Germany Working to Correct Climate Change

Along with much of the rest of the developed world, Germany has realized that our climate is undergoing change. German political leaders have agreed that steps must be taken in order to preserve our environment as a whole. Because of this, Germany is currently taking one of the leading roles in the EU on climate solutions. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed to raise this issue during the upcoming G8 summit. Germany is also proposing to help the developing world, who would find it difficult to meet certain restrictions.

German luxury carmakers have long been criticized due to resistance of CO2 emissions standards. While this is true, the bottom line is that the automobile industry is one of Germany's most important when looking at GDP. Because of this, you would think that Germany would look the other way when its automakers are violating these restrictions. But, Germany is doing exactly the opposite. They are encouraging their automakers to meet emissions standards and offering incentives if they do so. This shows that Germany would rather contribute to a cleaner environment, than have their GDP be a bit higher. Support for a greener Germany is very widespread throughout the country and the EU as a whole. Because of this fact, a new market may open up for more environmentally friendly products in Germany. Therefore, this may lead to a higher GDP in the future for Germany.

Airbus Outsourcing Hurts German Workers

Airbus has slowly been spiraling out of control and is fearfully close to making a hard crash landing. With the recent failure of its 'so called' flagship jumbo jet, Airbus has not been able to turn a profit. Due to this, Airbus' main competitor Boeing has been flying high. Boeing has recently outsourced many of its jobs in America to other developing countries. Airbus, seeing how well this worked for Boeing, is planning outsourcing of its own. For its new airliner, the A350XWB, the bulk of production takes place in Germany and France. The development of this new jet is estimated to cost Airbus over 12 billion dollars. Already in the red, Airbus is looking to do anything to lower this potential cost.

Following in Boeing's footsteps, Airbus is planning to outsource around 3.5 billion dollars of work to various countries. They have not yet revealed where they wish to open new factories. This outsourcing will lead to thousands of jobs lost in Germany, one of Airbus' main producing countries. It is estimated that Airbus will need to sell and outsource roughly 16 factories throughout Europe.

I think that if Airbus is to go through with this outsourcing, it must be smart where it sends its jobs. Airbus should outsource to countries that are right on the edge of being fully developed. Aircraft construction is a precise field and therefore some technology is needed. The country will also need to have infrastructure in place and be fairly industrial. A place like Mexico may be a very smart move for Airbus, as it is fairly advanced but also will benefit Airbus by allowing them to pay workers lower wages.

German-US Free Trade Zone?

Currently, Germany has Europe's largest economy. It is also the second most populated nation on the continent. Today Germany's economy is based mainly on technology. Although it is the largest economy in Europe and the fifth largest in the world, over the past couple years it has been the slowest growing economy in the euro zone with just 2.2% growth in 2006. Detailed German economic information can be found here. German chancellor Angela Merkel hopes to stimulate Germany's economy be implementing a German-US free trade zone. "Our economic systems are based on the same values," said Ms Merkel commenting on how similar Germany is economically to the US. Merkel says that implementing her strategy will not be as difficult as it may seem as Germany has learned many of the intricacies of the US economic system. Tariffs or custom duties are not part of this plan, and therefore it has been predicted that this program will be able to cut trading costs on both sides by 60%.

This program has met some stiff opposition as of late. European Commission ambassador to the US John Bruton recently said that a free trade zone would be unsuccessful. He stressed that there was already a large amount of free trade occurring between EU countries and the US. This obviously does not apply to agriculture, an area that is highly controlled and normally tariffed between countries. Bruton did concede that this is a good step forward and that progress is being made between the two economic leaders. Hopefully both sides will eventually be able to reach an agreement to help eliminate some of the costs that go along with strict trade regulation.

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