GERMANY: Adam's Apple
Into German politics last week a big red apple of discord was flung by Minister of Labor Adam Stegerwald. Up to now it has been very much the fashion for German statesmen to paint their country as poor, to picture their businessmen as pressed for cash, dependent on foreign loans. With blazing frankness Herr Stegerwald revealed that today the German moneyed class have on loan abroad more than eight billion marks ($2,000,000,000). This sum would suffice to meet Germany's "crushing payments" under the Young Plan for four years.
Mincing no words, brusque Adam Stegerwald charged that in view of the crying need of German industry for loans "this conduct on the part of German capitalists is unpatriotic and deserves the severest condemnation!"
Going even further the Minister of Labor pointed out that eight billion marks also represents approximately the sum which U. S. citizens now have tied up in German investments. "If our investment field is good enough for American capitalists," said he in effect to German capitalists, "it should be good enough for you!"
Most Popular »
- The End of Audacity
- Hate Your Job? Here's How to Reshape It
- The Man Behind Russia's Deadly Train Blast
- Health Care Reform: Whatever Happened to Cost Controls?
- The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting
- The Pakistani Taliban's War on Schoolchildren
- Astronomers Spy a New Planet-Like Object
- The Toughest Diet
- Toyota's Big Recall Unlikely to Quiet Critics
- Why Congress is Furious at the Fed
- For Churches, Beefed-Up Security Is a Mixed Blessing
- Workers of the World vs. China Inc.
- Could Jacob Zuma Be the President South Africa Needs?
- Where China Goes Next
- New Legal Protections for the Elderly
- Is the Dollar Dying a Slow Death?
- Medvedev Dashes Hopes for More Democracy in Russia
- Losing Your Job: A Blow to Your Health Too
- Is There Really a Credit Crunch?
- Obama Afghanistan Plan Breaks Old Ground
Top Stories on TIME.com
Quotes of the Day »
RSS