, management skills and resources to do a good job.


Hamlet’s take on political events has particular resonance both in Bavaria and Austria. Whereas we cannot say that there is something rotten in the state, people do want change when they see the old regime is tired/arrogant/ineffectual, whatever. Don’t forget as well that a whole new batch of young voters (16 and 17 year olds) voted for the first time in Austria, Europe’s youngest electorate. Fresh blood with new perspectives.

Watch out for the tram

The city is renovating its fleet of trams. The vehicles are made by Bombardier (with headquarters in Berlin) and each one costs €3 million. If all goes according to plan, the city hopes to buy another 206 trams by the end of next year. That is, a total of €618 MILLION!!! I’m not sure where the money’s coming from or if they can afford it but now the graffiti artists will be able to reach their destination in comfort. Nor will they have to fumble around for loose change – the new trams will be fitted with ticket machines that accept bank notes and cash cards. Big screens inside will display the next five stops, rather like inside the S-Bahn.

Power to the workers

All the federal Euros in Europe, however, are no match for the might of the formidable German unions. Doctors and hospital workers brought the city centre to a standstill, by marching on the Brandenburg Gate. Traffic was diverted, traffic jams brought about frayed nerve endings and public transport was disrupted. Commuters had a hard time getting home. What was their gripe? Not enough money, of course (not just higher salaries but more spending on health services together with reform of the health system). As is the norm in cases like these, the ones in a position to change things are not the ones affected by industrial action.

Let justice be done

Berliner Zeitung has an interesting feature in its Berlin pages. A front page column (“Diese Woche im Gericht”) lists interesting cases appearing in the Criminal Court. An outline of the charges is given together with Court number, time and address. No names are mentioned but for anyone keeping an eye on local events, it must be obvious who is being referred to. If you have nothing better to do on a wet and cold Thursday morning, you can sit in the public gallery in the warm and watch someone’s dirty laundry being aired in public. Anyone hoping their brush with the law can be hushed up in the neighbourhood has another thing coming. They will not only have to pay the price for their criminal activity in the law courts but also have to face public censure from the community at large. It is this second aspect that is perhaps a more effective deterrent against crime than a fine or custodial sentence.

Germany's most successful city

Munich ranked Germany’s most-successful city

Published: 5 Sep 08 17:27 CETOnline: http://www.thelocal.de/14135/20080905/

For the fifth year in a row, Munich is Germany’s most economically successful city, according to a new study published in weekly business magazine Wirtschafts Woche on Friday.

The study, conducted in tandem with the Initiative for New Social Market Economy (INSM) reviewed conditions in the country’s 50 largest cities for the last five years, ranking them in terms of economic success, dynamism, and overall economic success. Munich’s wealth, job market and economic structure earned a first place ranking for overall success, followed by Münster, Frankfurt, Karlsuhe, and Düsseldorf.

Meanwhile Saxony’s capital city of Dresden was the country’s most dynamic. Other formerly communist East German cities are “on the fast track,” including Chemnitz, which jumped 23 rankings to 10th place last year, and Rostock, up to 23rd place from almost last place. These cities on the study’s dynamism rankings can thank attractive worker costs and high investment quotas for their new success, the study said.

Capital city Berlin tanked for the second year in a row, earning last place overall. The job market in the city is worse than any other large city.

Cities in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia also ranked at the bottom of all aspects of the study, with Wuppertal in last place for dynamism. Meanwhile Herne’s status deteriorated the most of any city in the study, falling 22 ranking to 34th. The gap between the struggling cities and the leaders is shrinking, though, INSM head Max Höfer said on Friday.

The study, conducted anually since 2004, included criteria such as average incomes, gross domestic product and pro-business atmosphere.

[It must be something in that Alpine air that makes the difference – I am at a loss to find any other explanation].

Pay your taxes

It is peculiar that in a social democratic nation, the state is obliged by the constitution to collect taxes from its citizens’ salaries and hand the money over to the church; all this in a nation where state and church are admirably separate and not joined at the hip and where there is no established church. As much as 70% of church revenue comes from the Church Tax (€8.5 billion in 2002 – Wikipedia). Of course, you are not in any way forced to pay this tax – you can opt out. But bear in mind that if you are a member of a church community (e.g. by being baptised into that church) and later decide you want to opt out and not pay church tax, that church can refuse to marry you or bury you when you are dead!

