Artikel aus dem Economist, der auf HartzIV eingeht und im Grunde das betont, was auch hier schon gesagt wurde, ohne Reformen auf der Arbeitsangebotsseite ist Hartz sinnlos.
Ersatz Europeans
The political fortunes of the German and Italian governments depend on economic recovery at home. But that recovery depends rather too much on events elsewhere
- WHAT have been the biggest events for the European markets this month?.....The biggest events in the European markets this month were not European at all; they were America’s dreadful jobs numbers on August 6th and, a week later, further evidence of America’s deepening trade deficit. Europe’s markets, it seems, respond to other people’s news.
- The reason for this is not hard to discern... Domestic demand in Italy and Germany, taken together, has not grown for a whole year,..indeed, in Germany, it is still shrinking....Germans, it seems, have no appetite for their own products and services.
- What growth Germany enjoyed in the last quarter, it owed largely to the continued appetite of China and America for its exports. No wonder Europe’s bond dealers and currency traders are constantly looking over the shoulder of traders elsewhere.
- Germany is still the world’s leading exporter. But some now fret that German exports are scarcely German at all; they are fashioned largely from components imported from German subsidiaries in central and eastern Europe. Germany, it is claimed, has become a “bazaar” economy, peddling goods made by foreigners to other foreigners.
- As a result, its apparent success in world markets does not trickle down into stronger investment and hiring at home; it leaks instead to the Czech Republic, Poland and elsewhere. Overblown these fears may be, but they do illustrate an important truth. It is hollow to boast about exports for exports’ sake. They are valuable only as a means to the end of fuelling domestic spending.
- Overblown these fears may be, but they do illustrate an important truth. It is hollow to boast about exports for exports’ sake. They are valuable only as a means to the end of fuelling domestic spending.
- Unfortunately, Italy and Germany also seem to be suffering from ersatz political leadership.
- Meanwhile, Gerhard Schröder, Germany’s chancellor, is in danger of becoming a reformer without results—or, rather, with results that arrive too late to save him..... the so-called “Hartz IV” reform of unemployment benefits, is also one of his most significant political handicaps.... brought tens of thousands of Germans, mostly in the east, on to the streets each Monday this month in protest.
- The measures were inspired in part by the New Deal reforms introduced with some success by Britain’s Labour government in 1998. But, unfortunately for Mr Schröder, the timing of the German reforms is much less felicitous.
- The New Deal was introduced after five years of solid economic growth, whereas Hartz IV arrives after three years of stagnation. Moreover, in Britain’s flexible labour market, the jobless had a reasonable chance of pricing themselves into work. The same may not be true for unskilled workers in Germany, who will have to find work at rates dictated by Germany’s entrenched system of centralised bargaining.
- Mr Schröder has, in any case, come too far to back down. He must count on the law showing immediate results next year, pushing large numbers of the 4.4m unemployed (10.6% of the workforce) off the welfare rolls and into work. But he may be disappointed. Until Germany’s ersatz recovery, based on exports, becomes a genuine one, based on domestic spending, there will be few jobs to push the unemployed into.
Haushalt 2005
Laut dem Spiegel droht der Haushalt 2005 gegen die Verfassung zu verstoßen und da man den Etat sieht, sowie gerade daneben die Neuverschuldung, wird man sich auch den Dimensionen wieder bewusst (12%), gemessen am BIP sind es wahrscheinlich 3%.
Artikel aus dem Spiegel. Dreht sich um die Bewerbung für die Elite-Colleges in den USA und den zunehmend härterem Wettbewerb welchem sich die amerikanischen Schüler stellen müssen.
"Entschuldigung, dass ich manchmal schlafen muss" - Früher Kampf ums Dasein
Gute Schulnoten reichen nicht: Um einen Studienplatz an einer Elite-Uni zu ergattern, profilieren sich viele US-Schüler bereits als erfolgreiche Nachwuchsforscher.
- Sie dachte, sie könnte sich ihre Wunsch-Uni aussuchen, denn seit Jahren hat sie einen exzellenten Notendurchschnitt. Aber jetzt hat sie entdecken müssen: Gute Noten reichen bei weitem nicht. Anna: "Es ist schockierend."
