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(01-09-2018, 06:06 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: And they still don't have enough to act unilaterally. But, you know, facts.
Yet they have the most votes and in turn have the most sway on issues. Even if Germany gets a little lean their way on everything it’s still using the EU to do it’s bidding. When is the last time they did the best for Hungry?
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If it's not German it's crap!!!
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Germany is starting to lose that quality/reliability shine, though.
Doesn't help that their automotive manufacturer was caught in a massive cheating scandal on emissions testing.
One of the biggest airbag recalls ever happened with their cars.
Their multi-billion dollar airport that was supposed to open in 2011 still isn't open for every thing you could think of going/being wrong.
Their steelworkers union is trying to get a 28 hour work week.
Berlin is the only EU capital that is a burden on their country's economy.
It's just not what it used to be. That said, one thing I saw in the articles you linked that I think there should be more of is apprenticeship. Obviously don't want us to go back to worker guilds and such, but apprenticing and OTJ training has really been cut back in the US and I feel like that's terrible, because there's so much that is being lost that is not being handed off from one generation to the next. Some stuff you simply can't learn in a school as they have to make everything as widespread and all-encompassing as possible.
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Back to the OP.....I find this very interesting on a personal level. Several years ago, at a Super Bowl party, a friend and I were discussing this very thing concerning American Manufacturing. During its hey day, much like Germany, smaller companies made small contributions to a bigger whole. They were exceedingly family owned, and had been in their towns for generations. With that, came civic pride in their home cities/states, and a pride in quality work. You didn't want your hometown associated with shoddy work, and you not only want job security, but a good place to raise a family as well. The companies reinvested into their locales, and often generations worked in these factories. Then, larger firms began gobbling them all up, and consolidated a lot of the processes under a few roofs, and the decay began. These smaller factories shuttered, and moved to larger urban areas. Civic pride gave way to numbers on a time sheet. Then came the trade deals, and shareholders' profits became more important than those numbers on the time sheets.
One thing to consider in all of this, Germany also practices more of a fair trade commerce than a free trade commerce, from what I've read.
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