As I’ve argued before, these two labels are not necessarily mutually contradictory–and Germany’s resistance to bailing out the Greek government is just more evidence of that fact:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany offered some common-sense advice to reckless bankers, indebted consumers and profligate governments. “One should simply have asked a Swabian housewife,” Mrs. Merkel said during an address to fellow Christian Democrats in December 2008 in the southwest German region of Swabia, hub of the Protestant work ethic. “She would have told us her worldly wisdom: in the long run, you can’t live beyond your means.”
Read the whole thing here.
I’m married to a Swabian (now American) housewife. I’d suggest she be put in charge of our Treasury. She’d do a job on those Aegean stables.
I’ve written about my own experience of a more conservative (Southern) Germany here http://patrickdeneen.blogspot.com/2007/08/what-i-saw-in-europe.html.
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