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Yankee go home? Ok, we will

20 comments on Yankee go home? Ok, we will

Yankee go home? Ok, we will

: I was hoping the David’s Medienkritik would translate this irony-rich piece from Die Zeit; my German isn’t good enough to catch the nuance: Namely, Zeit notes the humor of Germans suddenly whining about our troops leaving.

Ach, look, how the Americans have again suddenly become so dear and precious to the Germans when it hits them in the wallet. The announced withdrawal of large numbers of US troops stationed in Germany has unleashed consternation at the threatening loss of jobs and accusations that the Americans want to get themselves out of their

20 responses to “Yankee go home? Ok, we will”

  1. hugh macleod Avatar
    hugh macleod

    Yep. Wanting to have their cake and eat it. A very European phenom.
    “I know! Let’s have insanely high taxes, an insanely huge welfare state and then preach about enterprise culture to everybody!”
    I could go on, but thankfully I won’t.

  2. Eliza Dashwood Avatar
    Eliza Dashwood

    Read more on this subject at my blog novel.

  3. Keith Avatar
    Keith

    USA go to Hell, just don’t leave Germany to get there.
    This is all so beyond amazing.

  4. Robert McClelland Avatar
    Robert McClelland

    The Germans are not whining about US troops being pulled out of their country. Stop believing every piece of nonsensical propaganda you read just because it fits in with your preconceived notions.
    This reminds me of the Conan O’Brian brouhaha not too long ago. If you don’t remember that, I’ll refresh your memory. Conan came to Toronto to do his show for a week. While here, he had the insult comic dog do a skit that insulted Quebecors. This was jumped on by a few far too PC politicians who made a stink about it. In turn, the press jumped on the story in order to make it out to be more than it was. The headlines and common belief suddenly became that all Canadians were furious over this. The reality however, was that nobody outside of those few politicians even cared.
    The same is happening with this story and you rubes are lapping it up. The reality is that only a few local politicians and shop keepers will care because of the lost revenue while the rest of the population won’t give a crap one way or the other. The money lost money won’t mean diddly to the German economy either, except in a very localized and isolated way. So get over yourselves and this foolish nonsense about your importance in the world.

  5. Tom (American Voter) Avatar
    Tom (American Voter)

    “The money lost money won’t mean diddly to the German economy either, except in a very localized and isolated way.”
    I’m not so sure. If we assume 50,000 direct jobs are going to be lost, that means a total of 250,000 direct and indirect jobs might be lost. That could mean as much as a %1 rise in the German unemployment rate. While not traumatic, it’s not trivial either.

  6. Andrea Harris Avatar
    Andrea Harris

    Well, Tom, that’s too bad, but it’s not really our responsibility to keep US troops in Germany simply to provide the natives with customers and jobs.

  7. Andreas Avatar
    Andreas

    Robert is right. Making it sound like this is actually headline news in Germany is somewhat overstating the issue. There will be local hardship and there is hypocrisy but it is indeed very localised.
    And Hugh, not meaning to sound grumpy, but that welfare state you’re complaining about is making it possible for you as an American to walk into any doctor’s office or hospital in the UK or Europe without having to worry about paying any bills. Useful, isn’t it?

  8. Brian H Avatar
    Brian H

    HAR – DEE – BLOODY – HAR – HAR.
    Robert is a maroon. Andreas is his disciple.

  9. Ralf Goergens Avatar
    Ralf Goergens

    Well Brian, this indeed is merely a local issue and not great headlines around here. For perspective: In the 90s 230.000 troops were withdrawn, five times as much as now.

  10. Walter Wallis Avatar
    Walter Wallis

    I am sure that someone in our State Department can come up with a compromise – keep all the germans on the payroll even though they have no job to go to.

  11. Andrea Harris Avatar
    Andrea Harris

    Andreas, that’s real nice, but I live in Florida, so it’s kind of hard for me to walk into a doctor’s office in the “UK or Europe.” And I haven’t heard about droves of Americans spending money on plane tickets to go to Europe for free health care.

  12. Ptolemy Avatar
    Ptolemy

    But at least we can let go of the last lie of our relationship to Germany. One of mutual need of one another. Now, when the immigrants in West Germany and the the neo-nazis in East Germany eat away at your dying state like cancer we can watch from a safe distance.

