Germany in bad shape?

[Hans-Peter Otto]

Dear Jon,=20
in my other answer I lamented the chaotic situation in Germany.  In this le=
tter I must, to be fail,  praise the enormous efforts to make 40 years of s=
ocial mismanagement disappear. It is a terrible financial burden for the ge=
rman people. Kohl, in his effort to unite the two germanies has put a mills=
tone around the neck of the populace. =20
Yes Berlin is a active blossoming city. It is exciting to have been part of=
 the renaissance after the wall fell, I=B4ve been here on and
off since 1991. Yet as Berlin grows, so does its debt.  Now around 45 billi=
on and because of interest, increasing in a way that the lackluster economy=
 cannot catchup. The city is broke and thus the infrastructure is neglected=
.
Unfortunately this means there is not enough money for the arts and educati=
on.  The consequences of this is poor ranking in student testings. Once Ger=
man education was legendary, now small countries like Finland achieve bette=
r PISA study results. In the US a educated elite and a large amount of insu=
fficiently educated laborers make it easy for the spread between rich and p=
oor. This is apparently catching on in Germany. Observe the management elit=
s, the work and renumeration and you know the rest.
Enough whining,=20
Ciao,
hans
berlin

On Sunday, August 22, 2004, at 03:02AM, Jon Ford <jonmfordster@hotmail.com>=
 wrote:

>


Hans-Peter Otto - hpoPhotog@mac.com -
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