Margaret Thatcher had a point about Germany

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/iainmartin1/100208951/margaret-thatcher-had-a-point-about-germany/

 

Germany is the most responsible country in Europe,

and socialists hate them.

 

Germany
Tax burden % GDP = 40.6
Government expenditures % GDP = 43.7

 

Those numbers mean nothing unless compared with something.

Here's a number most people can relate to:
unemployment rate Germany: 5.4%

 

Ok, compare them to the US:

Tax burden % of GDP = 26.9
Government expenditures % of GDP = 38.9

 

My point is, Germany is the most responsible country in Europe. Or is there another country supporting the PIIGS ?

 

What you actually said was, "Germany is the most responsible country in Europe, and socialists hate them."

So your point is not merely that Germany is the "most responsible" country in Europe, which is laughable on its own, but that the other guys, the socialists, hate Germany, the responsible non-socialist.

 

Germany is footing most of the bill, yes. But don't kid yourself, they're using the rest of Europe to sell their goods to on a weak currency (from a weighted base) basis.

Said another way, if everyone was back on their legacy currencies, the Germans wouldn't be able to have nearly the size of export business with Marks in relation to all the other devalued currencies. It's Ricter's old "Transfer Payment" argument, if you will.

 

where the heck did you get those numbers.

Here is what the times had to say... and it does not look like it considered property taxes and sales tax and all the other myriad taxes we pay... from gas tax to phone taxes.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/u...rden-than-in-the-80s.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0



¶A household making $350,000 in 2010, roughly the cutoff for the top 1 percent, on average paid 42.1 percent of its income in taxes, compared with 49 percent for a household with the same inflation-adjusted income in 1980 — a savings of about $24,100.

¶A household making $52,000 in 2010, roughly the median income, on average paid 27.7 percent of its income in taxes, compared with 30.5 percent in 1980, saving $1,500.

¶A household making $22,000 in 2010 — roughly the federal poverty line for a family of four — on average paid 19.4 percent in taxes, compared with 20.2 percent, saving $200.

 

Well then, let's all agree that Germany should exit the EU, and let a sinking ship sink.

Then there are the Marxist journalists who would love it if the UK joined the EU.