Socialists on the Run

Germany Swings to the Center-Right

German Chancellor Angela Merkel cruised to victory in federal elections on Sunday with enough votes to form a new center-right government with her preferred partner, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP).

[Snip]

With a combined total of around 49 percent, the CDU/CSU and the FDP won a stable majority in Germany’s multiparty system. This will give Merkel the green light to ditch the awkward four-year-old “grand coalition” between the CDU/CSU and her party’s main rival, the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), and replace it with a center-right CDU/CSU-FDP coalition.

All well and good but when it comes to left-right differences in Europe, it's a matter of perspective: when labor-left proposes a top tax bracket of 101 percent, "conservatives" counter with 96 percent and the two parties settle at 99 percent. Still, it's a step in the right direction and, I hope, a harbinger of things to come in the States.