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Money Isn't Everything In short, Halle has learned that throwing money at an economic meltdown isn't a cure-all. To be sure, some towns in the old GDR have done well. In the Saxon heartland, where the local economy had strong roots going back to before World War II, Dresden has turned itself into a world center for semiconductors, Leipzig has attracted automakers including BMW and Porsche, and Jena has successfully built on the reputation of its optical firm, Carl Zeiss. But for the most part, eastern Germany is still far from resembling the "blossoming landscapes" that former...
...Haimann, of the Halle Chamber of Commerce, thinks that was a crucial error. The true value of the old East German mark was just one-fourth or one-fifth of the West German currency, so when it was swapped in 1990 at parity, the competitiveness of the local economy took a nosedive - compounded by a quick doubling of wages in the east following reunification later that same year. "There was a revaluation by a factor of eight. Which industry anywhere could swallow that?" Haimann asks, pointing out that some of Germany's eastern neighbors, including Poland and the Czech Republic...
...Neustadt residential district on the western edge of Halle. Neustadt is a depressing example of Soviet-style urban planning, with row upon row of gray concrete blocks, built in the 1970s to house some of the 40,000 people who worked at the chemical factories that once dominated the local economy. Firms with names such as Buna and Leuna belched pollutants into Halle's air while churning out products whose quality lagged far behind western examples...
...Search Why were so many jobs lost? mainly because Halle's local businesses had been rendered uncompetitive by the currency swap and wage increases. That meant economic growth in the east often relied on direct government support, in the form of infrastructure projects, tax breaks for individual investors, direct transfer payments of social benefits for pensioners and the unemployed, and state subsidies for corporate investments...
...found your article on immigration compelling. It is true we are living in difficult times, but we must avoid seeking scapegoats during the economic crisis. In the end the only thing that will get us out of this mess is to pull together legal and illegal, foreign worker and local. Where do you think these deported immigrants will find jobs back home? In Mexico, perhaps with the drug cartels south of the border. Or why not with outfits like the pirates off the coast of Somalia? Let's not forget that a newly recruited extremist, or a new mercenary serving...