Where Have All the Capitalists Gone?
Jul 22, 2005
... where else but in Old Europe could the purported “conservative” political party launch an election campaign by proposing to raise taxes?
Pro-capitalist Germans must be weeping.
German workers are among the world’s most expensive. According to a recent OECD study, the average German manufacturing worker’s marginal tax rate, including income and social security taxes, is a whopping 40.5 percent. Adding the employer’s social security contributions brings the marginal rate up to 50.7 percent for the average German manufacturing wage earner with no dependents. It’s small wonder, then, that unemployment is nearing the five-million mark.
Germany has the largest economy in Europe. Her continued lackluster performance is going to have adverse effects on better economies in the EU. The reason being that the EU is going to tailor the monetary policy of the entire Union on major, and poorly performing, economies in the EU. The monetary policy that's optimal for Germany (and France) will likely be out of whack, and thus harmful, for countries in New Europe.
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