- Die Studentenzahlen steigen, denn die Kinder der Baby-Boomer strömen auf die Unis. Die Zahl der öffentlichen College-Plätze aber sinkt, weil die klammen Bundesstaaten ihre Zuschüsse gesenkt haben. Die Folge: Erbarmungsloser denn je sieben die Unis aus. Gute Noten sind die Pflicht - die Kür besteht schon für Jugendliche in der sorgsamen Pflege der eigenen Biografie.
- Weil die Unis außerschulische Leistungen zu einem wichtigen Zulassungskriterium gemacht haben, ist unter Jugendlichen der USA ein harter Wettbewerb entbrannt: Amerika sucht den Superstar.
- Gefragt sind sportliche Multitalente mit Stehvermögen, sozialem Engagement und künstlerischem Gespür
- In den USA gibt es keine ZVS, die Studienplätze nach planwirtschaftlichen Methoden verteilt. Die Unis entscheiden vielmehr selbst, wen sie für reif für ein Studium halten und wen nicht - ein System, das viele Uni-Reformer auch für Deutschland fordern. Je besser die Uni, desto wählerischer ist sie. Es gibt viel zu gewinnen - und darum bedeuten die letzten Schuljahre für viele nichts als Angst und Stress.
- Jung zu sein ist in den USA keine Ausrede dafür, noch kein Profil zu haben.
- Es gebe genügend Kandidaten, die nicht drei, sondern sechs dieser Kurse auf College-Niveau besucht hätten. "Was soll ich denn sonst noch machen?", schimpft Anna. "Entschuldigung, dass ich manchmal schlafen muss!"
- Das deutsche System, das schon die Zehnjährigen in Hauptschüler und Gymnasiasten aufteilt, empfinden sie als barbarisch; denn die Deutschen sortierten ihre Kinder in Wahrheit nicht nach Leistung, sondern allein nach sozialer Herkunft. Ihr eigenes System empfinden die Amerikaner als transparenter und gerechter.
- Eines der wichtigsten Aufnahmekriterien ist für die meisten Unis nicht der Notendurchschnitt, sondern ein Multiple-Choice-Test namens SAT ("Scholastic Aptitude Test"), den studierwillige Jugendliche während der High School ablegen. Er ist das Maß aller Dinge: Die Punktezahl im SAT gilt den Universitäten als zuverlässiger Indikator dafür, wie gut jemand im College abschneiden wird. Wer nach Harvard will, muss sehr nahe dran sein am SAT-Maximum von 1600 Punkten.
- Manche privaten High Schools haben sich darauf spezialisiert, ihre Schüler passgenau für den Geschmack der Top-Universitäten herzurichten - und dafür kassieren sie von den Eltern Schulgebühren von über 20.000 Dollar im Jahr.
- In ihrer Schule hängen diese Schüler die vielen Ablehnungsschreiben Jahr für Jahr an eine Wand, die "wall of rejection": eine Klagemauer des Frusts. "Das ganze System", erklärt Anna, "ist ein Witz."
- Ihrem Ärger hat sie in einem Artikel in ihrer Stadtzeitung Luft gemacht - und dafür bekam Anna Beifall von ungeahnter Stelle: Robin Mamlet, die gefürchtete Chefin der Zulassungsstelle von Stanford, schrieb einen Leserbrief. Sie sei sehr beunruhigt über den Perfektionsdruck, dem jetzt so viele begabte 17-Jährige ausgesetzt seien. An vielen Universitäten entstünden ungerechtfertigte Ansprüche, die für Schüler "nicht gesund" seien und nicht einmal den Auswahlprozess verbesserten. Sie wolle helfen, das zu ändern. Ein kleiner Sieg - "das ist doch was", sagt Anna.
Wiederum ein Artikel aus dem Economist. Dieser hier bietet sicher einigen Zündstoff ;>
The Bush presidency - Je ne regrette rien
After a tumultuous first term, George Bush has much to be proud of—and much to reconsider
- FOUR years ago, George Bush presented himself at the Republican convention in Philadelphia as a “compassionate conservative”...the Texan dynast, backed by reliable old hands such as his running-mate, Dick Cheney, would provide a more modest, grown-up approach. Abroad, Mr Bush promised a humble but strong foreign policy. At home, there would be a big tax cut, affordable thanks to the large budget surplus—and, unusually for a Republican, Mr Bush talked a lot about social issues such as education. After two Republican conventions with the Christian right in full cry, he softened the party's stance on social issues at Philadelphia, and gave a hearing to homosexuals and minorities. This prospect of a moderate presidency was further advanced, or so it seemed, by the narrowness of his election victory: having won fewer votes overall than Al Gore, Mr Bush promised to be a president for all Americans.
