Berlin
More than 100,000 people surged through the streets of Berlin this week to protest planned cutbacks in social benefits. Unemployment is hovering above 10 percent in Germany, and the economy is in severe recession. Chancellor Gerhard Schröder says the government cannot afford to keep shelling out the generous pension, health-care, and unemployment benefits that have been the hallmark of Germany’s welfare state for decades. Demonstrators said that instead of cutting benefits to the poor, Schröder should raise taxes on the rich—particularly the inheritance tax.
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