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I remember listening to Daniel Hannan throwing this number of the number of Germans it takes to work as many hours as an American. Maybe they're just more produ

I remember listening to Daniel Hannan throwing this number of the number of Germans it takes to work as many hours as an American. Maybe they're just more productive ;). "In the short term, what's not to like? But there comes a point when you realize that you've been funding this on credit, that you've been depending on external assistance, and that your productivity has fallen further and further behind until you've got to the stage that we've now reached where it takes 4 Germans to work the same hours as 3 Americans. And that in the long term that is just not sustainable. Europe now that it's in a globalized economy competing against China and India and indeed North America, finds that it is shrinking precipitously. In the 1970s, in 1974, Europe accounted for 36%, or Western Europe, for 36% of World GDP. Today it's 25%, 10 years from now it will be 15%. That is an extraordinary decline, over a period when the US share of world GDP has remained pretty steady, round about 26%. So there was always going to be a reckoning and I'm afraid that reckoning has come now." Daniel Hannan https://youtu.be/Ufyov9RO8I0?t=648 https://youtu.be/Ufyov9RO8I0?t=648

cameldrv 9y ago
The difference in work culture in Germany is large. Americans may spend more time at work than Germans, but Germans work more hours. Even friendly watercooler chats are kept to a minimum, and doing something like looking at Facebook on company time would be considered an infraction in a majority of German workplaces.
- jrs235 9y ago
  This is the experience I had while visiting and working with German colleagues. They don't mess around at work. They get done in 4 hours what Americans do in 8.
- majewsky 9y ago
  Really? I'm a German working in Germany and if you look at the timestamps on my comments, you'll see that a fairly significant proportion of those are made during work. I've seen plenty of coworkers trading Facebook or whatever, and people chit-chat all the time. Well, not everybody of course, but for example, my own morning routine involves visiting the coworkers at their desks to check on their work and coordinate, and that includes some friendly banter, of course.
tonyedgecombe 9y ago
But there comes a point when you realize that you've been funding this on credit The Germans aren't particularly indebted, certainly not as much as the US or UK. Daniel Hannan has a deeply Eurosceptic view which colours his thinking on everything.

cameldrv 9y ago

The difference in work culture in Germany is large. Americans may spend more time at work than Germans, but Germans work more hours. Even friendly watercooler chats are kept to a minimum, and doing something like looking at Facebook on company time would be considered an infraction in a majority of German workplaces.

jrs235 9y ago
This is the experience I had while visiting and working with German colleagues. They don't mess around at work. They get done in 4 hours what Americans do in 8.
majewsky 9y ago
Really? I'm a German working in Germany and if you look at the timestamps on my comments, you'll see that a fairly significant proportion of those are made during work. I've seen plenty of coworkers trading Facebook or whatever, and people chit-chat all the time. Well, not everybody of course, but for example, my own morning routine involves visiting the coworkers at their desks to check on their work and coordinate, and that includes some friendly banter, of course.

tonyedgecombe 9y ago

But there comes a point when you realize that you've been funding this on credit The Germans aren't particularly indebted, certainly not as much as the US or UK. Daniel Hannan has a deeply Eurosceptic view which colours his thinking on everything.