December 18, 2004
EUROPE ALWAYS DID LOOK BETTER FROM AFAR
Germans despair as rising dole queues cast gloomy shadow (Kate Connolly, The Telegraph, December 18th, 2004)
When he set up his film production company in Berlin, Raphael Socha had every reason to call it Hope and Glory."We were brimming with enthusiasm about what we could do here in this exciting city after the fall of the wall, full of hope about the new chances Germany had," he said
Now, 11 years later, Mr Socha, 50, and his business partner and wife, Anja Padel, 41, are turning their backs on Germany, despite several successes.
Bemoaning its stagnant economy, lack of flexibility, negativity and over-regulation, all of which they say is strangling their business, the couple will move to north London in February."Germany has huge potential, but it needs to motivate itself," says Ms Padel. "We have no desire to stay in a country which is suffering from a chronic bad mood."
Meanwhile, American intellectuals like
Jeremy Rifkin continue to tout the superiority of Euro-dreams from their comfortable stateside academic perches.
Jeremy Rifkin has advocated the murder of all cows because of their effect on the environment and has also stated that no one should be more than 5 feet tall because it would otherwise negatively effect the environment. Nobody, but nobody cares what he has to say except for Phil Donahue, America-hating neo-Nazis like Georgia Anne Geyer, and Robert Reich(only because in Rifkinworld he could play in the NBA.)
Posted by: Bart at December 18, 2004 8:53 AMSee, that's knowledgable and entertaining.
Posted by: David Cohen at December 18, 2004 10:04 AMI'd have been a little harsher on Rifkin than Bart, but no sense piling on.
Rifkin is, however, an antidarwinist, which ought to earn him points around here.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at December 19, 2004 5:00 PM