- Now Mr Bush approaches next week's convention in New York a very different figure.
- It is not just a matter of waging the most controversial war since Vietnam and dramatically increasing the size of government. Name your subject, from education and health care to missile defence, AIDS policy, gay marriage, stem cells and civil rights, and this presidency has sought radical change.
- Radicalism can be good—but Mr Bush's brand has turned a compassionate conservative into a contradictory one. What is conservative about allowing government to grow faster than under Mr Clinton? What is humble about announcing that you are trying to introduce democracy to the Middle East? Where is the compassion in his support for a federal ban on gay marriage, the limitations on stem-cell research or his other moves to accommodate the zealots of the Christian right?
- His message is that America should stick with a man who faced hard choices and took the right decisions. Il ne regrette rien.
- For this newspaper, that verdict looks mostly right for Mr Bush's foreign policy. The charge that he set off in a needlessly unilateralist direction on taking office is vastly overdone; he sought allies throughout; and in many ways his forthright style was a breath of fresh air after the muddle and evasions of the Clinton era.
- Yes, he dropped out of the Kyoto Protocol in a tactless way; but that was a bad treaty which America was never going to accept in any case (the Senate voted against it by a margin of 95-0). Mr Bush upset many people by ripping apart the outdated anti-ballistic-missile defence treaty with Russia—then baffled his critics by getting both Russia and (more hesitantly) China to go along with him.
- But it was the thunderbolt of September 11th that counted most. Those atrocities set the course for the remainder of his presidency. Since then, we continue to think that Mr Bush has got the big foreign-policy decisions right.... He rightly decided to destroy al-Qaeda's home in Afghanistan—and, yes, on the evidence that presented itself at the time, he rightly decided to invade Iraq.
- Many of these decisions were bound to be unpopular with his allies. That does not make them wrong. Nor does it justify the anti-Americanism that many politicians have recklessly tried to stir up, particularly over Iraq. Some Bush-bashing foreign governments seem to hope that Mr Kerry will adopt a different set of priorities. Tellingly, he has stuck pretty close to Mr Bush.
- To be sure, the president has got some things wrong in foreign policy. He did not outright lie about Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction, but he misled the country about what was known and not known....Elsewhere, his failures have mainly been errors of execution.
- He called for the establishment of a Palestinian state, but did little to support it. In Iraq, he destroyed a dangerous and odious tyrant, but lamentably failed to prepare for rebuilding the country after fighting what was, whatever Mr Bush says, a war of choice.
- The Economist's bigger disagreements with Mr Bush lie beyond the war on terror, in areas where Mr Bush's very aims are questionable or worse.
- This president, despite impassioned avowals to the contrary, has been no champion of open international markets...His fiscal policy is nothing to boast about either... He cut taxes in the best conservative tradition, but spent vastly more as well. Mr Bush is a conservative who believes in big government.
- This failure to curb public spending is all the more alarming because the next president will have to prepare America for the retirement of the huge baby-boomer generation.
- The other problem is social policy. The American conservative movement has always been a marriage between “western” anti-governmentalism and “southern” moralism. Four years ago, Mr Bush made no secret of his own religious beliefs, but he gave the impression he would hold the often intolerant religious right in check. Instead, he has given it a big role in his administration on a host of issues. No doubt Mr Bush's convictions are sincere; but they were not to the fore in 2000 and they are not shared by many of those who supported him then, nor by this newspaper.
- Tumultuous though it has been, and despite the passions it arouses, Mr Bush's first term should in the end be judged in the same measured way as most previous ones. It is a mixed bag: successes and failures must be set beside each other. And deciding whether Mr Bush deserves a second term calls for more than an appraisal of his own record: the American people will have to judge whether Mr Kerry, another mixture of good and bad, represents a better choice. At his convention in Boston, Mr Kerry made an effort to cast the Democratic Party in a new light. Mr Bush needs to attempt something similar in New York. More of the same just will not do.
Das sollte für heute reichen ^^