Germany still the king of exports

[sasguru]

Where's atw today?

[sasguru]

What does the City do _now_? Not back then, but _now_?

I have now got a well formed view that the City mainly engages in market games with derivatives, provide a safe heaven for dodgy stocks from 3rd world countries that would not float anywhere else, and generally pretending that evolution of the mankind is actually the City rather than something else.

The only City market that probably actually invests money into local businesses is AIM, and that is a very low figure - almost an afterthought for the main thing, which is screwing people out of their money and getting away with it (Nicky G said it not me).

Dr. Martin Winterkorn got his PhD in Max-Planck-Institute for Metal Research and Metal Physics. That's no bull degree - he understands real problems and unlike those conmen that were running Rover he does not spend time to cleverly arrange the business in such a way that when it fails he still gets the money - that clever financial mathematics is not what he does, which is probably why VW is a pretty damn successful manufacturing company, and Rover is history.

The City is not financing local businesses anymore - if anything they are helping to destroy manufacturing in this country by providing finance to the development of the 3rd world, if anyone is responsible for the destruction of manufacturing capacity in the West it's the City types who move capitals for short term gains.

yeah, whatever you fool...every time you post you make an arse of yourself.
Can I tell you somefink, your business model is non-existent. I really hope im wrong....

[AtW]

your mistake is to misunderstand what the City does in a fundamental way.

What does the City do _now_? Not back then, but _now_?

I have now got a well formed view that the City mainly engages in market games with derivatives, provide a safe heaven for dodgy stocks from 3rd world countries that would not float anywhere else, and generally pretending that evolution of the mankind is actually the City rather than something else.

The only City market that probably actually invests money into local businesses is AIM, and that is a very low figure - almost an afterthought for the main thing, which is screwing people out of their money and getting away with it (Nicky G said it not me).

Dr. Martin Winterkorn got his PhD in Max-Planck-Institute for Metal Research and Metal Physics. That's no bull degree - he understands real problems and unlike those conmen that were running Rover he does not spend time to cleverly arrange the business in such a way that when it fails he still gets the money - that clever financial mathematics is not what he does, which is probably why VW is a pretty damn successful manufacturing company, and Rover is history.

The City is not financing local businesses anymore - if anything they are helping to destroy manufacturing in this country by providing finance to the development of the 3rd world, if anyone is responsible for the destruction of manufacturing capacity in the West it's the City types who move capitals for short term gains.

[Clippy]

Your mind is a linear dead end. What have PhDs got to do with anything, 99% are work-shy misfits who couldn't cope with the real world. Almost all inventions or businesses of note have been started by people without PhDs.
Your obsession with education is all the more amazing as yours is not particularly good.
HTH

[sasguru]

Volkswagen CEO Dr. Martin Winterkorn - and who were the Rover directors recently? Money grabbing scumbags.

Did he start VW or invent the internal combustion engine?

[sasguru]

You can say what you want sas, but the grim reality is that from 3 top European countries - Germany, France and UK only first 2 actually produce some real stuff, where as this country seems to have opened to have City tulipsellers - now it seems the UK has to use French nuclear reactors to achieve some kind of power independence, sad really.

Why the City mattered? Because if you can earn big money by tuliping people in a non-productive job in the City, then people start to want those jobs and not build cars or nuclear reactors. This has lead to physics departments closing in Unis - crazy situation for a country of Newton who no doubt is turning in this grave in Westmister Abbey right now.

While I agree that closing Physics depts. in unis is crazy, given the tiny amount of money involved, your mistake is to misunderstand what the City does in a fundamental way. The Industrial Revolution happened because the City created ways to fund the inventions and creativity of this country. The City and its financial innovation is one of the crowning glories of this country. And so was manufacturing. Removing the latter was a big mistake, but ultimately and historically the two were hugely interlinked.

[AtW]

Volkswagen CEO Dr. Martin Winterkorn - and who were the Rover directors recently? Money grabbing scumbags.

[AtW]

You can say what you want sas, but the grim reality is that from 3 top European countries - Germany, France and UK only first 2 actually produce some real stuff, where as this country seems to have opened to have City tulipsellers - now it seems the UK has to use French nuclear reactors to achieve some kind of power independence, sad really.

Why the City mattered? Because if you can earn big money by tuliping people in a non-productive job in the City, then people start to want those jobs and not build cars or nuclear reactors. This has lead to physics departments closing in Unis - crazy situation for a country of Newton who no doubt is turning in this grave in Westmister Abbey right now.

[sasguru]

I am inclined to think that you can't have both, and here is why.

I don't see much work in this country for PhDs - only in the City, and maybe in pharma companies, then some academia but that's it. The City fked up priorities for people with high salaries for work that might make easy money in short term, but ultimately it leads to dead end.

Your mind is a linear dead end. What have PhDs got to do with anything, 99% are work-shy misfits who couldn't cope with the real world. Almost all inventions or businesses of note have been started by people without PhDs.
Your obsession with education is all the more amazing as yours is not particularly good.
HTH

[AtW]

In case you are wondering why I support manufacturing and also the City - as no doubt your autistic brain "works" -then work out it out. But I don't think you're bright enough.

I am inclined to think that you can't have both, and here is why.

I don't see much work in this country for PhDs - only in the City, and maybe in pharma companies, then some academia but that's it. The City fked up priorities for people with high salaries for work that might make easy money in short term, but ultimately it leads to dead end.

