In Germany:
What a difference three months can make. Of all Europe's leaders, no one has suffered from the economic crisis quite as much as Merkel, because no one has mishandled the crisis quite as badly as [Chancellor Angela] Merkel. Germany is facing its biggest economic challenge since World War II—the Bundesbank is predicting GDP to shrink by 0.8 percent in 2009—and economists, politicians, media and the public across the spectrum are calling for tax cuts and stimulus spending of the sort being rolled out in France and other EU states. But Merkel prefers to play the Dutch uncle—er, aunt—in this situation, telling a recent party congress that the crisis called not for government action but personal belt-tightening. Doing her best Jimmy Carter impression, she told the German parliament that her goal “is not to overcome the crisis.” but “to build a bridge so that we at least can start recovering in 2010.”
In Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper almost lost his job (and still may) over his failure to pass a stimulus package. He’s now promising to cooperate, but still isn’t interested in being as aggressive as liberal leaders would like:
Taking aim at the Liberal-NDP coalition that seeks to replace the Tories in office, Mr. Harper said it is time to hammer out the stimulus budget his rivals attacked him for not delivering.Measures the [liberal] coalition sought include more infrastructure spending on transit and waterworks; money for housing construction and retrofitting; aid for manufacturers and forestry companies; and eased employment-insurance restrictions.
Meanwhile, in the UK, Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s approval ratings have improved as he has acted vigorously to address the crisis -- an impressive achievement considering that governments rarely do well when the economy goes south.
Anyway, the lesson here is that across the world people, rightly, want their governments to actually try and fix their economic problems. American politicians should take note.
—Sam Boyd
