From an email from the aforementioned Josh. I think it encapsulates what we went through nicely and hopefully gives you a sense of the fantastic people I travelled with.
Morning Kids,
I had to give a 5 minute talk at the announcement of our 2010 Marshall Fellows last night and it made me miss you guys (and meat and cheese for breakfast). Hope that you are all re-adjusting well. Me, well I'm staying out all night drinking, sleeping through morning meetings, and gathering interesting people and stories to tell my future grandkids. Pretty much only the timezone has changed. La dolce vita as Marco Alessi and I learned in Italy. And BTW, asking "Dove' la disco" and then dancing Travolta style can help you find a club in just about any city around the world. Thanks for the tip Marco.
Also, if you're interested, here's what I told the good (and bad as there were politicians there...) people of Chattanooga:
Good Evening,
Let me first say that I had 36 hours on a train and three planes last Wednesday and Thursday so I apologize if I'm a bit lethargic and leaning on my notes.
I'm humbled to stand before you tonight. Humbled to have received the acknowledgement of my Marshall Fellowship nominator, the support of my co-founder and team leading up to and during the fellowship, the hard work of Eleanor Cooper and all that support the fellowship locally and most of all to have represented Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the United States of America in this one-of-a-kind ambassadorial role for Trans-Atlantic relations.
If I left Chattanooga four weeks ago as a sponge, I stand before you tonight completely saturated with the images of new places and the tastes and smells of new experiences, awash in the stories of new people. It will be many days before I can verbalize the learnings of my experience but I can say that functionally I jumped from Brussels to Lyon to Paris to Tourin to Belgrade to Leipzig to Berlin to Amsterdam over the course of 25 days and returned with over 1,000 pictures and a moleskin full of notes. In short, the Marshall fellowship was one of the most intense, rewarding and transformative experiences of my life.
Before we left for Europe, an American University professor said to my class of fellows, "What you are going to get out of this trip is a more profound knowledge of what it is to be American. The irony is that to find your culture, you have to leave it." I can say that I agree with Dr. Weaver. I return to Chattanooga with a much more keen sense of my European ancestry and my American identity.
As a nation we are constituted of the most risk-taking genetics in the world. For more than 300 years, those who have come to this land, both by the decisions of their own and of others, have been the most adventuresome, creative and innovative the world has to offer. To stare the unknown in the eye and embrace it as opportunity is my understanding of the true American dream. Our society truly is the most recent evolution of the human condition and I'm now more cognizant that we are mirrored, mimiced, loved and loathed around the world. With that position comes great responsibility...
At the close of my trip while participating in the Marshall Forum in Berlin, I became fairly frustrated with heady academic discussions on the future of the European Union, NATO and Trans-Atlantic relations. A new European friend laughed at me and off-handedly said, "we are Europeans, this is what we do, we talk about our problems well and then we wait for the States to take the lead". I don't usually deal in quips or blanket statements but I find this sentiment to be poignant to my message to you tonight.
As a union, we stand at a great precipice. Today, the world again looks to us to be a uniting force, a lifewell of creativity that fuels innovation. Let us recognize that greatness no longer is a federal or a state proposition. It is the work of communities, cities and counties alike, to provide safety and quality of life that leads to prosperity. To close, I share the words of the Marshall Fellowship's namesake [George C. Marshall]: "When a thing is done, it's done. Don't look back. Look forward to your next objective."
My fellowship is now done. The sun hovers low on our world economic crisis. Elections, both near and far, are in the books. Let us leave here with newfound application of global perspective to local issues and let us use this opportunity to redouble our efforts to make this place that we call home the best city in the world.
Thank You.
Regards,
Josh McManus, Co-Founder & Creative Strategist
w: CreateHere.org
t: @joshmcmanus
p: 423.648.2195
f: 423.648.2194
Chattanooga Stand
Stand's mission is to engage community members to express their ideas for the future, organize around common purposes and translate vision into action.
We commit to...
• Be hopeful and helpful in words and actions.
• Be part of and proud of this place we call home.
• Communicate honestly and respectfully.
• Find strength in the diversity of our perspectives.
• Emphasize what is right, rather than what is wrong.
• Be creative in looking for new ways to tackle tough community issues.
30 October 2009
Leipzig is for Lovers
OK, I'm a sucker for the Germans. Maybe it's the flash of Nena's armpit hair on her 99 Luftballoon video or their heavily accented English, but something to me says, 'Ja' whenever I meet a German. Or a German beer.
I spent a summer in the northern German town of Braunschweig while in high school; Braunschweig translates to Brunswick and it's near Hanover. For those of you living in and around Wilmington, that's kind of cool, huh? This was part of an exchange program and it turns out the highlight of which was a friggin 'B' in my English class. I was able to visit West Berlin and go to East Berlin. I speak some German and their experience as a divided country still resonates with me.
So, during my senior year in college, I was glued to the information available about the revolution in the Eastern Bloc countries. To date me, this was really before fulltime cable news coverage and I just had the newspapers. My choice was the Wall Street Journal and I followed the whole event faithfully; I literally could not believe what was happening. I tried to keep up with everything but nothing prepared me for the access to information we had while in Leipzig. Turns out, the whole thing started here.
A 4 paragraph primer: The Deutsche Demokratische Republik --The German Democratic Republic or East Germany-- just couldn't keep up economically with the West. West Germany had created for itself a very nice export economy and was renowned for it's engineering standards and quality work. The East was renowned for it's spying and secret police and so something had to break at some point. College students --kids that are my age now-- started to push back and churches were given permission to have students gather for 'prayer meetings'.
The prayer meetings were every Monday and gained momentum. They started at St. Nicholas' Lutheran Church in downtown Leipzig. Three of the activists of that time spoke with us and brought us into their world a bit. Let me try and paint the picture of state-sponsored fear and intimidation prevalent at that time. The Stasi, or state secret police, existed in reality, but never in conversation and the Stasi HQ in Leipzig was an old insurance office building called the Round Corner that we visited (see pictures). And in this building, the Stasi kept tabs on it's networks of informants, the spying they did on citizens, the information collected by the 'journalists' that worked for the newspapers, and even managed to work over the teachers to find perfect little communists that would start spying on their classmates. The process was detailed and thorough and focused on instilling terror in the citizenry.
