Anti-Germanism in the US Press

I have posted in tne past about anti-Americanism in the Europe, and there are numerous German blogs that attack the mainstream German press for its perceived anti-American slant.  But there has been compartatively little notice of the anti-German sentiment of much of the conservative press in the US.  To be sure, France is by far seen as the greater evil in red state America, and Germany is often seen as a vassal state to France, with Gerhard Schröder playing the role of Chirac’s poodle. Especially on the economic front, Germany is seen as embodying everthing the "experts" in the US press – who worship the unfettered Free Market – despise.

A typical example anti-Germanism is Paul Johnson’s recent column in Forbes Magazine with the title Germany’s Dismal Future , where Germany is depicted on the edge of economic ruin – the same situation it was in at the end of the Weimar Republic.

Today the German economy is a
model–especially for the rapidly expanding nations of the Third World,
such as China and India–for what not to do. Stagnant production,
static or falling productivity and appalling levels of unemployment are
the salient factors. Unemployment figures have recently been revised
upward to 4.5 million but could be as high as 6 million when the
"hidden unemployed" are taken into account. These figures are close to
those of 1932, at the depths of the Great Depression and just before
Hitler came to power. So many being unemployed was one reason Hitler’s
bid for power was successful.

What is behind this economic collapse?  For one thing, the power of the trade unions.  Unions have lost most of their power in the US with rise of Wal-Mart and other anti-union corporations and the results have been devasting to the American working class: more than 45 million Americans lack basic health insurance. Johnson is enraged that unions still wield power in Germany:

German unions insist on short hours, high
wages, immense social security benefits and conditions of work that
make productivity increases virtually impossible. Their stranglehold on
the economy is akin to that exercised by British unions before Margaret
Thatcher smashed them in the early 1980s.

But what really angers Johnson and his ilk in the US press is Germany’s turning away from the US hegemonic ambitions.  By looking to a stronger EU, Schröder has committed  unforgivable treason against its partner that dominated it for past 50 years:

ndeed, Germany’s subservience to France is one
of the most astonishing and inexplicable features of today’s world.
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder seems content to play the poodle to
President Jacques Chirac in the most humiliating and grovelling way,
following tamely in courses that demonstrably work against Germany both
at home and abroad.

When Germany looked to U.S. leadership between
1950 and the early 1970s, it prospered. Since Germany submitted to
French direction, the country has plunged relentlessly into the pit.
Sooner or later the German people are going to grasp this salient
truth; when they do, the consequences for Europe will be dramatic. This
moment has been delayed, however, by the third factor in the nation’s
decline.

Germany’s future looks very bleak indeed to Johnson, and he sees the nation collapsing in violence unless it reverses course and a strong "leader" emerges.

Such dismal tones are nowhere to be heard at the World Forum in Davos, where Schröder made a triumphant appearance .  The reaction of the world’s elite to his half-hour speech would have astonished Johnson:

Gerhard Schröder muss ein glücklicher Mann sein. „Wir begrüßen Sie als
den Kanzler der Reformen“, sagte Klaus Schwab, der Gründer des
Weltwirtschaftsforums im Kongresszentrum von Davos, und all die
mächtigen Manager im Auditorium schienen das ebenso zu sehen.

Eine
halbe Stunde lang sprach der Bundeskanzler, frei, gelassen und überaus
professionell. So etwas kommt hier gut an, und wenn man den Beifall
hinter als Maßstab nimmt, dann hat Schröder etwas Entscheidendes
geschafft.

Er ist der Mann der Wirtschaft, in dem Sinne
jedenfalls, dass die Manager innerhalb und außerhalb Deutschlands den
Kanzler als den einzigen Politiker anerkennen, der in Deutschland
Reformen durchgesetzt hat und dies auch weiter wir können. Sein
Wahlsieg ist hier in Davos schon eingepreist.

As the US Dollar continues its downward spiral due to the disasterous fiscal policies of the Bush amdinistration, it will be interesting to watch how the US press covers Europe’s  – and Germany’s – growing economic and political clout.