The guy is named ET, sorry, Eric T. Hansen, and writes for the German weekly Die Zeit. According to Eric, the T. stands for Terrific; this is how he feels and writes.
From March 2009 to July 2013, you only found an article about Terrific Eric in German Wikipedia, but not in the English version. You learn that he has studied in Germany and written several books in German. Both books and articles are based on solid research but are characterized by satire and absurdities. He is exceptionally provocative when he holds up the mirror to the Germans.
Presently the European Union and the States are working on a trade agreement called Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). There is a lot of fear in Germany that we will become Americanized by eating chicken imported from the States treated with chlorine instead of European bio (organic) poultry full of salmonella.
Eric, however, fears that TTIP will result in just the opposite: he advocates the Germanization of the States when he writes in German: We Americans buy any shit of European origin, whereas Germany is the most challenging market in the world for foreign products.
Presently the European Union and the States are working on a trade agreement called Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). There is a lot of fear in Germany that we will become Americanized by eating chicken imported from the States treated with chlorine instead of European bio (organic) poultry full of salmonella.
Eric, however, fears that TTIP will result in just the opposite: he advocates the Germanization of the States when he writes in German: We Americans buy any shit of European origin, whereas Germany is the most challenging market in the world for foreign products.
Let me ask here what Eric would call the goods the Americans import from China. Even a baseball cap I bought in the States the other day was labeled Made in China.
Eric keeps on moaning that there are less than 2000 hamburger restaurants in Germany (McDonald's and Burger King combined), but there are 3500 China restaurants and 12,000 döner places. KFC only has 120 chain stores. Following massive investments in the 1980ies, Wendy's even withdrew from the German market.
In Freiburg, the downtown Burger King restaurant threw in the towel on November 30, 2013. Will the Döner now invade the States?
Eric keeps on moaning that there are less than 2000 hamburger restaurants in Germany (McDonald's and Burger King combined), but there are 3500 China restaurants and 12,000 döner places. KFC only has 120 chain stores. Following massive investments in the 1980ies, Wendy's even withdrew from the German market.
In Freiburg, the downtown Burger King restaurant threw in the towel on November 30, 2013. Will the Döner now invade the States?
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| No Whoppers anymore but lots of döner shops in Freiburg's Bermuda Triangle near the university(©BZ) |
Is this so terrible, considering that the German Gutenberg invented movable type printing? Does Eric remember the 1970ies when the Japanese bought real estate and firms in the States with their accumulated dollars? And why does he not criticize the Chinese who use their surplus dollars to invest them in the States rather than selling all their greenbacks on the money market, thus devaluating the anchor currency?
At the end of his article, Eric states that America is a domestic market with only ten percent of its national output based on export. In contrast, Germany, with a small domestic market, necessarily is an exporting country where the relevant figure is thirty percent.
I just read an article that ice sandwiches made in Berlin according to an old US recipe are the latest hit in our capital:
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At the end of his article, Eric states that America is a domestic market with only ten percent of its national output based on export. In contrast, Germany, with a small domestic market, necessarily is an exporting country where the relevant figure is thirty percent.
I just read an article that ice sandwiches made in Berlin according to an old US recipe are the latest hit in our capital:
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| ©Die Zeit |
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