Larvatus Prodeo

As the Germans struggled with GM and the USA to save Opel with, it seems, a successful deal with Canadian car parts maker Magna International done at the death, another tragedy has beset the German economy – the world’s largest beer mat maker with a 75% global share is going bust.

The reason seems to be industry consolidation, cutbacks in advertising because of the GFC and people more inclined to cry into their beer at home rather than enjoy their beer in company down at the local.

Still the US operation is unaffected according to this article whence the image comes.

These events led me to reflect on certain fragilities in the German economy evident on our trip to Europe last year. I guess we saw what most tourists see, but much that we saw seemed to depend distinctly on discretionary expenditure. With the GFC I wondered how well some of the enterprises we saw were doing now.

This post is not so much an analysis of the German economy; rather an excuse to post a few photos from the trip. By way of explanation, four siblings from my family plus partners enjoyed a riverboat cruise down the Rhine, with side trips, following which some of us spent some time in Germany, not all in the same places.

Continue reading ‘Snapshots of certain fragilities in the German economy’