The moral of this tale – when you go to obtain your income tax number, make sure you do not declare membership of any official church, otherwise you will find your monthly pay packet somewhat lighter by a further 9%. You are free, of course, to contribute as much (or as little) as your conscience dictates to the religious community of your choice, thus cutting out the government middleman. The government itself has no qualms about taking its cut from the churches – it charges them an administration fee for the church tax it collects on their behalf. With falling (if not at absolute rock bottom) attendances, the theologians are in no position to complain about the commission they are charged.


Luther

Talking of religion, Wittenberg is cashing in on the Luther business – 2008 marks the 500th anniversary of his arrival at the University of Wittenberg as professor of theology. Festivities are due to continue for a long time (just in case you miss out this year), until 2017 (in 1517 Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of Wittenberg’s Castle Church). There will be talks, exhibitions, shows, readings, lectures etc. etc. etc. The hoteliers will be rubbing their hands in glee.

“Wealth has in it neither material, formal, efficient, nor final cause, not
anything else that is good; therefore our Lord God commonly gives riches to
those from whom he withholds spiritual good.” -- Martin Luther

Today’s Wall Street bankers might do well to reflect long and hard on Luther’s pronouncement on the matter of wealth. If there is a direct connection between the size of one’s personal bank accounts and the degree of spiritual depravity, then I’m glad I’m skint.

Mrs Merkel (perhaps in a noble attempt to avoid infection from the miasma emanating from the other side of the Atlantic) has stated that Germany will definitely not need any financial assistance to ride out the current financial fiasco. We are managing quite alright on our own, thank you very much.


Becoming German

Der Spiegel’s issue of 15 September carried an article about what it takes to become a German citizen and what it’s like for a teacher to teach immigrants on an integration course at a Volkshochschule. The students were from all continents east and west. They discuss explosive issues such as legislative-executive-judiciary, constituencies, suffrage: all noble subjects and perhaps worth knowing about (if you aspire to a political career) but is this knowledge really what it takes to be a “good citizen” (of any country)? And what is the definition of a “good citizen”? Students have one hour to answer correctly 17 questions out of 33. A retentive memory helps here. The article wonders just how prepared for integration the candidate might be if he can state when Warsaw fell. It is doubted if many ‘real’ Germans would be able to pass the test if they had to write it.

Perhaps the point here is not that an immigrant has learned the language and is able to rattle off a list of dates and spout political theory; more to the point I think is that she is prepared to apply herself [the gender is specific – all the students in the class happened to be women] to a task and work to produce results.

What does it take to be German (or for that matter, English or Spanish or Italian)? The point is that there is no definitive answer. We can revert to stereotypes and say a true Englishman is someone who drinks tea and wears a bowler hat or a true German drinks beer and eats lots of sausage, but these are mere constructions imposed on a people which are reinforced by mass culture (advertising, press, TV, music, popular culture and so on). A purist who is introverted (and perhaps a little narrow minded) will cling to these constructions and claim that his country is under threat from an invasion. He will fail to realise that the true-born ___ (you can add your own nationality, it doesn’t matter which) does not exist.

The question of nationhood and national identity is a minefield and there are more questions than there are answers. Further, when there have been decades of immigration and assimilation, the boundaries between “them” and “us” become blurred even further and the issue of identity is no longer straightforward.

The writer wonders where the connection is between understanding the electoral system and being German. There is no connection, only the candidates’ drive and determination.

German citizenship test goes into effect

Published: 1 Sep 08 16:51 CETOnline: http://www.thelocal.de/14041/

Germany put a hotly-debated citizenship test into effect on Monday in a push towards better integrating immigrants into German society.