In that climate of distrust, if you had a good feeling about someone's intentions, you ran with it. This feeling eventually bubbled up into protests in the streets of up to 70,000 families, students and everyday people that wanted change. The goal was to protest the current state of the State, to work within the allowed system. Eventually it was clear that Gorbachev was unable to support East Germany financially; East Germany just had an election that showed 99% support for the Communist party that everyone knew was bogus; East Germans were watching West German news. So they protested with candles and prayers. It became a perfect storm for revolution.
There were a total of 27 Monday demonstrations in Leipzig. On October 9, 1989, the most important happened, the demonstration that the East German government ordered stopped. There were police in riot gear with orders to shoot, tank battalions were activated, and there were snipers on roofs. But too many of these policemen/soldiers/apparatchiks knew too many of their own families were participating in the protests. Besides there was no shouting, just protesters that chanted "We are the people". The response to the governments claims that they were there for the people. The protestors froze the government by demending free movement, free opinion, free elections, free business and abolition of the 'anti-free' laws. Also localized, specfic demands; they had SO MANY demands that it paralyzed a dictitorial system. Ultimately, the wall opened on November 9th. And free elections happened in January.
Fast forward to today. Germany is still separate areas: one that has high wages with highly educated and experienced individuals. The other that has lower wages, brand new infrastructure and folks that feel that their 'west' German brethren resent them a little too much. That being said, I'd bet that the differences between the east and west do not amount to near the differences in the US between the north and South. So don't let me paint a picture that is out of proportion.
Leipzig is getting lots of western infrastructure. Porsche and BMW have plant here and Amazon.com is putting a distribution center there. Just like everywhere else I visited, Leipzig considers itself the "crossroads of Europe", so multi-nationals like to have a presence here. Manufacturing is all the rage in eastern Germany (low wages) and Leipzig's blend of highly competitive universities and talented IT folks make it a good fit.
Germany is now the economic powerhouse of Europe. Angela Merkel (the German PM) is the most powerful woman in the world, so much so that George W thought she was a bit sexy and tried to give her a G20 backrub. She is reaching out to Russia. Germany's export economy is taking a hit, but Deutsche Bank just made $2.3B last quarter. Beyond the backrub thing, do you get a sense that paying attention to Germany makes sense?
How does Leipzig attract companies? As part of the EU, I'm told that all cities have the same incentives they can provide for companies that are looking to move there. So each city has to rely on their own infrastructure and ability to market itself to attract businesses. Leipzig seems to be better at it than most. I met with 2 individuals from the Leipzig Economic Development Agency and was fascinated at their approach. Believe me, Wilmington has nothing on these guys, their marketing collateral is first rate and even though they may struggle getting their point across in English, it's obvious that businesses will want to move here.
Since I'm writing this during the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall, it has some meaning, a lot to me, hopefully a lot to you, too. Leipzig was the epicenter 20 years ago and has Opportunity today. And it's not just because I like Germans.
I spent a summer in the northern German town of Braunschweig while in high school; Braunschweig translates to Brunswick and it's near Hanover. For those of you living in and around Wilmington, that's kind of cool, huh? This was part of an exchange program and it turns out the highlight of which was a friggin 'B' in my English class. I was able to visit West Berlin and go to East Berlin. I speak some German and their experience as a divided country still resonates with me.
So, during my senior year in college, I was glued to the information available about the revolution in the Eastern Bloc countries. To date me, this was really before fulltime cable news coverage and I just had the newspapers. My choice was the Wall Street Journal and I followed the whole event faithfully; I literally could not believe what was happening. I tried to keep up with everything but nothing prepared me for the access to information we had while in Leipzig. Turns out, the whole thing started here.
A 4 paragraph primer: The Deutsche Demokratische Republik --The German Democratic Republic or East Germany-- just couldn't keep up economically with the West. West Germany had created for itself a very nice export economy and was renowned for it's engineering standards and quality work. The East was renowned for it's spying and secret police and so something had to break at some point. College students --kids that are my age now-- started to push back and churches were given permission to have students gather for 'prayer meetings'.
The prayer meetings were every Monday and gained momentum. They started at St. Nicholas' Lutheran Church in downtown Leipzig. Three of the activists of that time spoke with us and brought us into their world a bit. Let me try and paint the picture of state-sponsored fear and intimidation prevalent at that time. The Stasi, or state secret police, existed in reality, but never in conversation and the Stasi HQ in Leipzig was an old insurance office building called the Round Corner that we visited (see pictures). And in this building, the Stasi kept tabs on it's networks of informants, the spying they did on citizens, the information collected by the 'journalists' that worked for the newspapers, and even managed to work over the teachers to find perfect little communists that would start spying on their classmates. The process was detailed and thorough and focused on instilling terror in the citizenry.
In that climate of distrust, if you had a good feeling about someone's intentions, you ran with it. This feeling eventually bubbled up into protests in the streets of up to 70,000 families, students and everyday people that wanted change. The goal was to protest the current state of the State, to work within the allowed system. Eventually it was clear that Gorbachev was unable to support East Germany financially; East Germany just had an election that showed 99% support for the Communist party that everyone knew was bogus; East Germans were watching West German news. So they protested with candles and prayers. It became a perfect storm for revolution.
There were a total of 27 Monday demonstrations in Leipzig. On October 9, 1989, the most important happened, the demonstration that the East German government ordered stopped. There were police in riot gear with orders to shoot, tank battalions were activated, and there were snipers on roofs. But too many of these policemen/soldiers/apparatchiks knew too many of their own families were participating in the protests. Besides there was no shouting, just protesters that chanted "We are the people". The response to the governments claims that they were there for the people. The protestors froze the government by demending free movement, free opinion, free elections, free business and abolition of the 'anti-free' laws. Also localized, specfic demands; they had SO MANY demands that it paralyzed a dictitorial system. Ultimately, the wall opened on November 9th. And free elections happened in January.
Fast forward to today. Germany is still separate areas: one that has high wages with highly educated and experienced individuals. The other that has lower wages, brand new infrastructure and folks that feel that their 'west' German brethren resent them a little too much. That being said, I'd bet that the differences between the east and west do not amount to near the differences in the US between the north and South. So don't let me paint a picture that is out of proportion.
Leipzig is getting lots of western infrastructure. Porsche and BMW have plant here and Amazon.com is putting a distribution center there. Just like everywhere else I visited, Leipzig considers itself the "crossroads of Europe", so multi-nationals like to have a presence here. Manufacturing is all the rage in eastern Germany (low wages) and Leipzig's blend of highly competitive universities and talented IT folks make it a good fit.
