From Monday, a second political show came up....with the "other" three parties in the running for this month's election (Greens, FDP, Linke). The show was entitled: Dreikampf (Battle of the Three).
For an American, there's not much to say. The big show on Sunday had the two major parties who will pull roughly sixty-five percent of the national vote. These three parties? They will end up with twenty-five percent of the national vote. It was around an hour of debate....which ended up being a very loose situation.....candidates running over to debate one another. I suspect the audience probably would have preferred more structure, or maybe they enjoyed the nose-to-nose situations.
Affecting the numbers? The news media says it didn't really do much to change numbers.
The other two parties? (Anti-Euro and Pirates) Well....it's yet to be seen if either can pull that magical five-percent win. Most polls just aren't showing either getting more than four-percent, and in that case.....they get no representation in the Bundestag.
The chief topic? Well....jobs. Amazingly enough....Germany has more folks employed than almost every single country in Europe, and you'd almost brag with numbers like they have. The other side of this story are the bigger-name companies which are downsizing, and laying off thousands. Folks are going through long-term unemployment....months and months sending out resumes.....getting no offers. The news media (especially state-run TV folks)....have gone to make this one of the top topics of this election. The experts kinda argue that some companies just aren't in a great position to be competitive....whether by cost issues, benefit costs, or regulation. The hint by the media....is that the political folks need to get involved in this and somehow fix it. Usually, this always comes around to higher taxes....a magical answer for every single problem.
It was a debate that came and went. I doubt if more than half of the Sunday audience (15 million estimated for that one).....watched this debate.
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