"...without doing a year long song and dance with the worker's council."
Germany is no exception, much of Europe and the UK are the same. One can argue over which European country is worst or best but it's small crumbs. Look at France and the current arguments over retirement age, it's all part of the same cultural problem I mentioned elsewhere.
Europe is an old society with old traditions, the US less so and its west coast even less so, so it's not an unexpected problem for Europe. The West's real problem is how to deal with it.
Asia, on the other hand, has even older cultures but having largely missed the old Industrial Revolution they've also missed the cultural baggage and artifacts it imposed on the West. This has allowed Asian countries to jump over these hurdles, that's why they are doing so well now.
I feel far from optimistic that the West can overcome this cultural baggage easy. But I hope I'm wrong.
Germany is no exception, much of Europe and the UK are the same. One can argue over which European country is worst or best but it's small crumbs. Look at France and the current arguments over retirement age, it's all part of the same cultural problem I mentioned elsewhere.
Europe is an old society with old traditions, the US less so and its west coast even less so, so it's not an unexpected problem for Europe. The West's real problem is how to deal with it.
Asia, on the other hand, has even older cultures but having largely missed the old Industrial Revolution they've also missed the cultural baggage and artifacts it imposed on the West. This has allowed Asian countries to jump over these hurdles, that's why they are doing so well now.
I feel far from optimistic that the West can overcome this cultural baggage easy. But I hope I'm wrong.