“Those who want citizenship should know some things about Germany,” the German government said in a statement. “With this test they can show the important knowledge about Germany’s laws, social organization and way of life.”The exam will cost applicants €25 ($38) a go, and foreigners will be given all the questions to study beforehand. Candidates must correctly answer at least 17 of 33 questions on German culture and history to pass. Those exempted include people who have gone through the German school system, those younger than 16 and older people with learning disabilities, according to the Interior Ministry. Successful applicants also have to have adequate German, no criminal record and have been living in Germany for at least eight years. Candidates can retake the test as many times as they like.Critics of the exam have said the test is too difficult, with irrelevant questions that even Germans may not be able to answer, much less the country’s 7 million permanent residents without citizenship.The test is “somewhat sloppily made,” and “flawed,” head of the parliamentary Committee on Interior Affairs, Sebastian Edathy said on Monday on broadcaster Deutschlandradio Kultur.Leaders from the country’s Turkish community have been particularly critical of the test. At 2.3 million, Turks make up the largest group of immigrants in Germany, and have long pushed for the right to keep both Turkish and German passports. Around 340,000 people over 18 will soon face the tough decision of choosing between German or Turkish citizenship.In 2000, Germany reformed its citizenship laws which had previously only recognized the principle of nationality by blood. The reform now allows foreigners who have lived in Germany for eight years to apply for naturalization. But the original plan to allow their children born in Germany to automatically become German failed in the face of fierce opposition by conservative parties. As a compromise, it was decided that naturalized children would have to decide at the age of 18 whether they wanted to keep their German passport or their foreign one.Some point out that being forced to choose between nationalities could mean a conflict of identity and loyalties.

[p.s. We also don’t want anyone claiming unemployment benefit – you must be able to support yourself and your family to acquire nationality.]

And, finally ….

At last – someone who possesses an ounce of common sense. Politicians in Saarland have objected that the amount of VAT on pet food means that it is cheaper to feed a dog than it is to feed a baby. They want VAT on baby products to be reduced in their state. Either we are serious about helping families with children or we aren’t.


Today’s post, I see, has a lot to say. I had thought about keeping some items back to save them for another day but then they would be stale news. And who knows what fresh stories will materialise in the meantime. Never mind – enjoy the bumper harvest today for the future may have lean times in store.

The city has given up all presumptions of enjoying balmy, southern weather, with pretensions to the status of a chic, gentrified metropolis and has reverted to type, that is to say damp, dark and COLD. It’s not so easy to be bohemian when you are wrapped up in a duffle coat, clutching your paper cup of caffé latte trying to warm your hands as you wait for the tram. This is a city for practical people who wear sensible warm shoes and wrap themselves in scarves. It is already pitch black outside when I get up. It won’t be long before the clocks go back, but the hours of darkness during the day will still be considerable.

How quickly the wooden benches and little tables have been cleared off the pavements and spirited away out of sight. The bio-ice cream parlour that last week was overflowing with kids and school bags is now deserted – only one little park bench remains outside the shop window, cemented to the pavement. The assortment of benches, stools and odd chairs (no two pieces were the same) had gone and the few die-hards who just have to have an environmentally-friendly ice cream are now forced to eat it on the way home. If nothing else, the consumer has no fear of his confection melting before he gets to the end of it.

The only patrons that don’t seem to be adversely affected by the inclement weather are the beer drinkers, specifically those that like to imbibe their beverage while puffing away on a cigarette. New legislation means that they cannot smoke even inside a pub, unless the premises are large enough to provide a separate room just for smokers. Since most pubs and bars are tiny, one-room affairs, this means that the clientele have to sit outside on the pavement. It appears that the combination of nicotine and alcohol in substantial quantities renders the individual immune to bad weather: it fails to have any perceivable effect on him. Postscript: the constitutional court has recently ruled that banning smokers from small pubs is bad for business and drives customers away. It is unfair competition on the part of the bigger establishments. Smokers can now return to the comfort of their favourite corners, safe in the knowledge that should the Ordnungsamt official perform a surprise raid, the proprietor won’t be fined for breaking the law.

Any visitor using the public transport system here had better make sure he is in possession of a valid ticket. Inspectors conduct lightning checks on a regular basis. On many occasions I have had to produce my ticket twice or three times in one day! You can never spot them when they get on: they look like regular workers, punks, apprentices. They are mostly men, always working in pairs (they start at opposite ends and work their way to the middle) but there is a couple that pass themselves off as husband-and-wife. I am constantly surprised by the blasé attitude of people that get caught without a ticket. It’s as if they think the risk of getting caught is worth taking or perhaps the fine is a lot less than the cost of a monthly travel pass. In any event, when they hear the familiar “Tickets, please”, they immediately have their ID cards ready instead, for the details to be recorded. They seem to know the procedure well.

The pitiable chestnut trees of the city have already lost the last of their brown and withered leaves but it has nothing to do with the onset of autumn. The culprit is a moth from Skopje that has found its way to western Europe, laid its eggs on the leaves of chestnut trees and decimated the population. Tree doctors are desperately seeking a cure – some say perhaps injections will do the trick. One thing is for sure, the street vendors will be short of chestnuts to roast at Christmas – we’ll see where they will get their raw material from.

