17th Anniversary of the Reunification of the Two German Socialist States - Going from Bad to Worse

Minutes before the 17th anniversary of the sad merger of two socialist states expires, let us spend a moment reflecting on the lack of fundamental education that makes the Germans brothers in idiocy.

Hans-Werner Sinn, one of the most visible economists of Germany and supposedly a spearhead of the "free market approach" , rules out "pure capitalism" categorically, trusting instead on his capacity to come up with new ideas for an old mess.

He tells us of his new discovery that the "Sozialstaat" ("welfare state") has hitherto rewarded idleness and unemployment, and espouses the revolutionary idea of an "activating welfare state" (sexy wording, indeed), by which he means: forced labour, as analogous to forced medical care: if you want the state (who else?) to pay you for playing a supernumerary's role in concealed unemployment, take the job the state assigns to you.

Prof. Sinn, if ever there is a hope to get a handle on the mounting problems of Germany, do realise that the rule of law and an interventionist state are mutually exclusive. If you want the misery to go on and worsen, stick to the interventionist state. If you want things to change for the better, go for the rule of law, which, however, implies "pure capitalism".

You've got to hand it to him: His "scientific" position is the position of the vast majority of Germans.

No matter how low we sink, only the state can help us.

With the political spectrum in Germany comprising only socialist parties, the difference between West and East Germans turns on the speed at which more socialism is hoped to be brought about - the great "revolutionaries" of East Germany (supposedly having brought down the Wall) being particularly unhappy about the paucity of free lunches towards which they had meant to be marching at the time the German section of the Iron Curtain was removed (not by them, but - owing to a failure of internal communication -) by the GDR regime.

The growing nostalgia for communism noticeable among East Germans reveals more boldly the hankering of the rest of the nation.