People believe what they want to believe

Don’t kid yourself, nobody’s gloating over the recent ‘Non’ to the European Union constitution (although it was kind of funny to watch Chirac squirm)--the U.S. and Europe are as tied together as the rest of the world, most people feel there is an undeniable need in Germany (and France...well, the need exists in France--they just don't feel it) to pare down the social welfare system and make the labor laws more flexible...as Tony Blair (who becomes EU President on July 1st, they rotate...sort of like Volleyball) delicately put it this week, after admonishing the Continent with a Time Out. According to the L.A. Times, "In Britain, people hate the EU because it's too socialist; in France because it's too capitalist. In Eastern Europe, they're upset that the EU isn't doing more to facilitate labor mobility; in Western Europe they think it's already done too much." It all boils down to scapegoats, and around here it’s the Euro...or the ‘Teuro’ as some call it, teuer (toy+uh) means expensive in German. Ask almost any native, and they will swear on whatever you offer that the price of absolutely everything doubled with the demise of the Deutschmark (perhaps they were just getting confused with the conversion rate of 1.95583). Hard to get a handle on for a foreigner who wasn’t around at the time, but also pretty hard to believe.

Turns out the local newspaper ‘tz’ (short for die Tageszeitung, or ‘the daily newspaper’) has undertaken a scientific study. It mostly revolves around the cost of pancake soup, liver loaf with potato salad, rye beer goulash, and Schweinsbraten in dark beer sauce (what, no Saures Lüngerl?...minced, pickled calves’ lungs). Bottom line is, a comparison of menus showed that prices had barely risen at all, and in some cases had gone down (supposedly due to cheaper suppliers)...and all this before adjusting for inflation. Market analysts admit that perceived inflation is much higher than the actuality (see for yourself), while asserting that only schwarze Schafe (black sheep) drastically raised their prices...and that guests voted with their feet, and no longer patronized such establishments (some bankruptcies were the result at the time).