Malaise

Both the NYT and the IHT report that Germany is experiencing a ‘malaise,’ a downturn in spirit, a sort of “I had a hell of a bad ride” mood. It has something to do with not being number 1 in everything, and having persistently large unemployment rates.

I’m guessing that it also has to do with the fact that Poland will soon be part of the EU, which eventually will mean greater portability of investments across the eastern German border, straight to Poland, where labor costs right now are one sixth of what they are in Germany.

But what's further interesting is the whole concept of a country’s mood. Was there a survey? Were people asked? Were facial expressions examined? Or does one just KNOW, in the same way that you can tell if your class is feeling hateful, or when your neighbors all seem to be conspiratorially hatching plans to do you in, or your far off friends are morose, or your own dog is in a funk. One can just sense moods. I suppose that the NYT reporter went out for a stroll in Germany, sniffed the air, and came back with these conclusive results.

I wonder what they’d say about Poland. I never thought that Poland ever had a mood, it has 38 million moods, all of them fluctuating wildly around a feeling of fatalism and doom.