Continuation of German Drift Appears a Foregone Conclusion

From The Wall Street Journal (link requires subscription):

Schroeder Wins…

Remember Gerhard Schröder’s strangely jubilant posturing after Germany’s Sept. 18 elections, claiming victory even though his Social Democrats came in second? Turns out, the departing Chancellor wasn’t suffering from temporal delusion after all — he did really win.

Mr. Schröder didn’t even need a recount or to stuff the ballots to make his claim come true. All he needed was a designated new Chancellor, the Christian Democrats’ Angela Merkel, who was ready to pay a heavy price to become his successor.

And so she did. Last Friday, the Christian and Social Democrats agreed to a coalition treaty — a detailed and binding wedding contract that will guide this government throughout its term in office. On economics, the treaty offers up a policy mix of Keynesian pump-priming, tax hikes, obsessive budget balancing and old-style state planning that is more “red,” in hue and substance, than even the previous red-green government.

Rather than just a coalition of the lowest common denominator, the next German government in fact looks destined to be even lower. It manages to combine the worst ideas from both parties.

….. If all parties approve the coalition treaty at conferences in the coming days, Ms. Merkel is destined to make history on Nov. 22 by becoming the country’s first female chancellor. If she doesn’t manage to inject more of her original free-market ideas into the coalition, that might be all she will be remembered for.

Read the rest and weep, if you subscribe. As has been stated many, many, many, many times, the Germans are in a very serious financial box and simply can’t afford to dither as they are.

Perhaps the Germans should convince retired Motorcycle Hall of Famer Fred Merkel to take a stab at running things.