Germans not so rich

[ZARDOZ]

The North is permanently fooked. London is permanently boomed. HTH

Have you forgotten the 850 BILLION the banks got when bailed out by the state in 2009?
That's >80% of the national debt or £30,000 per individual in the UK. London is permanently subsidised, would be a better description.


As for Germany, they exported almost as much as our >1 trillion pound national debt last year alone. So it should be a question of who is living beyond their means.

[Doggy Styles]

As for Germany, they exported almost as much as our >1 trillion pound national debt last year alone. So it should be a question of who is living beyond their means.

They are also having to lend the money to the captive markets that buy said exports.

[doodab]

They are also having to lend the money to the captive markets that buy said exports.

The difference between them and us is that they export the propping up of the economy through debt and we have oursourced it to the private sector.

[ZARDOZ]

They are also having to lend the money to the captive markets that buy said exports.

If you believe the Daily Telegraph that they are having to lend money to Greece and Spain to drive their economy that would appear to be true. But when you look at who is really buying their exports you can see that it isn't.

[Mich the Tester]

If you believe the Daily Telegraph that they are having to lend money to Greece to drive their economy that would appear to be true. But when you look at who is really buying their exports you can see that it isn't.

Stop these facts! People here want a good rant, especially if it's a rant against Hermann the German.

[doodab]

Hermann ze German.

[sasguru]

If you believe the Daily Telegraph that they are having to lend money to Greece and Spain to drive their economy that would appear to be true. But when you look at who is really buying their exports you can see that it isn't.

Logical fail.
The fact that the PIIGS don't appear in a list of the biggest importers of German goods only tells us that they are small economies, not that the vast majority of their imports don't come from Germany.

[Mich the Tester]

Logical fail.
The fact that the PIIGS don't appear in a list of the biggest importers of German goods only tells us that they are small economies, not that the vast majority of their imports don't come from Germany.

Italy's among them, although I don't know how many of those imports from Germany are Italian industrials importing German components, just as German industrials import Italian components. Probably a lot of trade back and forth there.

[d000hg]

He who measures his wealth in units of currency will always be poor.

Except that wealth is by definition used to measure how much currency and other material goods you own.

[d000hg]

It's a little silly to compare to the "UK" with Germany.
There are actually three "countries" or economic entities to compare: (1) the services powerhouse and global city of Greater London with the highest per capita GDP in Europe, (2) Germany and (3) a depressed region we may call ScotNorthland, unproductive and dominated by the public sector.
I am pleased I live in what other countries in Europe will aspire to be in 30 years, the global services entrepot of London, to coin a phrase, when Germany is a husk of its former self, having suffered a life-changing demographic shift, that will see 10 working people for every 9 pensioners by 2030.

You're comparing London against the whole of Germany? Every country has areas of much greater wealth and much greater deprivation. Apart possibly from Luxembourg which doesn't have space. In fact even in London the pattern repeats at a smaller scale - central Vs greater, north VS south, borough X Vs borough Y.

London may be the heart and the pulse, and even the brain, of the UK, but just try removing the heart and brain from a body and see how that turns out. You need all the dull fatty bits (the north) to keep the heart and brain going.