On 23/09/2014 16:40, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-990903.html


"When Fratzscher, the head of the German Institute for Economic
Research, gives a talk these days, he likes to pose a question to his
audience: "Which country is this?" He then describes a place that has
seen less growth than the average among euro-zone countries since the
turn of the millenium, where productivity has only increased slightly
and where two out of three employees earn less today than they did in 2000.

Fratzscher usually doesn't have to wait long before people begin raising
their hands. "Portugal," one person offers; "Italy," says another;
"France," exclaims a third. The economist allows his audience to
continue searching for the right answer, until, with a triumphant smile,
he announces the answer. The country he is looking for, the one with the
weak economic results, is Germany."



And relatively low growth can, of course, be a good thing. And the real
wage figure was distorted (happily, IMO) by a dip in bonuses (and bonus
culture) in 2013.

Not sure who his audience was.
--
Cheers, Rob