[sasguru]

If you look at Germany, France and UK in terms of retained manufacturing you will see that the UK got bugger all left thanks to short term thinking. If the inventors who were driving the industrial revolution knew about that they'd slaughter all bankers in the City and make it a taboo

Germans deserved very bit of it - don't forget that they had to integrate a 3rd world country - GDR with people whose mindset was poisoned by the Soviet policies.

As yours still is.
HTH

In case you are wondering why I support manufacturing and also the City - as no doubt your autistic brain "works" -then work out it out. But I don't think you're bright enough.

[AtW]

If you look at Germany, France and UK in terms of retained manufacturing you will see that the UK got bugger all left thanks to short term thinking. If the inventors who were driving the industrial revolution knew about that they'd slaughter all bankers in the City and make it a taboo

Germans deserved very bit of it - don't forget that they had to integrate a 3rd world country - GDR with people whose mindset was poisoned by the Soviet policies.

[sasguru]

Yes was going to start a thread along the same lines. Tis what I have been saying for years. This country is a has been, Thatchers reforms will be seen by history as a disproportionate reaction that just postponed the inevitable.
See also:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7316226.stm

They have a right to be. They have made the right decisions.
No doubt Dodgy will be along shortly with his Telegraph propaganda to prove what a great economy we have

PS Also from the article:
“This is not the case in Britain, where everything is outsourced. As a result, there is no core competence. The Germans have done their homework. They are competitive, efficient, innovative and, with the label ‘made in Germany’, renowned for quality.”

[NoddY]

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle3644997.ece

Germany still the king of exports
Manufacturing is the key, Michael Woodhead reports from Frankfurt

...Last year manufacturing output grew by more than 6%. Exports rose more than 8%, making Germany the world export leader, ahead of even China, for the fifth year running, with total trade of €969 billion (£758 billion). Overall, the German economy expanded in 2007 by 2.5%, with external trade accounting for 1.4% of this growth.

In the past decade exports have been responsible for 80% of German GDP growth, in contrast to Britain, where consumer spending has easily outpaced manufacturing growth.

Germany is strongest in the emerging markets. Exports to Brazil, Russia, China and India grew by 31% in 2007 from €43 billion to €63 billion. Germany has also invested heavily overseas - its manufacturing companies account for 15% of Brazil’s economic output.

However, market jitters over the American economy have had an impact. “The weak dollar, rising oil prices, slowing American economy and the credit crisis are making the situation difficult for companies,” said Jurgen Thumann, president of the Federation of German Industries.

Trade with America was down 6% to €73 billion last year. But America is not a big export market for most German companies and this makes many German bosses think the looming US recession will hurt them no worse than the Japanese banking crisis did a few years ago.

The EU is Germany’s biggest market, about 60% of all exports. Most significant is the growth in the new eastern European member states. Combined trade with what in many cases were former territories of the old Germanic empire now exceeds that with Britain or America.

It could be argued that, 20 years after the end of communism, in terms of trade the old 19th century map of Europe is once more beginning to emerge, with Germany at the centre and Russia an increasingly significant trading partner. Throw in the German federal budget surplus of €200m and suddenly it seems the Germans are sitting pretty, astride Europe and conquering the world.

...

Yet, according to Thatcherite dogma, the Germans should be up the creek without a paddle: for failing to encourage consumer spending, neglecting to boost service industries, not pushing home ownership, marginal interest in financial services and shareholders and failing to curb trade unions.

So how come they are doing so well for all the “wrong” reasons? Krone said: “It’s not a question of who is doing it right but of different structures. The English structure was destroyed by Thatcher’s confrontation with the unions and goading them into a fight. A number of manufacturers went under as a result of the chaos.”

In a sense the German government’s innate caution actually did business a favour. Stability was preferable to constant state meddling in the name of vote-catching modernisation.

Instead, a combination of historical precedents and a national trait of sticking to what you know has seen Germany come good at a time when Britain fears a sharp economic slowdown. The Germans have always been sceptical of the Thatcher “snake oil” medicine - it does not cure all ills. They have never accepted its universality as an article of faith as every British prime minister has since the great lady’s departure from office.

Germany’s manufacturing might is down to family-owned firms that do not subscribe to Anglo-Saxon notions of “shareholder value”. They are paternal towards their workforces, the products they make, the interests of their customers and the sustainability of their companies.

A study of more than 1,000 such firms by Bernd Venohr of the Berlin School of Economics discovered that most are among the top three world leaders in their chosen markets, from mobile-phone ring tones to steel rolling mills.

“A family-owned business can adopt a long-term approach.

They do not face short-term pressure to maximise profits. Typical for these firms are classic products that are continually being refined. I estimate they invest between two and three times as much in research and development as comparable firms in the same sector abroad,” he said.

Thomas Hune of the Federation of German Industries added: “The motor industry is a good illustration. It is comprised of thousands of small companies that are the ones developing advanced technologies.

“This is not the case in Britain, where everything is outsourced. As a result, there is no core competence. The Germans have done their homework. They are competitive, efficient, innovative and, with the label ‘made in Germany’, renowned for quality.”

In his youth Heinrich Weiss resisted the temptation to become another playboy. He had the money to throw around. His family owned the SMS group, a plant construction and engineering company founded by his great-grandfather in 1871.

“You can’t become a playboy in an area where your family is a significant employer. No father wants his son known as a big spender. I lived next to the works, I knew all the people, I went to school with the children of our employees,” he said.

“I was so completely steeped in the company that there was no question - I wanted to work there, I wanted to be the boss and expand the business.”

...