Time To Move To Germany Apparently

Of course, it does help that the Germans only have to spend less than 2 percent of their GDP on defense since you and I pay for most of it:

Germany's Growth: New Rules, Old Companies - BusinessWeek: "Labor reform played an important role. In the early 1990s multinationals such as Siemens (SI) and Volkswagen coped with a global slump by brokering deals with unions that allowed them to opt out of collective wage agreements. In 1994 companies got out from under rules that limited temp workers' tenure to just six months, after which they had to become permanent workers with full benefits. Such deals, combined with the introduction of the euro in 1999, produced short-term costs for Germany but long-term benefits, allowing companies more flexibility in hiring.

It was a start. Germany still had a long way to go. By 2003, Chancellor Schroeder—known as the 'Basta Chancellor' for his uncompromising ways—had had enough. The economy was in another recession, unemployment was high, and the social welfare system was underfunded and close to collapse. Schröder, leader of a left-leaning coalition of the Social Democrats and the Green Party, threatened the trade unions: If they didn't voluntarily agree to new wage and hiring rules, he would make them into laws. This allowed companies to break onerous wage agreements. For their part, German labor unions gave up wage increases in return for job security."

But it's pretty ugly when the American President would now consider Schroeder to be a knuckle-dragging conservative. That's all you need to know right there...