The NYT�s Europe-bashing desk pulled out the stops today in going after Germany. Readers would have learned about Germany�s �chronic double-digit inflation.� This surely would be news to most readers, since the OECD puts Germany�s inflation rate over the last year at just over 2.0 percent. Perhaps the article meant to say �chronic double-digit unemployment.� Well that�s a bit closer, but still no cigar. The OECD puts Germany�s unemployment rate at 8.2 percent. [The web version has replaced "inflation" with "unemployment."] (Even this number should be qualified � former East Germany still has an unemployment rates in the high teens, which means that the unemployment rate in the areas that comprise former West Germany is around 6.5 percent.) Then the article warns about �a health care system that is going bankrupt because of rising costs and an aging population.� Well, we all hate health care systems that are going bankrupt � but yes that�s right BTP fans, Germany�s costs are not growing anywhere near as rapidly as costs in the United States. We�re all waiting for the NYT article about the looming bankruptcy of the U.S. health care system.
--Dean Baker
