Occupy Frankfurt 15 October 2011
Occupy Frankfurt started with an estimated 200 protesters staking out tents and pickets around the giant Euro sign by the headquarters of the European Central Bank since the weekend. Their ranks swelled to an estimated 6,000. Critics can easily point to the ECB’s move to prop up ailing euro-zone lenders with liquidity and bond-buying operations as a sign that public money is being used to improve the lot of banks and bankers rather than regular citizens.
What are they upset about in Germany?
Consider a few statistics for youth unemployment, which at 9.7% for 2010 in Germany was among the lowest of more than 30 countries measured by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In the U.S., the jobless rate for 15- to 24-year-olds during the same period was nearly twice as high at 18.4%, and reached 41.6% in Spain. What’s more, few young Germans are saddled by the kind of student loans and other debt often cited by US protesters as a source for their discontent.
German economic expectations fell to a three-year low in October on fears the euro-zone debt crisis is driving Europe’s largest economy into a recession.
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