The Chancellor Angela Merkel recently visited a vocational training school in a district renowned for its Muslim immigrants. Here young Muslim women were learning their way around a sewing machine and picking up skills for work as seamstresses (no more need to import cheap clothes from China!) This was just one stage in Mrs Merkel’s nationwide-tour of German schools so that she has a better understanding of the state of the country’s education system. This is conveys the importance of education to the wealth and wellbeing both of the individual citizen and the nation. Everyone (whatever his abilities) can contribute and no one will be left behind to be a burden on society/welfare benefits/indulgent parents. For those that want to learn here, all the doors are open. You can choose anything from degrees and foreign languages to cooking on a budget and philosophy. I think there are some lessons to be learnt here for some of Mrs Merkel’s other European counterparts.

Roll up, roll up!

Roll up, roll up! The circus is in town. A circus has suddenly appeared on a piece of waste ground near our home. They must have come silently in the night, pitched the big top and corralled their caravans in a cosy circle, facing inwards, complete with white wooden fencing and a set of plastic tables and chairs in the centre, ready for al fresco morning coffee.

By lunchtime the next day, an impromptu paddock had appeared in full view of the main road and two not very healthy looking and not very white horses were scraping around for tufts of green grass. Why were the horses not housed within the enclave together with the rest of menagerie (one camel and some miniature ponies)? The answer soon became abundantly clear. The horses were the doing the job of sales promotion, advertising; they were bait. The plot of land is conveniently situated near a school and children returning home with parents would inevitably stop to gawp. Predictably, the next step was for children to plead with parents to take them to see a performance. How could they refuse? This tactic is somewhat on a par with the practice of displaying sweets at the checkout just at the right level for little fingers. But I digress. The children gaping at the horses brings to mind Louisa and Tom Gradgrind doing exactly the same thing in Hard Times, the only difference being that they had to do it surreptitiously and not holding father’s hands. The little Gradgrinds were brought up to endure a life bereft of Fancy, a life dedicated only to Fact, with tragic consequences for both of them. Sissy Jupe, however, proves more resilient to attempts to have all the Fancy choked out of her by Gradgrind’s schooling. She survives intact to the novel’s end and is the only one who the novel foresees as having children of her own in the future. Her father was after all a horse rider in the circus, much to Gradgrind’s disgust. Too much Fancy is just as damaging as too much Fact. What is called for is a degree of moderation – a visit to a circus would not harm anyone, so long as it is coupled with a modicum of Fact.

First Steps

These rhapsodic entries aim to reflect an abiding interest in literature and writing plus observations on life in Berlin from the perspective of a non-German resident. Two disparate domains but both have touched upon my life and shaped it in significant ways. It is not inconceivable that other miscellaneous items will creep into the agenda but such is life; you make a plan and then change it (but at least you have a plan).

Regarding my literary interests, it is not my intention to initiate some kind of bluestocking group. But I have been struck by what women authors have had to say, as well as the conditions in which they executed their art. Those of you familiar with the life of Jane Austen will immediately recognise the allusion in my title to this blog. Today’s writers need not fear discovery of their true identity or hide behind a different gender. Not for them the tribulations that the Brontës, George Eliot or even Woolf faced in trying to bring their work out into the public sphere. How different things could have been for them if they had access to a computer: even locked up in their drawing rooms no one could stop them. (Incidentally, why did J.K. Rowlings and P.D. James decide it was better to use initials instead of their full names?)

Regarding the second (incongruous) thread, I have been living in Berlin for nigh on a year now. With no knowledge of the place, nor friends or contacts here, I have struggled to get along and establish myself, discovering pitfalls as I go along. A pitiful command of the German language only enabled progress at a snail’s pace. Some of my experiences may prove useful for those who follow in my footsteps. For an outsider, the city is redolent with images of its past history, imbued with an atmosphere of an era long gone. People who come to the city, either as tourists or with the intention of staying longer, do so because of the ‘idea’ of Berlin they carry in their heads, as opposed to Berlin per se, as a real, tangible city. This was certainly true in my case. The reality of living in this city bears no connection with the images that are popular outside – whether this disparity is good or bad, I cannot say. I merely record my experiences and leave it for you to decide.