| Germany is facing a decisive political shift as dramatic as the fall of the Berlin Wall, but much healthier for its economy and financial assets. Chancellor Helmut Kohl's Jobs and Growth plan aims to cut 2% of gdp off the budget deficit, shrink government, free up small-company labour practices and reduce anti-work social security benefits. Other measures are being taken to liberalize, such as opening up the energy markets and extending shopping hours. And I think that the bulk of these reforms are likely to be implemented. In Chancellor Kohl, Germany has the west's only living political leader whose name will be remembered in 20 years. He is the antithesis of an economic animal, but his political skill, vision and control of his party are remarkable. And now he's started leading Germany in the right economic direction. Combined with the extension of the German economic machine into eastern Europe, this will produce a powerful Germany that surpasses the dreams of many (and the nightmares of the French authors of Maastricht) within 10 years. The consensual model of Mitbestimmung by which Germany has been ruled since World War II, with power split evenly between the Bonn political machine, the corporate sector, the Bundesbank and labour unions, is dead. Kohl-the-uneconomic |