Word: erhards
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Nationalization seems to be the fad from Italy to Indonesia, but not in Ludwig Erhard's free-enterprising West Germany. While it is still highly nationalized, West Germany is getting rid of state-owned industry as quickly as possible. Under Erhard's orders, the Ministry for Federal Property, which oversees nationalized companies, is getting ready to sell off the state-owned Vereinigte Elektrizitäts und Bergwerks (VEBA), a coal, chemicals and electric power giant with annual sales of $875 million...
Even after VEBA is disposed of by a stock sale to the public, the Volksaktien program pushed by Erhard will still have a long way to go. Not including such properties as Lufthansa airlines, the state railways and harbor facilities, in which the government intends to retain an interest, 250 industrial companies remain to be sold. Still, peoples' shares have come quite a way in Germany; only six years ago a survey showed that 40% of the population had no idea what stocks were and 83% had never heard of dividends...
Prosperous West Germany seems to be on its way to overtaking the U.S. as the world's leading exporter, but the prospect does not make Chancellor Ludwig Erhard very happy. In fact, he was downright grim when his economics ministry reported to him that Bonn's trade surplus for 1964's first two months was running at a staggering annual rate of $2.4 billion. Erhard sees the pile-up of export-earned foreign exchange as another spur to inflation, which is already getting a push from a huge in flux of foreign capital ($725 million...
...Parliament a bill that would slap a 25% tax on the yield of German bonds held by foreigners. The tax, which will, in effect, lower the cur rent 6% yield on German securities to an unglamorous 4.5% , was greeted with dismay by foreign bondholders and Ger man bond brokers. Erhard also an nounced a second bill that will please businessmen more; by abolishing the much disliked 2.5% tax on the issue of stocks and bonds floated in Germany, it aims to encourage foreign companies to raise funds in Germany, thus stepping up the export of German capital and lessening inflationary...
...days as economics minister, Erhard often managed to ward off price increases in Germany by lowering tariffs to admit lower-priced goods from Italy and France. This strategy is no longer effective. Inflation in both countries has made their goods less attractive in Germany and has helped increase German exports by making them more competitive around the world...