Why do we work harder than Germans?

[AmPat]

I would suggest that if Bridget thinks it's zoo peachy keen over here she move here and work on the German economy for a year or so and see how it really is.

She and the rest of the leftists would be loving every minute of it. The taxes are back breaking, a leftist utopia.

[Adam Wood]

Yeah, but I would think Germans still have a bigger say than we do, not that workers should be allowed to take a company away from somebody who built it from the ground up.

Only in the very large companies, and that is pretty arguable. Most really big companies in the US have plans that involve partial employee ownership in the company in one fashion or another already. So we're pretty much equal in that regard, except that instead of legislating how those employees have a stake in the company itself, we have the benefit of letting the market figure that out for itself. IMO, the best method of employee involvement in a company is a profit-sharing plan. What better way to incite employees to work efficiently is there than telling them that they make more money when the company does well?

[Rockntractor]

I'm half German, quarter English and quarter Swede.
Half of me wants to work all the time, my right arm constantly wants to stop for tea and my right leg wants to chase woman.

[Teetop]

What happened to Wee Weasely Wanker?

Oh, it got owned and off licking its wounds.....

:D

[Odysseus]

Well, why can't we learn from them? Is that somehow unAmerican?

We should learn from everyone, but not every example is a good one. Germany's workers are less productive and more expensive than US workers. The lesson to take away is that we don't want German-style management in American businesses.

Yeah, but I would think Germans still have a bigger say than we do, not that workers should be allowed to take a company away from somebody who built it from the ground up.

But Wei wants workers to be able to take companies away from the owners. He's repeatedly demanded worker control of the means of production, as if that means suddenly sprang from the ground without planning, investment and risk on the part of the owners, long before the first worker showed up at the plant. He doesn't understand that wealth is created, not that it simply exists for the taking. When he talks about some mythical third way between free market capitalism and socialism, he's simply trying to find ways to impose socialism incrementally.

[AmPat]

Only in the very large companies, and that is pretty arguable. Most really big companies in the US have plans that involve partial employee ownership in the company in one fashion or another already. So we're pretty much equal in that regard, except that instead of legislating how those employees have a stake in the company itself, we have the benefit of letting the market figure that out for itself. IMO, the best method of employee involvement in a company is a profit-sharing plan. What better way to incite employees to work efficiently is there than telling them that they make more money when the company does well?

I know of no law whereby the workers of any publicly traded company prohibits workers from buying stock in that company. Liberals tend to forget that. Workers want a share? Buy stock.

[Adam Wood]

I know of no law whereby the workers of any publicly traded company prohibits workers from buying stock in that company. Liberals tend to forget that. Workers want a share? Buy stock.

Oh, certainly there's no law against purchasing company stock (outside of insider-trading laws, which apparently don't apply to Congress :mad:). My point was that many/most large companies offer compensation deals that include a discounted purchase of company stock, among other tools to give employees "ownership" in the company. Ergo, Wee Wee's point is utterly moot.

[AmPat]

Oh, certainly there's no law against purchasing company stock (outside of insider-trading laws, which apparently don't apply to Congress :mad:). My point was that many/most large companies offer compensation deals that include a discounted purchase of company stock, among other tools to give employees "ownership" in the company. Ergo, Wee Wee's point is utterly moot.

My post was in support of yours. I get tired of that stupid leftist crap about workers over management nonsense. If the workers want more say in the company, there are ways to do it.
*They can walk out the door that they walked in and find another employer willing to put up with their idiocy.
*They can buy stock and attend shareholder meetings.
*They can start their own company and listen to the nonsense of their employees if they so choose.

[Apache]

Well, why can't we learn from them? Is that somehow unAmerican?

We have, that's why we don't use the German model for a lot of things...

[DumbAss Tanker]

My experience with Germans is that they have an excellent work ethic and their unions won't stick up for them if they are dishonest lazy shitbags, two huge differences from the American unionized labor force.

A motivated and productive American worker will easily match and outperform a productive German, based on German work rules and entitlements alone (A list of holidays that make our banks and US Federal employees look oppressed, a summer vacation that lasts a month, and 'Health leave' to go take the air cure in the mountains or some other recuperative spa for a few weeks every so often). However, far too many American workers just don't have that work ethic thing going for them, and the unions reflect the attitudes of their membership.