http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/excessbaggage/index_20080315.shtml

This was quite an interesting item about a WW2 veteran repeating his trip through France and Germany. One amusing thing he mentioned was how he preferred the Germans to the French even then. In France (they landed at Marseille) stuff was always being pinched but in Germany that never happened. That obedience thing can get you into a lot of trouble though.



>I agree, but I think it is more a testament to the people's character and ability to 'march on.' My experience in Germany was some time ago, but what I recall most are some of their common traits: obedience, patience, industriousness, strength, resilience, and even conceit. On a whole, they have stronger characters than Americans (or did anyway). Don't get me wrong, I think Americans stand up when necessary, but the strength of the German character was evident even in children when I was there. I admired them tremendously (other than the tendency of the German males to be a 'king' in their home :o)
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>>>>>http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/13/business/housing.php?page=1
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>>>>One country that will come out of this well may be Germany. Their banks have never gone into the loan free for all we have had here. Its still quite hard to get homeloans so prices have not soared as they have in other European countries.
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>>>While it is true that inner city housing prices are low compared to London or Paris, German taxpayers will shoulder part of the subprime mess. German banks have taken over quite a few packages of that trash and banking CEO#s already ask for gvmt handouts (a small bank collapsed, but nothing serious). But in a peculiar twist gvmt owned banks seem to have taken a larger bite out of the subprime mess, making the taxpayer directly involved without intermediate private shareholders. Politicians are seen on these boards even more often than on other boards...
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>>>And some banks had their faces put directly to the feces with the housing build up in former east germany: tax subsidies directly inflating prices "over there" with no ROI in sight, esp. for private investors. There's a sucker born every minute.
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>>Thomas
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>>the way you have been able to absorb the former East Germany without rioting in the streets is a testament to Germanies economic strength.