Germany is now the economic powerhouse of Europe. Angela Merkel (the German PM) is the most powerful woman in the world, so much so that George W thought she was a bit sexy and tried to give her a G20 backrub. She is reaching out to Russia. Germany's export economy is taking a hit, but Deutsche Bank just made $2.3B last quarter. Beyond the backrub thing, do you get a sense that paying attention to Germany makes sense?
How does Leipzig attract companies? As part of the EU, I'm told that all cities have the same incentives they can provide for companies that are looking to move there. So each city has to rely on their own infrastructure and ability to market itself to attract businesses. Leipzig seems to be better at it than most. I met with 2 individuals from the Leipzig Economic Development Agency and was fascinated at their approach. Believe me, Wilmington has nothing on these guys, their marketing collateral is first rate and even though they may struggle getting their point across in English, it's obvious that businesses will want to move here.
Since I'm writing this during the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall, it has some meaning, a lot to me, hopefully a lot to you, too. Leipzig was the epicenter 20 years ago and has Opportunity today. And it's not just because I like Germans.
28 October 2009
Belgrade
Louise: you want to go back where?
Kevin: Serbia. I think you'll like it.
Louise: Didn't we bomb Serbia? like, a lot?
Looking back on it all, Belgrade was my favorite city. But man, it is not pretty, cause as you may infer, communists didn't have inspirational architectural design. But it's getting much better and the new planning is wonderful and is a great example of what Europe does so well: great modern architecture blended with the beautiful and old. The countryside we visited is primarily agricultural. With mules. And handtools. But it was still the best, the most visceral and the most...real. I want you to keep this in mind as I try to relate the stories about the people, the places and the experiences we had there. So why not start with a bit of history...
Here's what most people remember: NATO bombed the hell out of Belgrade and a lot of Serbia during the 90's as part of the NATO effort to prevent the ethnic cleansing that was happening after the breakup of Yugoslavia. Belgrade is the capital of Serbia, so we punished it the most. Just so you know, it happened pretty much every night at 2am and we didn't miss our targets very often, unless you count the Chinese embassy. And man, I hope we did that on purpose.
Now some details. Slobodan Milosevic was a war criminal. He was a communist that rose under Marshall Tito's regime that ultimately found power as a nationalist and fascist. He allowed criminals to make a lot of money and support his regime. The people around him were organized crime figures and he played to TV audiences as a man of the people and most of the people were hoodwinked by him --remember that their experiences were with Tito and they missed Tito's steady hand in the region. The Bosnian Serbs are part of a different country (currently Bosnia-Herzegovina) and to say they just received "aid and military support" from the Milosovic government would be an understatement. That a lot of people that weren't Serbian or Serbian Orthodox Christians were murdered (genocide is more like it) during this time is well documented; what isn't well-documented is that the white hat/black hat mentality of that era has changed.
A good parallel would be the disfavor the German people had towards the Nazi's after WWII. It's similar here, most everyone were glad to see Americans, none held grudges and all spoke harshly of Milosovic and his regime and cronies. Some did want to point out the effects clinical bombing has on a city, none of which were positive. The point I'm clumsily trying to make is that I was expecting some pushback during my visit but what was most striking were the similarities and familiarities I saw rather than the differences.
Enough history, let's talk schnapps. The Serbs love their alcohol (actually, another similarity with the US), which they drink before meals (rather than after) and schnapps or the Serb equivalent is high on the list. Check out the pictures for the unlabeled green bottle, because we think it was, in fact, made in a bathtub. Labor Day was a particularly good day for hooch and we are lucky with this partiuclar vintage because we could still just taste the terpentine. I say 'could' in that Josh is the lucky recipient of the US Customs strip search cause he was the one that took it home.
The problems that face Serbia now are still political and somewhat economic. The EU had voted *unanimously* to include Serbia on the path to EU membership, but against all recommendations, Holland voted against. Much like the better fraternities at school had the '1 blackball' rule, the EU has decided that before Serbia is allowed to say, "thank you sir, may I have another", they need to buy some drinks for Holland, show 'em a good time, maybe even get a little crazy in the Red Light District until Holland says OK. The reason for the blackball, as far as I can tell, was to save face: the Dutch had control of a sector of Serbia that allowed General Ratko Mladić to escape. He is the only significant Serbian war criminal not brought to The Hague for trial. And because of that embarrassment, Serbs are not yet on the path to EU membership, but the toilet of the Balkans, Albania and Bulgaria, are.
Because of this restriction, young Serbians are still required to get visas to travel in Europe. A process that, though complicated, is not terrible, but is enough to keep a whole generation from understanding what is outside their borders. For those of you that have traveled, try talking to someone that hasn't, that hasn't gone to college, and hasn't left a 1000 square mile area and see what their thoughts on the world are. Add to that the barrage of American TV (mostly MTV and the fashion channels) and you'll see that their perspective is a bit ...flawed.
But everyone spoke English. Much better than being in Greece, btw. And not only did they speak English, they knew American politics and policy pretty well. I had a Serb explain some of the complexities of our health care debate to me (which I still don't understand, but he did). These people seriously follow our news. And the universities are doing a better than adequate job of turning out good thinkers, good IT professionals and good engineers. Juxtapose that generalization with the generalization of an uneducated and untraveled mass in the countryside and you begin to understand the complexities of Serbia a bit. And you begin to understand the Opportunity (note capital O) that is available here.
Serbia is an export economy: steel and agriculture are 1-2. The industries that exist are no longer state-owned but are multi-nationals now. And the Serbian government had the foresight to require 5 years of payments to the Serbian government for the right to buy them. Like $1mm a year in one case, smaller in others. Plus the price of the company. For a country trying to keep deficit spending at 3% of GDP to qualify for EuroZone admission, this was a great idea. As an example US Steel got in early and did not have this requirement of payments, but US Steel was not allowed to have mass layoffs for a certain period of time. The largest industry in Serbia was bought for just ~$1mm. I think the Serbs learned their lesson.
Yugoslavia's brand of communism was great at keeping people employed, but not so great at creating much of anything else. The companies that were set up produced goods that fed another state-owned company and another. A company that may need only 10,000 workers had 100,000. All got vacations on the Black Sea and all kept people occupied and relatively content. Communism in Yugoslavia was 'tweener': Yugoslavia wasn't part of the iron curtain, but rather a totalitarian regime dipping it's toe into capitalism. These are the companies that multi-nationals are buying. To say that they are struggling at creating a modern corporate culture with transparency and effective processes is an understatement.
