General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: This isn't Difficult. Outstanding Masking Visual from German Doctors [View all]DFW
(59,747 posts)Scholz is a lifelong bureaucrat. He has always lived off the government's money, never earned a cent out there in the real world. Ergo: governed by theories with no practical experience in bearing the consequences of his actions or decisions. That USUALLY ends badly (think Putin's pal Schröder). But it doesn't have to.
Maybe you remember the old joke about European heaven and European hell?
In European heaven, the French are the chefs, the Italians are the lovers, the Germans make the cars, the Swiss are the administrators and the British are the police.
In European hell, the British are the chefs, the Swiss are the lovers, the French make the cars, the Italians are the administrators and the Germans are the police.
If the new coalition is to succeed, German coalition heaven will mean the Social Democrats will oversee education and welfare, the Greens will oversee environmental and foreign policy, and the Free Democrats will oversee tax policy. German coalition hell will mean the Free Democrats will oversee environmental policy and welfare, the Social Democrats will oversee foreign policy, and the Greens will oversee tax policy and education.
I expect that, as usual, some mixture of the two extremes will emerge. My fear is, again, as usual, that actions will be poorly thought out and ultimately detrimental, and that reactions will be basically positive, and well-intentioned, but too little and too late.
My wife, a solid-but-pragmatic lifelong supporter of the SPD and the Greens, is nevertheless for requiring all members of the German government, both parliament and ministers (cabinet secretaries) to have worked for a living before becoming professional bureaucrats. Too often, decisions are made and voted into law by people who have never had (and will never have) any need to live with the consequences of their votes and decisions. What they need is Barack Obama, and what they get is John P. Wintergreen.