Elections in Germany

For John, BLUF:  What do we think of the German Economic Model?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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From Bloomberg News we have a report from Reporters Tony Czuczka and Brian Parkin that Chancellor Angela Merkel has again swept into power.  And here is the lede:

Angela Merkel won an overwhelming endorsement from German voters, putting the country’s first female chancellor on course for the biggest election tally since Helmut Kohl’s post-reunification victory of 1990.

Merkel’s Christian Democratic bloc took 41.8 percent in today’s election to 25.5 percent for the Social Democrats of Peer Steinbrueck, projections on ZDF television as of 8:57 p.m. showed.

So, Europe is having problems, but the German economy seems to be on firm ground.

After sweeping the election on the back of an unemployment rate near the lowest in two decades and her handling of the euro-area crisis, Merkel, 59, must now look for a coalition partner after her preferred allies, the Free Democrats, crashed out of the lower house of parliament.

Here the paper takes note of the fact that Chancellor Merkel is an Ossi, someone from the former Deutsche Demokratische Republik, or DDR, however it also sees her as a European leader who will by trying to help other European nations gain the economic success Germany has enjoyed.

While Germany’s first chancellor from the formerly communist east again made history with her election score, a third term takes her into uncharted waters to face the perils of a third Greek bailout and a potential breakdown in her 550 billion-euro ($744 billion) energy overhaul.

For now, with wages rising and the budget deficit virtually eliminated, voters backed her handling of the domestic economy, Europe’s largest, and her push for austerity in the euro zone in exchange for aid. They punished the Free Democrats after four years of bickering and failure to deliver on its tax-cutting pledges.

Chancellor Merkel's economic policies sound more "Tea Party" than "Socialist".

My wife's comment was that the Greens made a big mistake when they said that restaurants should go "meatless" one day a week.  I tend to agree with her that it was a blunder.

Regards  —  Cliff