Upsides of Down

As Continental Europe is sinking to the bottom of recession, people here have begun to look for upsides to the global economic crisis.

German chancellor Angela Merkel claims that social market economy will prove to be Germany’s hit export (though she still has to explain how that’s going to replenish the country’s coffers, which have been sorely depleted by state interventions aimed at saving everything from the banking system to the automobile industry.)

Lobby group touting German economic model

If the world adopted the German economic model of harnessing free markets to provide prosperity and safety for all, future excesses bred by the Anglo-Saxon model could be avoided, Merkel has claimed in numerous speeches, interviews and op-eds, most recently in the tabloid Bild.

It’s the “We Society” against the “Every Man For Himself” that Europeans associate with the United States, a dichotomy that has served Merkel well so far, in her quest to win reelection this fall.

Some argue that the German government is simply in denial and refuses to accept its share of the blame for the current crisis. After all, its social-market approach didn’t prevent the country’s publicly owned banks to lose billions speculating in the global markets, as John Vinocur wrote in the New York Times, nor did it prevent an overreliance on exports that resulted in dramatic negative growth, as the Economist pointed out.

On the other hand, as a nation of tenants rather than homeowners, and of saving accounts rather than credit cards, Germany has been able to keep individual bankruptcies and homelessness at bay. Large-scale unemployment has been delayed, and doomsayers have not been able to make much headway in or at the polls.

Merkel’s dream of exporting the German model may be wishful thinking, but as long as things don’t get substantially worse, she might well come out ahead on Election Day.

Other assorted upsides to the crisis:

• Great bargains on new players are in store for the Bundesliga, says German sports marketer Hartmut Zastrow, in an interview with Der Tagesspiegel.
• Fares and hotel rates for long-distance travel are looking great, according to articles by dpa‘s Christian Roewekamp and Le Matin‘s Sonia Arnal.
• Phone booths are making a comeback in France, with people economizing on their mobile fees, reports La Depeche.
• And People have been starting to take cool pictures of manifestations of the crisis. Rue89 published a selection, you can see the slideshow here.

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