Obama Promises Germany-Plus

Obama Promises Germany-Plus
By GABOR STEINGART
May 10, 2008; Page A9

When I begin to feel homesick for Germany, I have discovered a cheap and easy way out. I simply turn on the TV and listen to a Barack Obama stump speech. The promised land of universal health care, secure pensions, a lot of green-collar jobs and stable bridges brings me back to my home country. My grandma, who has worked in a post office all her life, enjoys her pension without having ever observed the stock market. Everyone who travels through the countryside can see thousands of windmills, but never a collapsed bridge. And the best: My mom, my friends and everyone around them have access to first-class medical services.

Sometimes it appears to me that Mr. Obama wants to trump all that. He has promised not only a $160 billion program for new green-collar jobs, a higher minimum wage, affordable health care for everybody, a massive investment in infrastructure and tax-free status for pensioners who make less than $50,000. All these nice things come with no tax increase for 95% of Americans. Wow! That's Germany-plus!

I've been in the U.S. for a while, but if I remember my home country correctly, all the German comforts come with a price. My grandma has paid 10% of her salary to the public pension system, and her employer has matched the contribution. For our health insurance everyone has to sacrifice 7% of his or her earnings, which again is matched by the company. Fashionable windmills go along with extra taxes for fuel. A gallon of regular gas in Munich or Berlin costs – fasten your seat belt – more than $8. Not all of my fellow Germans are happy with this, but the overwhelming majority of my fellow countrymen made their decision a long time ago. They prefer big government. They have learned to live with growth rates far behind and an unemployment rate far above the U.S.

Maybe I am being unfair to Mr. Obama. But it seems to me that the agent of change was window-shopping in Germany without looking at the price tag. You should ask him for the bill.



URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121038123776782371.html

in heavy debt.

Senator Obama nows the world economy is not a simple puzzle.

Also, and this is a personal bias of mine -- the Wall Street Journal is a very conservative, pro-corporate publication. Please consider reading THE NATION, THE PROGRESSIVE, and other more balanced and insightful pieces before assessing Sen. Obama's credibility and qualifications for budget management.

The only thing he has on her in budgeting is that he knows how to raise money faster and better. There's much more to consider....

Why can't people see what's going on. The republicans have proven to be experts in winning elections, especially by cheating, but truly by knowing exactly what to do. Obama, no matter how great of a guy he is, CANNOT beat McCain. The republicans know this, which is why they are voting for him in open primaries...no matter how they've spun it in the media. Hillary's the only one that has a chance at beating him. Even though Bill tarnished his record with some of his actions, the country was in a much better state when he was in office, and people remember that regardless of repubican spin. I think Obama should run as her VP myself, they can crush McCain if they take that route, but no matter how dispicable, or how far we have come in race relations, this country will not put a black man in office. Their are too many redneck morons (which is where our last embarassment of a president came from) to let that happen. Put him in as VP, let him prove himself, and then he'll have a real shot in 2016. Be smarter than the republicans people, we need a democrat in office period! Don't let them win another one by not playing it smart....PLEASE!

son-of-a-bitch Kenneth Starr.

The loneliest outcome of that dreary era is that now no one on this earth will ever trust Linda Tripp again. And IMO she richly earns that status.

I do not blame Monica Lewinsky for falling in love with a famous person any more than I blame anybody for falling in love with a non-famous person. I don't blame Larry Craig for seeking sex in airport stalls. I think his voting record is abominable but I don't care how or where he has sex.

Polling puts the lie to your assertion that "Hillary's the only one that has a chance at beating (McCain)." That simply is not true. In fact, the reverse is true. Obama's numbers are better against McCain at this point.

This country will never put a Catholic man in office, said John Kennedy's detractors in 1960. Kennedy put the lie to that. Obama is poised to put the lie to your assertion that U.S. voters will not support an Afro American.

In my opinion, they will. And in my opinion, they should.

and fuck the WSJ and Rupert Murdock.

in this editorial passing for wisdom on germany, 'big' goverment, healthcare, etc.

all the usual republican lies about europe and the dangerous dems all rolled into one.