Hacker News Reader

Comment by microcolonel | Hacker News Reader

It's not just ridiculous, but brilliant. The new German empire is most likely too fragile and legalistic to apply currency regulations to this.

View on HN

What's the new German empire ? Today's Germany territory or the "Germanic" nations ? (or something else)

I bet 1 Estcoin that he was saying Europe is being controlled by Germany.

EU = German empire

Oh you mean along the lines of

World = US empire

Oh you mean along the lines of

Some highly generalized social group = perceived leader of previously mentioned social group.

CAPTCHA passed

"World" is neither a political nor an economic union.

I think the thing you have to remember about Germany, is that it's one of the top 5 exporting nations in the world up there with China, the US, Japan ...

It's only as a matter of course that in any economic union such a force would have significant heft.

Anyone that isn't happy with that can and should improve their export game.

The german export surplus has been criticized in the past for damaging the economy of other countries (esp. in the EU). It is not possible for every country to copy this system because someone has to import all the stuff you are exporting.

I agree with this to a point, as an occupant of a peripheral nation. In particular how the depressed Euro helps them out because it reduces the cost of their exports.

But, you simply can't argue with German productivity! Or the general quality of the goods they produce, and when it comes to getting good value groceries around Europe again it's the German supermarkets that are leading the way.

There is a problem to solve with regards to how German economic activity is balanced with the social needs of the European area. My personal bug bear is how the peripheral nations are expected to foot the bill of maintaining the periphery themselves, while Germany sits cosily in the centre printing Euros for herself.

But at the foot of Germany's success is doubtless her ability to manage her economy better than most, investment in education and to her fostering and nurturing of talent both home grown and from abroad.

'...when it comes to getting good value groceries around Europe again it's the German supermarkets that are leading the way.'

By producing cheap copies of established branded goods?

Not quite. They sell quite a number of branded goods, including a large amount of stuff sourced from the local economy. But anyway, selling unbranded equivalents is pretty much standard across the industry. What knockoffs they do provide are typically of a fairly high standard.

No I just think that it's all down to the fact that they're better at business.

The weakest of these German chains is in my opinion Lidl, but I'd prefer to go there than the Tesco I have around the corner any day!

'No I just think that it's all down to the fact that they're better at business.

The weakest of these German chains is in my opinion Lidl, but I'd prefer to go there than the Tesco I have around the corner any day!'

I agree the German supermarkets seem to have better management, that which is visible at shop floor level anyway, for sure.

I don't like Aldi and Lidl because the checkout process is so rushed and chaotic. Obviously, some people don't mind and see it as a fair trade-off?

As Noel fielding would say “Asda for day to day and Mark’s for the bits”!

> I don't like Aldi and Lidl because the checkout process is so rushed and chaotic. Obviously, some people don't mind and see it as a fair trade-off?

I don't like rushed for the weekend food shopping. Monday - Friday 12 o'clock shopping needs to be rushed though and since you don't have much, I prefer Aldi before REWE. Especially because it's cheaper too.

I think there are some misconceptions about the state of the german economy/society. The development has actually been quite worrying over the past 20 years. More and more people are receiving social welfare despite working full time and poverty rates are rising. There is also a shortage of skilled workers which is not easily compensated with foreign workers due to the lack of a proper immigration system. With the current development in the car market (think VW) which is still one the power horses of the german economy and the lack of german electric cars its hard to say where the german economy really stands.

All that is true, and it's the consequence of internal devaluation through austerity.

It's fascinating to see how that is sold to the population, in the middle of an export boom, and very low inflation.

I wouldn’t say it’s so much sold, as rammed down our throats!

Yes, but many of these issues can speak to the European economy as a whole, maybe even “the west”. I’m speaking comaparatively though. Perhaps unemployment is an issue right now but the quality of the social safety net in Germany should take the sting out of that!

Another post on the front page notes that BMW sold 100,000 “electrified” vehicles (of which ¼ were 100% BEV) in 2017. The s-curve on electric vehicle adoption has barely started to rise and will take 20+ years to complete. German manufacturers’ market timing is far from being proven wrong.

The good news is that in theory both the importer and the exporter profit from that relation. Otherwise said relation wouldn't exist.

The exporter gains the capital the importer "loses". This is fine as long as there is a balance between import and export. Once the balance is off there is a problem for the importer.

Every definition of the term "legalistic" that I find seems to be something like "intent on upholding the law". So... you're contradicting yourself?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com