Upset over the loss of 2,300 jobs in Germany, 15,000 local residents have staged a street demonstration over Nokia's plans to shut down a factory and move production to budget-wise Romania. A boycott is possible, and government leaders claim Finnish-based Nokia should now give back the considerable amount of subsidy money it's gotten from Germany.It is quite easy to identify why a manufacturer would choose Romania over Germany. All of those laws that "protect workers" like generous pensions, restrictive laws against firing employees, and short work weeks do quite the opposite - they put workers at risk of not having any jobs at all.
Additionally, the burdensome regulation in the EU - Germany especially - make doing business in the country at all a trying endevour.
The Germans should be outraged - at their politicians, who should know that all of these regulations impose a very real cost, yet decided to do it anyway. And this is only the seen cost - there are countless unseen costs, inventions not created, business not begun, innovations not realized - all because the politicians were more interested in pandering than governing.
The only bright spot in all of this is that globalization and the liberalization of the Soviet bloc, make true competition between nations possible. The Germans are paying the price for poor decisions, lets hope that this new world of governmental competition brings about true liberalization and better government instead of further protectionism that will only harm the German worker more.
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