Last Sunday night, I ended up skipping the normal public TV forum at 9:45 PM on ARD (public German TV, Channel One)....the Anne Will Show. Basically, my wife is fed up with German politics and voiced the veto vote and we ended up watching 2.5 hours of some German cooking show. To be kinda honest, I almost drifted off to sleep about a dozen times and cooking 'adventures' really put me to sleep.
What I missed off the Anne Will Show? Well....she brought out as one of the five guests.....the new CDU chairman, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, (AKK or 'Mini-Merkel', depending on who is chatting).
AKK is the person expected to become Chancellor in three years (perhaps even sooner).
So at some point in this public forum chat....someone from the group made the apprisal that her previous big-job.....Premier President of the Saarland....was not exactly a roaring success, and that economically.....they went off in a very bad way.
Well.....AKK got all defensive and hyped up.....saying that just isn't right.
Focus got to this topic today in a fairly decent piece.....talking about the Anne Will Show, and 'the fairytale' of the Saarland.
On economic growth....most of Germany grew over the past six years.....of the sixteen states in Germany....the Saarland actually shrunk by .4-percent.
On getting new capital into the region....over the last two years that AKK was in charge....'real gross fixed capital formation'.....didn't exist (it was negative numbers).
On debt, without added revenue coming in.....the state went further into debt.
On Jobs? Well.....there's no evidence of any job growth over the past couple of years.
So what does all say for AKK? She's an administrator and avoids scandals....more or less the same accomplishments of Chancellor Merkel. If you wanted economic reform, job growth, or some kind of improved image for German companies....well, she isn't that person.
Will any of this matter in 2021's national election? Maybe not. Maybe roughly 30-percent of Germans will come out....vote CDU, and just continue the Merkel years, under AKK as Chancellor.
No comments:
Post a Comment