To demonstrate, the company that produced the venerable Yugo went out of business last year. There was both a national celebration and a national cause to drown your sorrows. Drive your Yugo to the bar and get free drinks (um, what?). Tell your best Yugo story and get free drinks. Tell your worst Yugo story and get free drinks. We started playing punch-Yugo but there were so many, Josh ended up with a bruise the size of my fist on his shoulder. Every Yugo can be opened with a 1 Serbian Dinar coin --no really, no keys are needed for access. It was the best chance the country had to have a car company, but it couldn't keep up. Now VW is moving in with new processes and automation. That's the reality. Check the boxes for other industries: beer, sugar production, etc.
As an aside while I think about it, Serbia might be a great casestudy as a transitioning captialist/autocatic government model. Should rising wages and a burgeoning middle class in China encourage democracy, we might look to the break up of Yugoslavia as a possible 'model': ethnic tensions boil over, state agencies that are semi-private get more outside investment and struggle with democracy in a land that isn't used to the freedoms. Could be an interesting choice for a blog, but most people don't want to read this much less read my thoughts about the future of democacy in China.
But to further link the two countries, Serbia is trying to position itself as a manufacturing alternative to China, and I think it can have some success. Here are the parts of the puzzle: cheap transportation via rail/water into Europe. Educated workforce that all speak English. Cheap labor (median Serb income is ~$400/mth). No government mistrust of the US. Transparent court system for B2B issues. Little to no environmental constraints on manufactureres. And the US Government is putting a lot of time and money into this country. It could be said that for all the problems USAID has world wide, they are absolutely succeeding in Serbia. Yeah, I was surprised, too.
So why hasn't it worked yet? I'm convinced it's perception verses reality. We were able to get out into the countryside to a large college town about an hour and a half northwest of Belgrade, Novi Sad. First of all the architecture is gorgeous, the town is absolutely cute and has the benefit of income from college students and industry moving in to create a tax base. There is a 5-Star hotel in a medieval fortress. The Serbian Dr. Seuss is from there. It's fantastic. This is not a place full of fascists and folks hellbent on genocide.
It is in fact, an area full of burgeoning SME's (small to medium sized enterprises) and folks trying to carve a niche in the Serbian economy out for themselves. Not quite an entrepreneurial spirit, mind you, but folks with bigger plans than their parents the shoemaker or butcher had. The banks are professional and understand how to develop Return on Equity and Return on Assets. And the countryside looks a lot like North Carolina did in the 70's. Rural, agricultural. 2 lane roads. Slow paced. Are you sensing a pattern for these compliments? I liked this place.
Speaking of banking, there are some conservative rules here. Banks are forced to keep 40% reserve in the national bank. 40%! That means that they must make their profits on 60% of the funds they have to lend, verses, say with the US about 85%. That also means that interest rates on loans are in the low teens and multi-nationals are trying to swoop in and undercut Serbian banks on big lending projects. But the exchange rate keeps the locals with the edge.
Now for the realism: there is some crime and thuggery in Belgrade. The medium and large businesses have a tough time adopting modern principles of ownership and management. It's a patriarchal society. And it's a country that still loves the worst car ever imported into the US (did anyone even know there was a 4 door version?). And, yes, I remember Le Car by Renault.
But my sense is it's better than it was last year and will be better again next year. For those looking for Opportunities, put this one on your radar. I hear the black market for Yugos will be big.
Kevin: Serbia. I think you'll like it.
Louise: Didn't we bomb Serbia? like, a lot?
Looking back on it all, Belgrade was my favorite city. But man, it is not pretty, cause as you may infer, communists didn't have inspirational architectural design. But it's getting much better and the new planning is wonderful and is a great example of what Europe does so well: great modern architecture blended with the beautiful and old. The countryside we visited is primarily agricultural. With mules. And handtools. But it was still the best, the most visceral and the most...real. I want you to keep this in mind as I try to relate the stories about the people, the places and the experiences we had there. So why not start with a bit of history...
Here's what most people remember: NATO bombed the hell out of Belgrade and a lot of Serbia during the 90's as part of the NATO effort to prevent the ethnic cleansing that was happening after the breakup of Yugoslavia. Belgrade is the capital of Serbia, so we punished it the most. Just so you know, it happened pretty much every night at 2am and we didn't miss our targets very often, unless you count the Chinese embassy. And man, I hope we did that on purpose.
Now some details. Slobodan Milosevic was a war criminal. He was a communist that rose under Marshall Tito's regime that ultimately found power as a nationalist and fascist. He allowed criminals to make a lot of money and support his regime. The people around him were organized crime figures and he played to TV audiences as a man of the people and most of the people were hoodwinked by him --remember that their experiences were with Tito and they missed Tito's steady hand in the region. The Bosnian Serbs are part of a different country (currently Bosnia-Herzegovina) and to say they just received "aid and military support" from the Milosovic government would be an understatement. That a lot of people that weren't Serbian or Serbian Orthodox Christians were murdered (genocide is more like it) during this time is well documented; what isn't well-documented is that the white hat/black hat mentality of that era has changed.
A good parallel would be the disfavor the German people had towards the Nazi's after WWII. It's similar here, most everyone were glad to see Americans, none held grudges and all spoke harshly of Milosovic and his regime and cronies. Some did want to point out the effects clinical bombing has on a city, none of which were positive. The point I'm clumsily trying to make is that I was expecting some pushback during my visit but what was most striking were the similarities and familiarities I saw rather than the differences.
Enough history, let's talk schnapps. The Serbs love their alcohol (actually, another similarity with the US), which they drink before meals (rather than after) and schnapps or the Serb equivalent is high on the list. Check out the pictures for the unlabeled green bottle, because we think it was, in fact, made in a bathtub. Labor Day was a particularly good day for hooch and we are lucky with this partiuclar vintage because we could still just taste the terpentine. I say 'could' in that Josh is the lucky recipient of the US Customs strip search cause he was the one that took it home.
The problems that face Serbia now are still political and somewhat economic. The EU had voted *unanimously* to include Serbia on the path to EU membership, but against all recommendations, Holland voted against. Much like the better fraternities at school had the '1 blackball' rule, the EU has decided that before Serbia is allowed to say, "thank you sir, may I have another", they need to buy some drinks for Holland, show 'em a good time, maybe even get a little crazy in the Red Light District until Holland says OK. The reason for the blackball, as far as I can tell, was to save face: the Dutch had control of a sector of Serbia that allowed General Ratko Mladić to escape. He is the only significant Serbian war criminal not brought to The Hague for trial. And because of that embarrassment, Serbs are not yet on the path to EU membership, but the toilet of the Balkans, Albania and Bulgaria, are.
