THE SHINING EXAMPLE ISN'T SO SHINY.

         It is common practice for one state to play its people up against the people of another state to further its ends. Since the 2008 “crisis” most of the European states have lampooned the Greek people with comments about them being lazy, paying themselves too much, corrupt and avoid paying their taxes. Anything to try to justify the financial chaos that prevails across the continent. It is a case of being self righteous and having to bail-out others, we point fingers at each in turn. Greece, then Spain, Ireland and Italy and so it goes on. Of course Germany is held up as how the others should behave, hard working and prudent with their finances, but becoming tired at having to support those more foolhardy lesser people.

        However though we are told that Germany is doing it right and we should all try to follow its example, not all the Germany people see it that way. There is as much discontent and anger in Germany as in the rest of the capitalist Europe. People are struggling, people feel repressed, people can see through the smoke and mirrors of the system.

       All is not well in the example that is held up to the rest of Europe, poverty in Germany, like the rest of Europe, has been growing. This growing poverty for the majority of the population is matched by a staggering concentration of wealth at the top of society. The number of millionaires in Germany has risen in recent years to 830,000. In Germany in 1965, 1 in 75 children were in poverty by 2007 that had risen to 1 in 6. In Berlin 15.2% of adults receive welfare and 30.7% of children. During the period from 2005 to 2010 there was not a single city in the Ruhr area that did not experience social decline and stagnation. The pattern is the same as the rest of Europe, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, An article in a recent edition of Der Spiegel stated, “Never has the gap been so wide to the general population” and according to new statistics from the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) “For the bottom 50 percent of the population, very little has changed in terms of income for decades”.
      Under this system of capitalist exploitation, no matter how rich or how well balanced the books are of a particular country, it makes no difference to the people, they still suffer poverty and an ever widening gap between them and the small cabal of parasites that control all the wealth and power. Until we fix that problem, poverty will always be the lot of the ordinary people. 

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