  13. Andreas Avatar
    Andreas

    Andrea: Hugh lives in the UK. My comment was commenting on his. It also wasn’t in any way meant to be vindictive, but said with a smile.
    Sorry if that wasn’t clear.
    Brian: I AM currently in Germany on business. I read the local papers. I listen to German radio and watch German TV. It gives me a pretty good idea what’s going on here. Where are you, pray tell me?

  14. Eliza Dashwood Avatar
    Eliza Dashwood

    Also, very few people in the Zeit comments thread seem to agree that all of Germany is up in arms over this. It seems to be one or two hotheads.

  15. Andrea Harris Avatar
    Andrea Harris

    Uh — Andreas, did you actually read my comment? I told you where I was.

  16. Andreas Avatar
    Andreas

    Andrea, did you actually read MY comment?
    It wasn’t directed at you, it was an off the cuff and personal remark directed only towards Hugh, who I happen to know in person. A friendly jibe, if you will. Hugh’s an American living in the UK, thus he gets free NHS treatment while he’s over here. He’s also terribly clever and a nice guy and none of the above was in any way meant to be nasty, mean or derogatory.
    I wasn’t talking to any other Americans in general and not to you in particular, wherever you might live. Sorry if that didn’t come through.

  17. Andrea Harris Avatar
    Andrea Harris

    You’re right, Andreas, I missed that you directed your last comment to Brian.
    I would be interested in Hugh’s take on the quality of NHS service. I’ve read other people (who live in the UK/Europe) complain that it is far below the standards of for-pay medical care. Of course, “for free” isn’t really — the costs for that “free” medical care come from taxes just like any other government service. Perhaps I should call “for pay” medical care “direct pay.”

  18. Catherine Avatar
    Catherine

    Robert, you are so reflexively anti-American, I wonder if you just get exhausted by all that anger. You are always SO angry. Nobody said it was a huge story, or ALL Germans felt this way
    Ugh, if I had a nickel for every BS remark about “free” healthcare I would be rich. It is as though it was some miracle rather pre-paid healthcare that can be a nightmare (as some of my Euro friends see it) that makes you wait months for hip replacements and has guidlines (once every 5 year gyno check up; once every 5 years you can try invitro, etc.) that are absurd…
    http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2001977834_cihak13.html

  19. Kim Avatar
    Kim

    In a mere 18 day Kerry has said two different things. Can someone explain to me what signal Kerry is sending. Is it too much to ask for some consistency?
    Asked whether he would promise to have US troops home from Iraq by the end of his first term, Kerry replied: ”I will have significant, enormous reduction in the level of troops. We will probably have a continued presence of some kind, and certainly in the region. If the diplomacy that I believe can be put in place can work, I think we can significantly change the deployment of troops, not just there but elsewhere in the world — in the Korean Peninsula perhaps, in Europe perhaps.”
    http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/08/02/kerry_edwards_defend_their_agenda/

  20. kkl Avatar
    kkl

    With respect to Korea, I beleive we are reducing the #s in Seoul, not the #s at the DMZ. Regardless, didn’t the Korean Pres/PM (can’t remember which it is) campaign on an anti-American platform? Last time I checked, South Korea could actually increase their own troop strength if they wanted to.
    With respect to health care, I lived in Spain (moved back home last summer) and the prescription meds were a lot cheaper. Had to take my daughter to a local ER for a broken arm. The place was overflowing and I seriously thought we’d have to wait 7-8 hours. Because I had private insurance, we went right in and I was back home 45 minutes later. My ins company’s cost? $180.00. Hell, I would have paid that even if I had govt sponsored health insurance just to avoid the wait.
    I think the standard of care is just different in Europe. We wouldn’t expect our dr in the US to smoke in his/her office in front of you. They do there. But, having worked in the health care field, 90% of things don’t kill you; 10% will. If you are in an industrialized country, that statistic doesn’t change.
    But, and there is a big but. My Spanish teacher was floored when I told her that gas prices were double in Spain than what I paid in the US. I had to explain that gas basically costs what it does, the large difference in price is the essentially the amount of tax a government adds to it.