Hmm, well, I guess he likes to be different ;-)
Just too crowded for people to listen, understand one another or be creative in their thinking. I prefer to be the border collie, perhaps even the black or stray sheep. Get to see much more of the beautiful landscape and surroundings.
Sorry if I wander off again ...
«« click on pic for photo gallery
But Page you were right, the answer lies in WMD's - thanks.
"Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason."
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
-in the netherlands we have mortrage reduction on the taxes. This means that you can subtract the amount of money you pay on your mortgage from the taxes. This was devised to help people buy houses, but it's much more profitable for the rich than for the middle class (it works regressive).
The bubble itself isn't that big a deal here- the rise of prices has flattened, but because new supply is isn't coming to the market(not enough space, very tough to get permits to build) and more and more people want one-family homes, prices for middle-class houses will probably stay high (unless something happens with the mortrage reduction, then prices will drop).
I'm actually not sure the recession in the Netherlands had to do with housing- because the Dutch economy is so open and dependant on world trade, we got pulled into recession by other countries. But it might've played a role.
-Governments have been trying to get people out of the benefits and into work since Purple-II. Benefits have been significantly reduced and it's harder to stay into WAO. The big problem is of course that when they stay unemployed/disabled, the state has to pay benefits and senior's pension while they don't contribute. This has been an issue, and they're working on it- though not in the right way IMO(instead of just cutting benefits they should also help the people more to get work/retrain etc.)
-Actually, in the early 80's, unions traded the 36 hour work week for low demands in wage negotiations. This created a situation where young workers could find new jobs, older workers had to work less and employers had a lower wage bill. This was one of the big reasons why the dutch economy rebounded in the 1990s (the competative price advantague due to lower comparative wages). Woman often work part-time due to their kids- they want to be more at home and kindergartens etc. are so expensive that they nowadays can't afford it. For every labouryear in the netherlands, 1.25 people are employed. So labour participation is pretty high, but the hours worked isn't. People on WAO also work part-time, they are often partially disapproved, so have to work part-time and get for example 40% wao (not many people get 100% anymore).
One thing many people don't realise about the sizable German outside-EU trade surplus (at 30-35%, larger than the c. 25% with the rest of the EU) is that Germany imports a lot via the Netherlands (and Belgium) - and has a bilateral trade deficit. *Traitor*, n. A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
they did preside over a huge economic boom, and they didn't destroy it.
Well, the jury is still out whether a government can actually destroy an economic boom, but surely Purple II behaved short sighted: the money that was boosted into job-creation came from the surplus of money generated by the economy, and was therefore unsustainable. When the markets started collapsing, the Netherlands suffered a double whammy, since the funds upholding these jobs dried up as well and this resulted in extra job losses.
Under Balkenende II, Zalm's Bust-and-Boom policy actually exacerbated matters further. Only now, as we enter Zalm's Boom period, we see economy starting to pick up, but marginally. The Economic Council clearly condemned both the Purple II money throwing as Zalm's counter-productive saving spree. I just barely understand Economics 101, but even I understood this. It's simple book-keeping: Purple II was spending money on projects that wasn't coming from a self-sustaining source. I'd label that with "Beware!"
And well, we can discuss long and wide about Iraq. Let's just say I'm glad they have been pulled out before the scandals really starting to break about the US and Bristish army. But why Balkenende et al. still isn't renouncing the US government just beats me...
Anyway. Another well detailed diary.
Nevertheless, great diaries and good insight into Dutch politics - appreciated!
ELECTION SUMMARY ::
Year 1998 2002 2003 PvdA 45 23 42 VVD 38 24 28 CDA 29 43 44
Coalition talks started in February 2003 between Election winner CDA Jan Peter Balkenende and new Labor leader Wouter Bos who made a great recovery for PvdA with 42 seats in parliament. On the agenda was the likelihood of an Iraq War and whether the Dutch should be part of the U.S. and U.K. coalition. As the present administration was not permitted to force a decision due to their post election status, Jan Peter Balkenende needed to have the 2nd largest party PvdA support for Iraq action.
Wouter Bos flip-flop
Read on »»
My diary @dKos :: Dutch Aid to Iraq leads to Fatwa by Ali Sistani Sun Dec 12, 2004 at 12:30 PM PDT
But it was understandable- the war started in the middle of coalition negotiations that would've ended directly if Labour had opposed the war. This was the reason they supported it, they didn't like the war or thought there'd be WMD. This is another reason why many left-wing voters currently reside with the smaller left-wing parties in the polls.
Bos also didn't really want to govern- he wanted time to 'purge' the party of 'bad' member before he wanted to enter government. But then he scored a homerun on election eve. So not entering government might've been the best for Labour (though not for the country)
For the story from his side, as stated on March 19th 2003, see here (in Dutch).
Mr. van der Stoel has done excellent reporting on Human Rights abuse during Greece dictatorship Colonel's Regime and Saddam Hussein's Stalin dictatorship during the nineties. His UN report is exceptional and of influence to consider Dutch participation in the Coalition of the Willing. The Kurd massacre played a role as well. The PvdA was divided after meeting with Max vd Stoel to formulate policy during coalition talks in March 2003.
● OSCE - Max van der Stoel Award 2005 ● Max van der Stoel Raad van State -dutch- ● RISQ - Iraq & International Social Questions
The government stance at the time wasn't very firm either: "moral but not military support". Which was also a consequence of the new government negotiations going on at the time.
Unfortunately, multiple people gave multiple explanations for it, etc.
