Let a little schadenfreude perk you up.

last updated 8 January 2015

Germany

Editorial

There’s an easy new way for gloomy Germans to feel better, said Berlin’s Der Tagesspiegel in an editorial. Compare yourselves to the French. Sure, the German economy is in the dumps, and our national mood is sour. But the French are even worse off! Not only is their economy more “sclerotic” than ours, but they are constitutionally incapable of fixing it. Their “communist-minded workforce” goes on strike to block every attempt at reform. And in foreign affairs these days, France is the biggest loser in Europe. The U.S. is much angrier at France than at Germany for opposition to the Iraq war—remember Condi Rice’s dictum to “ignore Germany” and “forgive Russia” but “punish France.” Europe isn’t feeling much friendlier because the French will go down in history “as the ones who dug the European Union’s grave” by refusing to ratify the E.U. constitution. As one German philosopher used to say, “the problem with Germans is their penchant for self-pity.” These days, we can save our pity for our pathetic neighbors.