• poVoqA
    link
    21 year ago

    The price increases will hit corporate profits across Europe by 1-1.5%

    Shrug

    Fears the crisis could lead to de-industrialisation and a loss of competitiveness against the United States were overdone, because labour costs and exchange rates have a bigger impact on manufacturing than energy prices, the study said.

    Kinda confirms what I have been saying, no?

    • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆OP
      link
      fedilink
      01 year ago

      It’s not like Germany has a competitive advantage in terms of labour costs either though, nor is there any benefit in terms of exchange rate. Net costs of doing manufacturing in Germany are higher.

      And given that capitalism is a system of competition this creates a selection pressure for companies to cut costs. If a company is doing manufacturing in Germany while their competitors are doing manufacturing in the US, then their competitors end up making more profit. As we all know investors and shareholders demand that companies maximize profit above all else, and would push the company to do what their competitors are doing.

      If Germany chose to nationalize industry and operate it at reduced profit then it could certainly do that. However, I hardly see it happening under the capitalist system which Germany embraces.