Because of this restriction, young Serbians are still required to get visas to travel in Europe. A process that, though complicated, is not terrible, but is enough to keep a whole generation from understanding what is outside their borders. For those of you that have traveled, try talking to someone that hasn't, that hasn't gone to college, and hasn't left a 1000 square mile area and see what their thoughts on the world are. Add to that the barrage of American TV (mostly MTV and the fashion channels) and you'll see that their perspective is a bit ...flawed.
But everyone spoke English. Much better than being in Greece, btw. And not only did they speak English, they knew American politics and policy pretty well. I had a Serb explain some of the complexities of our health care debate to me (which I still don't understand, but he did). These people seriously follow our news. And the universities are doing a better than adequate job of turning out good thinkers, good IT professionals and good engineers. Juxtapose that generalization with the generalization of an uneducated and untraveled mass in the countryside and you begin to understand the complexities of Serbia a bit. And you begin to understand the Opportunity (note capital O) that is available here.
Serbia is an export economy: steel and agriculture are 1-2. The industries that exist are no longer state-owned but are multi-nationals now. And the Serbian government had the foresight to require 5 years of payments to the Serbian government for the right to buy them. Like $1mm a year in one case, smaller in others. Plus the price of the company. For a country trying to keep deficit spending at 3% of GDP to qualify for EuroZone admission, this was a great idea. As an example US Steel got in early and did not have this requirement of payments, but US Steel was not allowed to have mass layoffs for a certain period of time. The largest industry in Serbia was bought for just ~$1mm. I think the Serbs learned their lesson.
Yugoslavia's brand of communism was great at keeping people employed, but not so great at creating much of anything else. The companies that were set up produced goods that fed another state-owned company and another. A company that may need only 10,000 workers had 100,000. All got vacations on the Black Sea and all kept people occupied and relatively content. Communism in Yugoslavia was 'tweener': Yugoslavia wasn't part of the iron curtain, but rather a totalitarian regime dipping it's toe into capitalism. These are the companies that multi-nationals are buying. To say that they are struggling at creating a modern corporate culture with transparency and effective processes is an understatement.
To demonstrate, the company that produced the venerable Yugo went out of business last year. There was both a national celebration and a national cause to drown your sorrows. Drive your Yugo to the bar and get free drinks (um, what?). Tell your best Yugo story and get free drinks. Tell your worst Yugo story and get free drinks. We started playing punch-Yugo but there were so many, Josh ended up with a bruise the size of my fist on his shoulder. Every Yugo can be opened with a 1 Serbian Dinar coin --no really, no keys are needed for access. It was the best chance the country had to have a car company, but it couldn't keep up. Now VW is moving in with new processes and automation. That's the reality. Check the boxes for other industries: beer, sugar production, etc.
As an aside while I think about it, Serbia might be a great casestudy as a transitioning captialist/autocatic government model. Should rising wages and a burgeoning middle class in China encourage democracy, we might look to the break up of Yugoslavia as a possible 'model': ethnic tensions boil over, state agencies that are semi-private get more outside investment and struggle with democracy in a land that isn't used to the freedoms. Could be an interesting choice for a blog, but most people don't want to read this much less read my thoughts about the future of democacy in China.
But to further link the two countries, Serbia is trying to position itself as a manufacturing alternative to China, and I think it can have some success. Here are the parts of the puzzle: cheap transportation via rail/water into Europe. Educated workforce that all speak English. Cheap labor (median Serb income is ~$400/mth). No government mistrust of the US. Transparent court system for B2B issues. Little to no environmental constraints on manufactureres. And the US Government is putting a lot of time and money into this country. It could be said that for all the problems USAID has world wide, they are absolutely succeeding in Serbia. Yeah, I was surprised, too.
So why hasn't it worked yet? I'm convinced it's perception verses reality. We were able to get out into the countryside to a large college town about an hour and a half northwest of Belgrade, Novi Sad. First of all the architecture is gorgeous, the town is absolutely cute and has the benefit of income from college students and industry moving in to create a tax base. There is a 5-Star hotel in a medieval fortress. The Serbian Dr. Seuss is from there. It's fantastic. This is not a place full of fascists and folks hellbent on genocide.
It is in fact, an area full of burgeoning SME's (small to medium sized enterprises) and folks trying to carve a niche in the Serbian economy out for themselves. Not quite an entrepreneurial spirit, mind you, but folks with bigger plans than their parents the shoemaker or butcher had. The banks are professional and understand how to develop Return on Equity and Return on Assets. And the countryside looks a lot like North Carolina did in the 70's. Rural, agricultural. 2 lane roads. Slow paced. Are you sensing a pattern for these compliments? I liked this place.
Speaking of banking, there are some conservative rules here. Banks are forced to keep 40% reserve in the national bank. 40%! That means that they must make their profits on 60% of the funds they have to lend, verses, say with the US about 85%. That also means that interest rates on loans are in the low teens and multi-nationals are trying to swoop in and undercut Serbian banks on big lending projects. But the exchange rate keeps the locals with the edge.
Now for the realism: there is some crime and thuggery in Belgrade. The medium and large businesses have a tough time adopting modern principles of ownership and management. It's a patriarchal society. And it's a country that still loves the worst car ever imported into the US (did anyone even know there was a 4 door version?). And, yes, I remember Le Car by Renault.
But my sense is it's better than it was last year and will be better again next year. For those looking for Opportunities, put this one on your radar. I hear the black market for Yugos will be big.
22 October 2009
Greece
On the train now from Leipzig to Berlin listening to music and have a chance to reflect a bit about the previous cities: Thessaloniki, Belgrade and Leipzig. First Greece.
After a remarkably well organized but cold visit in Denmark, I was looking forward to some warmer weather and a slower pace in Greece. All I got was the slower pace, but it turns out it highs in the lower 60's was as warm as it would be in all of Europe while I was there.
We started the trip with a 2 hour mini-bus trip (we liked to call it the short bus) into the hills of Greece near the border of The Former Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia. We stayed in a small village, Nymphaio, that was saved and rebuilt thanks to a Greek and EU fund aimed at preserving the heritage of these types of towns.
If you get to Northern Greece, I highly recommend it: all stone streets and homes with metal roofs and tight, small streets. Completely cute and extremely friendly. Really the complete opposite of Thessaloniki. We've all heard of Thessaloniki if we've read any bit of the New Testament. Paul wrote letters when he was here to the Jewish and Christian inhabitants. Unfortunately the church that was associated with his visit has since been destroyed.
