True, but if the Bundesrepublik had had even a half-assed industrial policy for the East, the salaries would have recovered in short order.

The fortunes would not, of course. My heart bleeds for them.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

As it was, the BuBa retaliated against Kohl by being extra hawkish, which was a contributing factor to the 1992 crisis which ejected the Pound and the Lira (and nearly the Franc) from the ERM.

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker