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...using mortgages. The other half are paid for in full at the time of acquisition. (In the U.S., by contrast, over 90% of residential housing transactions are financed with mortgages.) One of the reasons for this is that, just like Yang, many Chinese have been moved out of formerly state-owned housing units in urban areas as part of redevelopment projects. The compensation payments, supplemented by some savings, are usually enough to buy decent apartments out of town. Economist Xie calls these resettlement payments "probably the most important government action supporting today's economy." And the fact is, Chinese municipalities...
...some predictions are well-worn, others are downright dubious. "Freedom and Fairness" is the most problematic. This is a country where dissidents disappear and where the legal system can be twisted. Yet China's brutally efficient machinery of repression and state capitalism is, in the Naisbitts' gushing parlance, "a new form of governance and development, never before seen in modern history." Really? Is an autocracy grimly determined to keep itself in power all that unique...
...recent crunch came when Westerwelle launched a blistering attack on Germany's cherished welfare state, criticizing handouts for the long-term unemployed. Raising welfare benefits smacks of socialism, Westerwelle wrote in the daily Welt newspaper on Feb. 11. "Whoever promises the people effortless prosperity encourages late Roman decadence." The FDP leader went on to argue that those who work should always get more than the unemployed and that young jobless Germans should take up community work like shoveling snow. (Read: "Guido Westerwelle: Angela Merkel's Unlikely Partner...
Criticism of the welfare state touches a raw nerve among Germans. They have jealously guarded social benefits since they were introduced by Otto von Bismarck, the "Iron Chancellor," in the 1880s. Bismarck's system - designed to win over workers and increase productivity - guaranteed every citizen social insurance, including a pension, national health insurance and disability benefits. Westerwelle thinks that should change, and is also pushing for lower taxes and a new simplified tax system. The opposition Social Democrats branded him a "sociopolitical arsonist" while the Greens warned that the welfare state would be pared back to a "social...
...prove the show must go on, Merkel hosted another meeting of her coalition partners in Berlin late last month. Westerwelle called the talks "constructive," but just 24 hours later, repeated his controversial rant against the welfare state and said that he'd provoked a "necessary debate." In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Merkel accused Westerwelle of repeating the obvious. Of course those who work should get more than those who don't work, the Chancellor said. The message: I'm in charge. (Read: "Angela Merkel's Moment...