It was destroyed along with everything else, and they didn't take much care and planning in the reconstruction. Really --what a dump, but it didn't use to be. Which explains why you can pick a country and it has invaded Thessaloniki: Turkey, Germany, Italy, etc. They've all left their impact, but it mainly seems psychological. I think that as Americans we have an incredibly hard time imagining foreign invaders on our soil unless you've watched Patrick Swayze and C Thomas Howell in the very excellent Soviets-invade-the-US move, Red Dawn, recently.
It's pretty apparent that there are lasting resentments to all these invaders. And by the way, I could devote an entire blog to each of these countries opinion of Turkey. Turkey is either an immigration problem, a military threat or a past invader. But, in talking to my fellow Fellows that visited Ankara/Istanbul, the Turks are more interested in reaching out to Europe. Let bygones be bygones I guess. It seems the Greeks *definitely* do not share these feelings.
But any way, back to lasting resentments. Somehow Americans no longer resent the Brits. And I guess if you have dominated a country in every way except for sports no American watches you'd probably get past old animosities. Unfortunately Southern and Eastern Europe has had no such luck. In fact you could argue that Greece really had a chance to thrive, but since they missed the industrial revolution they're always trying to catch up. There is so very little manufacturing here that I think there never will be. Their chance of dominating anyone militarily or economically seems remote.
That's why they're very focused on creating intellectual property, biotech and medical devices. In fact I met with a gentleman that is the CEO of 2 corporations: one is a VC fund and the other is an Angel group that incubates tech/life science start-ups. Very odd combinations from my experience in the US, but he's very rational about the whole thing. The Greek government provides access to investors in tech/life sci that provides 50% of the funds. BTW, it was explained to me that the Greek government does not seek repayment or equity in the business, and the business can show it as cash on hand on their books! So if an Angel investor can get a business to qualify for these funds he halves his risk! Wait, what?
Yes, the Greek government is THAT generous. And I went to a $20mm science and tech museum to prove it. The EU and Greece gave the Foundation that runs it the money to build it AND has paid for the annual loss it runs for the past 6 years. The museum said they were going to try some marketing this year to increase their gate receipts. You think?
So now to Macedonia. Macedonia is a state (prefecture in Greek terms) in the country of Greece. Macedonia is also an historic region that incorporates N Greece and southern former Yugoslavia. Alexander the Great and his Dad, Philip II, were based here. These guys kicked so much ancient butt that everyone claims them --especially the Greeks, since, you know, they were both Greek.
But when a country claims independence and calls itself Macedonia the Greeks get a bit bothered. So here's the gist of the problem -the Greeks failed to copywrite the word 'Macedonia' and are now not happy about them using it. The Former Yugoslvia Republic of Macdedonia (TFYRM) not only said the Greeks can't do anything about it, but also decided to name their capital's airport Alexander the Great Intl Airport as an additional dig. Oh yeah,and the Turks support the name Macedonia. It's an incredible story. Dan Brown couldn't make this stuff up. And this country, TFYRM, is listed under 'T' in the list of countries recognized by the UN.
So after an amazingly well-planned trip by our city coordinator and a lot of attempts to make me drink copious amounts of Uzo, we went to the world's worst-planned international airport for Belgrade. Serbia. The one we bombed a lot a few years ago. Sound fun to you?
After a remarkably well organized but cold visit in Denmark, I was looking forward to some warmer weather and a slower pace in Greece. All I got was the slower pace, but it turns out it highs in the lower 60's was as warm as it would be in all of Europe while I was there.
We started the trip with a 2 hour mini-bus trip (we liked to call it the short bus) into the hills of Greece near the border of The Former Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia. We stayed in a small village, Nymphaio, that was saved and rebuilt thanks to a Greek and EU fund aimed at preserving the heritage of these types of towns.
If you get to Northern Greece, I highly recommend it: all stone streets and homes with metal roofs and tight, small streets. Completely cute and extremely friendly. Really the complete opposite of Thessaloniki. We've all heard of Thessaloniki if we've read any bit of the New Testament. Paul wrote letters when he was here to the Jewish and Christian inhabitants. Unfortunately the church that was associated with his visit has since been destroyed.
It was destroyed along with everything else, and they didn't take much care and planning in the reconstruction. Really --what a dump, but it didn't use to be. Which explains why you can pick a country and it has invaded Thessaloniki: Turkey, Germany, Italy, etc. They've all left their impact, but it mainly seems psychological. I think that as Americans we have an incredibly hard time imagining foreign invaders on our soil unless you've watched Patrick Swayze and C Thomas Howell in the very excellent Soviets-invade-the-US move, Red Dawn, recently.
It's pretty apparent that there are lasting resentments to all these invaders. And by the way, I could devote an entire blog to each of these countries opinion of Turkey. Turkey is either an immigration problem, a military threat or a past invader. But, in talking to my fellow Fellows that visited Ankara/Istanbul, the Turks are more interested in reaching out to Europe. Let bygones be bygones I guess. It seems the Greeks *definitely* do not share these feelings.
But any way, back to lasting resentments. Somehow Americans no longer resent the Brits. And I guess if you have dominated a country in every way except for sports no American watches you'd probably get past old animosities. Unfortunately Southern and Eastern Europe has had no such luck. In fact you could argue that Greece really had a chance to thrive, but since they missed the industrial revolution they're always trying to catch up. There is so very little manufacturing here that I think there never will be. Their chance of dominating anyone militarily or economically seems remote.
That's why they're very focused on creating intellectual property, biotech and medical devices. In fact I met with a gentleman that is the CEO of 2 corporations: one is a VC fund and the other is an Angel group that incubates tech/life science start-ups. Very odd combinations from my experience in the US, but he's very rational about the whole thing. The Greek government provides access to investors in tech/life sci that provides 50% of the funds. BTW, it was explained to me that the Greek government does not seek repayment or equity in the business, and the business can show it as cash on hand on their books! So if an Angel investor can get a business to qualify for these funds he halves his risk! Wait, what?
Yes, the Greek government is THAT generous. And I went to a $20mm science and tech museum to prove it. The EU and Greece gave the Foundation that runs it the money to build it AND has paid for the annual loss it runs for the past 6 years. The museum said they were going to try some marketing this year to increase their gate receipts. You think?
