International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten

International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten: "Germany's Middle Class Is Shrinking

A new report adds more evidence to the fear of a widening income gap in Germany. The solid German middle class is losing people to the top and bottom of the income scale, while satisfaction with the German system falters. more..."

This is important for two reasons.

First, the erosion of the middle class in a social democracy argues that the problem in the US and China is much more broadly spread then I would have thought. If the goal of capitalism is to optimize the size of the middle class, we may all be in terrible trouble.

Second, Germany's problme could represent the drag down effect of America's trickle down economics. While German social policies are far more rational than ours, the US economy is likely to still be seveal of the cylinders in the German and world engine, As long as the US is run by voodoo economics, it ,may be impossible for a social democracy to NOT be affected by our maliase.

Ironically, Reaganomics may be a good thing for the third world! Growth of an affluent class in China or INdia may be a necessary step in the evolution of a poor country.