There's an acute public awareness that while there's been a lot of wage restraint, profits have grown.
The immediate driver is that investment activity is picking up. The global economy remains very robust, and after a long and dreadful period, there are hopes that German consumption will strengthen.
Such a government would have a huge majority in the lower house and should face few difficulties getting the upper house on side, but such a government would be likely to be racked by divisions and would probably find making policy decisions difficult.
The law has been liberalized, but there's still a law.
Industrial production will strongly contribute to growth in the fourth quarter. Order backlogs have been rising in Germany. There's more than sufficient evidence that one should reduce the amount of accommodation in monetary policy.
It is absolutely true that nothing much has been done.
The higher the job protection, the higher the obstacles to job creation.
The orders situation in the German manufacturing sector is excellent. It strengthens the European Central Bank's resolve to tighten interest rates and gradually normalize them.
The acceleration of the past several months has been quite stunning, so it's not surprising to get a bit of a pause. After an unusually warm December, January was unusually cold and snowy. That may have affected production.
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