So now to Macedonia. Macedonia is a state (prefecture in Greek terms) in the country of Greece. Macedonia is also an historic region that incorporates N Greece and southern former Yugoslavia. Alexander the Great and his Dad, Philip II, were based here. These guys kicked so much ancient butt that everyone claims them --especially the Greeks, since, you know, they were both Greek.
But when a country claims independence and calls itself Macedonia the Greeks get a bit bothered. So here's the gist of the problem -the Greeks failed to copywrite the word 'Macedonia' and are now not happy about them using it. The Former Yugoslvia Republic of Macdedonia (TFYRM) not only said the Greeks can't do anything about it, but also decided to name their capital's airport Alexander the Great Intl Airport as an additional dig. Oh yeah,and the Turks support the name Macedonia. It's an incredible story. Dan Brown couldn't make this stuff up. And this country, TFYRM, is listed under 'T' in the list of countries recognized by the UN.
So after an amazingly well-planned trip by our city coordinator and a lot of attempts to make me drink copious amounts of Uzo, we went to the world's worst-planned international airport for Belgrade. Serbia. The one we bombed a lot a few years ago. Sound fun to you?
16 October 2009
Travel advisory
Just a heads up. Left the first world's worst airport in Thessaloniki Greece this morning and am sitting in Munich's airport waiting to fly to Belgrade Serbia.
I'm told I may not have phone service there, so you may not hear from me until I get back to Germany on Weds the 21st.
See the post on technology for appropriate whining.
I'm told I may not have phone service there, so you may not hear from me until I get back to Germany on Weds the 21st.
See the post on technology for appropriate whining.
Does It Feel Cold in Here to You?
Talking to everyone in Europe about climate change is like being a kid all over again. Who spilled this? Can't you control yourself? Who's going to take responsibility for this?
Quite frankly I'm tired of being lectured, which was why being in Greece was so great. As far as I can tell, they couldn't care less. And besides they're far too busy with much more intellectual pursuits like which country can be called Macedonia and which cannot. Definitely more on that later.
But Northern and Central Europe is so wrapped up in climate change that it's borderline obsessive, and the arguments are similar everywhere: CO2 and methane is way up in proportion to temperatures. The measurements taken from ice core samples indicate a slight lag from the start of the industrial age and also seem to indicate human causality. And someone's gonna pay. And it looks like they want the highest per capita user to be the one to pay. Rats, I think that's the US.
Not to rant, but why not, it's my web page. I'm pretty sure I didn't do all this, but it sure looks like they want me to pay. Hey, I'm just trying to send my kid to tennis camp, and you want me to pay how much for plastic bags??? And being told by people serving me water in plastic bottles?
Besides aren't developing countries the issue? With their coal and high sulfur power plants and giant populations, won't incremental change make a bigger difference there rather than here. (Turns out it won't, because --shocker-- they don't like being lectured anymore than you or I.)
The rational side of me wins out, so bear with me, this gets a bit complicated and kind of lengthy. And believe me when I say I'm leaving out the details. Besides, who wouldn't want to be more efficient, and if my household power bill goes down shouldn't I be focusing on the ROI of a better light bulb rather than out of pocket (cap and trade) costs? Damn right.
So let's touch on the actual premise of climate change, and we'll call it the Jesus Christ argument. Let's start with the thought that ice core data is what it is and regardless of temperature change, who wouldn't want their home or business to be more efficient, less expensive and healthier. Choices made based on a carbon footprint aren't all that hard to make and just doing this incrementally is smart business and smart citizenship. Suddenly small choices add up and we're part of the solution and not the problem.
Some folks will pragmatically argue that even if there is no Jesus Christ it is smart to believe in Him because the alternative of eternal damnation is much worse than simply dying. There are an awful lot of Baptists sitting in church on Sunday for that very reason. Is the climate change debate so different? Might as well do something rather than nothing. You know, just in case? Especially if it costs me less over time.
Copenhagen is hosting the COP15 climate change conference in a few weeks, so we were able to get access to a lot of policy people who think about this kind of dribble a lot more than I would ever care to. We got a few novel ideas and a few draconian ones, too. The one I like best is based on investment, because frankly I am not excited about paying fees for my carbon usage: has anyone heard there's a recession out there and that Kevin the Consumer will drive our way out. Unless, of course, I can't because I'm paying extra for just about everything else.
So remember the lightbulb ROI choices I mentioned above? Individual choices based on ROI that lower my power bill and total costs over time. Turns out countries can do this too. In fact right now is the perfect time since the US and other governments are hell bent on spending money right now, making spending on 'green' technology a fait accompli. In fact some governments are even wanting to buy more wind farms, solar photovaultaic cells, and other to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels. But one group in Copenhagen argues against this. They ask,'Has anyone bothered to notice that these are so inefficient that they cost a lot and won't help in the overall drive to provide the world with gigawatts of more power or significantly drive down temperatures?' Seriously, does anyone really believe that hundreds of wind farms are going solve a possible rise in temperatures world wide?
But just like the race to the moon spun off dozens of new technology investments, the same can happen in alternative energy: focsed R&D, spurring innovation and fostering entrepreneurship. There is a group in Copenhagen arguing for investment ultimately with the aim to have alternative energy to actually be price competitive with fossil fuels. What a concept --the consumer chooses? And people are incented to start businesses to provide alternatives.
So to paint the whole post with a broad brush, couple this type of investment for long term gains with smart personal choices for short term gain and we may be on to something. Imagine a whole post on climate change and I used the word 'green' just once.
(If you thought this was winded, be glad I left out the information on capturing cow methane.)
Quite frankly I'm tired of being lectured, which was why being in Greece was so great. As far as I can tell, they couldn't care less. And besides they're far too busy with much more intellectual pursuits like which country can be called Macedonia and which cannot. Definitely more on that later.
But Northern and Central Europe is so wrapped up in climate change that it's borderline obsessive, and the arguments are similar everywhere: CO2 and methane is way up in proportion to temperatures. The measurements taken from ice core samples indicate a slight lag from the start of the industrial age and also seem to indicate human causality. And someone's gonna pay. And it looks like they want the highest per capita user to be the one to pay. Rats, I think that's the US.
Not to rant, but why not, it's my web page. I'm pretty sure I didn't do all this, but it sure looks like they want me to pay. Hey, I'm just trying to send my kid to tennis camp, and you want me to pay how much for plastic bags??? And being told by people serving me water in plastic bottles?
Besides aren't developing countries the issue? With their coal and high sulfur power plants and giant populations, won't incremental change make a bigger difference there rather than here. (Turns out it won't, because --shocker-- they don't like being lectured anymore than you or I.)
