11-10-2009, 05:12 AM
Gutenberg wrote:
My father wasn't all that keen about it either. His father had fought the Germans, and he fought the Germans, and his son had driven a tank all over the West German countryside, and Dad was quite dubious about the prospect of a strong and unified Germany. I can't begrudge him his misgivings even though things have turned out well so far.
Things haven't turned out all that great, actually. The German economy took a giant hit, trying to absorb all the suddenly unemployed Easterners, along with all the huge environmental problems that were festering in the East. It was more like trying to merge two distinct nations, one broke and backwards, rather that unifying one.
Not that the fall of The Wall was a bad thing, at least not in the very long run. But unification is far from complete.