I don't know if boycotts work, but seeing as how people have claimed that part of the reason Germany is doing this to Greece is to prop up the Euro for their exports, this seems like a good way to at least make a statement.
I doubt there's that much solidarity in the EU, even against Germany.
That said, Germany exported its unemployment by creating unreasonably low wages. A weak Euro is in Germany's best interest. Exports drive our GDP. Of course your average German is actually dealing with nominal (inflationary) growth and stagnating wages, which is not exactly helping anyone (except, surprise, Big business). As fas as I'm concerned, weakening Germany's exports would be a good thing for most Germans. It'd force the adoption of policies which strengthen internal demand (aka getting money into actual people's hands).
I'm in France, and the idea of boycotting German products is actually quite strong - and not just in Paris, I'm out in the sticks, and I've noticed supermarkets deep discounting German products because no-one's buying. That said, France is very nationalistic about its purchasing at the best of times, so it's hard to tell how much of that is due to Greece.
I'd be quite happy to show solidarity with Greece by boycotting German products, if only it wasn't time for me to buy a car... :/
In my humble opinion, the most patriotic thing you can do is buy a Renault and then gripe about it for the entirety of your ownership.I'd be quite happy to show solidarity with Greece by boycotting German products, if only it wasn't time for me to buy a car... :/
This made me snort coffee out of my nose. In a good way (although my dog is now looking at me like I'm drunk/a toddler). The other option would maybe be to get a Greek donkey? Hmm, so many choices.
I think it'd be more likely that the people in charge of Germany's economic policies would just ride the storm. The hub bub about a boycott would probably die down relatively quickly, then it'd be back to business as usual.As fas as I'm concerned, weakening Germany's exports would be a good thing for most Germans. It'd force the adoption of policies which strengthen internal demand (aka getting money into actual people's hands).
Oh, absolutely. I wasn't really talking about the effects of a boycott. That won't even show up in the grand bottom-line. People are happily going to boycott German products, except those which matter. Cars, industrial machinery and components, tanks, submarines and so on. You just don't let silly anger about policy issues influence decisions about investments which matter. But if the "weak" countries got out of the monetary union, German policy makers might be forced to calculate policy decisions with a Euro (or Deutsche Mark) which actually reflects the country's economic strength in mind. Then again, I doubt Germany would be actually viable as a economic powerhouse without the dirty monetary tricks. We aren't exactly swimming in resources and based on the shockingly high approval rates Merkel and Schäuble are enjoying, I'm not so sure about the general intelligence of the population, either. P.s: Make no mistake, though. Left leaning Germans and critical thinkers all over the country are just as pissed at our glorious leaders as everyone else. Pissed, and quite unable to do much about it.
I think with a concerted, organized effort at boycotting, this wouldn't be the case. But I'm not quite sure a hashtag trend is enough to really start a movement...I'm very skeptical. Unless someone mounts a proper campaign of boycotting against German big business, there's no way this would even remotely be successful.