I hear that it's really hard to get good sushi in Redfern, too, or a really first-rate plate of buffalo wings in Vladivostok.

So what?

Germany still makes and exports vehicles! In fact, it is one of the few European economies still in reasonable/comparative health; arguably because it chose to stay a manufacturing economy that survived through quite massive R+D and or, world leading innovation.
The most striking difference seems to be Germany has embraced or doesn't mindlessly fear social democracy. America has not, confusing it and indeed, Buddhism with communism.
The home of the dollar and modern "FREE ENTERPRISE" is the author of its own economic demise!
The gap between the haves and have nots is arguably the widest in the western world, with the lowest basic wage. Conversely, with around one percent of the very wealthy owning/controlling between them, around 40% of America's wealth.
Take a trip down through the central west and look at the rust belt; that once was the manufacturing heartland/powerhouse of the western world; and responsible for the once richest nation in the world!
If everything is not well with America, then America has to look to itself, and tea party politics/extreme capitalism/greedy indiviualism, that refuses to back universal health care, in favour of the status quo, which at 13% of the GDP, is the most expensive health care system in the world? Yet leaves around 40% of the lower socio-economic sector uncovered and or entirely dependant on welfare health care.
Americans need to look up from their navels, and compare themselves with other modern democracies.
Like Scandinavia, which is governed through universal suffrage; the basis of democracy, which boasts the highest happiness index in the western world; or, the best education and or universal health systems? If Americans want change, then they have to vote for it, and, unshackle a President, patently handcuffed by a hostile congress! Rhrosty.

I agree with everything you say Rhrosty but what I don't understand is why Australia still defers to the 'has been' on so many fronts. Why don't we as a nation - politically, economically and culturally look to the more progressive and the more sustainable societies on the planet - Germany and Scandinavia. I appreciate we have contracted allegiances - ANZUS etc but why? The only 'advantage' is that we get pulled into yet another US instigated conflict. But whose advantage is it - the US, no because they keep losing; the target, no because they have the stuffing knocked out of them, Australia, no when one looks at Afghanistan as an example - I really don't understand. Why does China have to be Australias enemy just because America wants to pick a fight with them. If it is Human Rights issues well the US needs to have a really objective look at itself. It is a strange situation when China has the potential to be Australias best opportunity to take our exports especially of food and minerals which in turn provides great employment and development opportunities here. But no, we have to blindly follow the US and put up unnecessary barriers and we lose out again.

ZandR: I'm not sure we should follow blindly wherever the USA goes, Certainly not if she seeks any unlikely conflict with China. When arguably the real threat to our future freedoms lies further east?
We owe a huge blood debt to America, which saved our bacon and all the freedoms we enjoy today, with a huge blood sacrifice in the battle of the coral sea, a turning point in the battle of the pacific.
Recent arrivals might not see that sacrifice and what it purchased? As for our future trade links with an aging China, I believe our best interests would be served, if we transferred some of that interdependence to a Growing India, which has a larger middle class than the USA.
We confront a world where populist policies will likely decide the immediate future, and the very real possibility of another Great Depression, which will affect trade exposed economies like ours; more than most? Rhrosty.

The US economy isn't based on or dependant upon the manufacture or sale of consumer goods.

The US economy's great strength is that is is based on the development, production and manufacture of the means of manufacture, production and making money.

That's it's greatest diversity.

It is underlined by an extraordinary education system and a democratic system that encourages it's individual's to desire to seek health, wealth and happiness.

Rhrosty,

Aah, Germany, the new poster boy for "progressives." A high wage economy, a welfare state and "viable" manufacturing.

Really?

In the 1990s I posed the following question.

"What happens when you blend the (German) DMark with the (French) Franc and the (Italian) Lire?

The answer I gave to my own question:

A hypercompetitive Germany, an Italian basket case and France somewhere in the middle.

It all took longer to unravel than I thought but then again I forgot the old adage "markets can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent" and sorting out East Germany also took longer than I expected.

But now it has unravelled. The Germans have been completely hypocritical. They have benefited from an under-valued currency but are now unwilling to contribute to the recovery of their fellow EZ members.

And, in any case, German industry is not all that it seems.
See for example:

The High Cost of Germany's Economic Success

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/german-labor-reforms-create-greater-gap-between-rich-and-poor-a-830972.html

>>What a year it's been for carmaker Audi and its employees, a year marked by the biggest profits in company history, a bonus in the millions for its chairman and handsome bonuses for many employees -- though little to nothing for those at the very bottom of the pay scale.

Technically speaking, Nadja Klöden isn't even at the very bottom of the hierarchy at Audi, which is based in Ingolstadt, near Munich. She's on the sidelines, yet also in the thick of things. The 28-year-old, who studied business management, works as a project assistant in administration. But her employer is BFFT, a service provider that organizes parts distribution among the Volkwagen Group's subsidiaries, which include Audi. That's why Klöden earns €800 ($1050) less than comparable Audi employees for the same 40-hour work week. In other words, although she contributes to the success of the company, she doesn't directly benefit from it. She receives neither an Audi-level salary nor any bonus whatsoever.>>

The German labour force is undergoing the same "casualisation" as in Australia.

Lefties need to stop looking for "sustainable" European utopias. They don't exist