The rational side of me wins out, so bear with me, this gets a bit complicated and kind of lengthy. And believe me when I say I'm leaving out the details. Besides, who wouldn't want to be more efficient, and if my household power bill goes down shouldn't I be focusing on the ROI of a better light bulb rather than out of pocket (cap and trade) costs? Damn right.
So let's touch on the actual premise of climate change, and we'll call it the Jesus Christ argument. Let's start with the thought that ice core data is what it is and regardless of temperature change, who wouldn't want their home or business to be more efficient, less expensive and healthier. Choices made based on a carbon footprint aren't all that hard to make and just doing this incrementally is smart business and smart citizenship. Suddenly small choices add up and we're part of the solution and not the problem.
Some folks will pragmatically argue that even if there is no Jesus Christ it is smart to believe in Him because the alternative of eternal damnation is much worse than simply dying. There are an awful lot of Baptists sitting in church on Sunday for that very reason. Is the climate change debate so different? Might as well do something rather than nothing. You know, just in case? Especially if it costs me less over time.
Copenhagen is hosting the COP15 climate change conference in a few weeks, so we were able to get access to a lot of policy people who think about this kind of dribble a lot more than I would ever care to. We got a few novel ideas and a few draconian ones, too. The one I like best is based on investment, because frankly I am not excited about paying fees for my carbon usage: has anyone heard there's a recession out there and that Kevin the Consumer will drive our way out. Unless, of course, I can't because I'm paying extra for just about everything else.
So remember the lightbulb ROI choices I mentioned above? Individual choices based on ROI that lower my power bill and total costs over time. Turns out countries can do this too. In fact right now is the perfect time since the US and other governments are hell bent on spending money right now, making spending on 'green' technology a fait accompli. In fact some governments are even wanting to buy more wind farms, solar photovaultaic cells, and other to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels. But one group in Copenhagen argues against this. They ask,'Has anyone bothered to notice that these are so inefficient that they cost a lot and won't help in the overall drive to provide the world with gigawatts of more power or significantly drive down temperatures?' Seriously, does anyone really believe that hundreds of wind farms are going solve a possible rise in temperatures world wide?
But just like the race to the moon spun off dozens of new technology investments, the same can happen in alternative energy: focsed R&D, spurring innovation and fostering entrepreneurship. There is a group in Copenhagen arguing for investment ultimately with the aim to have alternative energy to actually be price competitive with fossil fuels. What a concept --the consumer chooses? And people are incented to start businesses to provide alternatives.
So to paint the whole post with a broad brush, couple this type of investment for long term gains with smart personal choices for short term gain and we may be on to something. Imagine a whole post on climate change and I used the word 'green' just once.
(If you thought this was winded, be glad I left out the information on capturing cow methane.)
The Great Danish Update
After a few days of digesting my visit, I think I'm prepared to put a finer point on my thoughts. After what was a fantastic 4 days in the Danish capital, I am incredibly amazed at the maturity of their policy initiatives and their support of NATO's mission in Afghanistan. Yeah, that NATO. Don't forget that NATO's calling the shots there with US leadership.
But the Danes are struggling a bit with their identity. This country of only 5mm people are incredibly homogeneous, therefore Europe's common thread of discourse, immigration, is no different in Copenhagen. At the risk of restating what most people probably already know, anyone trying to understand the Danish immigration struggle has to look at it through the eyes of the Muhammad Cartoons. These were cartoons of the Prophet sponsored by a conservative newspaper that got Danish consulates/embassies bombed and raised the ire of just about every Muslim in the world, even the moderates. It also got Danish travelers to put away their backpacks with Danish flags on them and do what Americans do with their backpacks when things get dangerous: pretend they're Canadian.
These cartoons are largely looked upon as a national embarrassment and as a complicating factor for Muslims emigrating into their country. The Dane's self-identity is *totally* wrapped up in the Society. Everyone is polite, the city is spotless and collectively they only struggle with political issues (and as a whole, even those don't seem too divisive). Then come the immigrants who cannot readily assimilate --they look, talk, and act differently. As an aside, one reason may be Danish citizenship is damn hard to come by and with so many official hoops to jump through, immigrants may choose not to embrace the Danish notion of Society.
This struggle is also financial and echoes the immigration issue in the US: the social costs. The Danes begin their marginal tax rate at ~50% and it goes up from there. For that kind of money, they expect the gov't to pay for anything that is a problem, and if someone is getting these free services and not paying taxes... Sound familiar?
The Danes we met would bristle at the mere suggestion of xenophobia, and it's a word that may in fact be too harsh. The Danes are good people, ardent supporters of the US, and are having growing pains. In a lot of ways they're envious of our immigration debate, as it mainly focuses on illegals.
But wait til I go into climate change legislation.
But the Danes are struggling a bit with their identity. This country of only 5mm people are incredibly homogeneous, therefore Europe's common thread of discourse, immigration, is no different in Copenhagen. At the risk of restating what most people probably already know, anyone trying to understand the Danish immigration struggle has to look at it through the eyes of the Muhammad Cartoons. These were cartoons of the Prophet sponsored by a conservative newspaper that got Danish consulates/embassies bombed and raised the ire of just about every Muslim in the world, even the moderates. It also got Danish travelers to put away their backpacks with Danish flags on them and do what Americans do with their backpacks when things get dangerous: pretend they're Canadian.
These cartoons are largely looked upon as a national embarrassment and as a complicating factor for Muslims emigrating into their country. The Dane's self-identity is *totally* wrapped up in the Society. Everyone is polite, the city is spotless and collectively they only struggle with political issues (and as a whole, even those don't seem too divisive). Then come the immigrants who cannot readily assimilate --they look, talk, and act differently. As an aside, one reason may be Danish citizenship is damn hard to come by and with so many official hoops to jump through, immigrants may choose not to embrace the Danish notion of Society.
This struggle is also financial and echoes the immigration issue in the US: the social costs. The Danes begin their marginal tax rate at ~50% and it goes up from there. For that kind of money, they expect the gov't to pay for anything that is a problem, and if someone is getting these free services and not paying taxes... Sound familiar?
The Danes we met would bristle at the mere suggestion of xenophobia, and it's a word that may in fact be too harsh. The Danes are good people, ardent supporters of the US, and are having growing pains. In a lot of ways they're envious of our immigration debate, as it mainly focuses on illegals.
But wait til I go into climate change legislation.
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