| | Steve/Merlin:
In the past decade or so, Germany's 'Agenda 2010' was a relative backing off of their welfare state, a more conservative lean to their direction. It was Germany's first move towards government 'austerity,' and was started in 2003.
We don't hear a lot about it in the Western press for some reason. (Ha!)
Instead, what we hear about is reference to Germany's latestround of governmental trimming/austerity as, quote, "unprecedented" -- as if Agenda 2010 never happened! Much less JUST HAPPENED.
What worked for Germany in the past (2003-2010, a relative cutback in the size of their governmental growth which served them well in the recent global financial crisis) is being tried again in Germany.
Germany is doubling down on Agenda 2010.
There is a reason that the American press largely ignores what has happened in Germany in the last 10 years or so; Germany is backing away from classic European style socialism, and the more they do, the better they weather the local storm in Europe.
Germany and the US are both moving as well as heading in opposite directions, and the less said about modern German economies and unemployment during the global financial crisis, the better for America's latest sellers of slop.
Not much mention of the move towards liberalization quietly happening in Sweden, either.
I wonder why not?
Agenda 2010: "By 2011, unemployment had fallen from its 10% average of the mid-decade to around 7%, its lowest since the early 1990s"
This is during the period of the latest global financial crisis...between 2005 and 2011.
What did Germany do in Agenda 2010?
The steps to be taken include tax cuts (such as a 25% reduction in the basic rate of income tax) as well as big cuts in the cost absorption for medical treatment and drastic cuts in pension benefits and in unemployment benefits alike. In that, the programme closely resembles similar measures taken earlier in the USA (Reaganomics) and the UK (Thatcherism)[citation needed]. Those measures are also being proposed in accordance with the market liberal approach of the EU's Lisbon Strategy. The name Agenda 2010 itself is a reference to the Lisbon Strategy's 2010 deadline.
A series of changes in the labour market known as Hartz I - IV started in 2003 and the last step, Hartz IV, came into effect on January 1, 2005. These changes affected unemployment benefits and job centres in Germany, and the very nature of the German system of social security.
And, most importantly: Germany is presently doubling down.
(Edited by Fred Bartlett on 1/14, 11:38am)
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