[bildung]

> > while refusing to allow equivalent imports

> That very much is in citation needed territory, please give at least one example of how Germany is refusing intra-European imports in any category.

(Not GP.) You are of course right that Germany has not created import tariffs or other direct and illegal options. OTOH the German government has implemented numerous actions that indirectly had wage-suppressing effects (which per definition lowers imports and raises exports) in the last decade - to a degree that even the IMF(!) felt the urge to demanded actions for more domestic demand on multiple occasions [1][2].

The one notable exception is the implementation of a minimum wage law in 2015.

[1] 2012: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/imf-urges-germany-spur-domest... [2] 2014: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-05-19/imf-urges-...

edit: here's a graph comparing income-adjusted wage development of the developed countries: http://nrt.revues.org/docannexe/image/1382/img-2.jpg

[rwissmann]

Germany had anemic economic growth about 15-20 years ago. After hard political fighting these sort of reforms were enacted.

Competition is global. Greece is not just not competitive with Germany, but also with China, the US, Japan, Australia, ... . That is the real problem.

[jahewson]

Except that Greece isn't in a currency union with those other countries. If Greece had their own weak currency then it would make their exports cheaper, which might make them better off (except that leaving the Euro would trigger a financial collapse). China has been trying to keep the Yen cheap against the dollar for this reason, if your goods are cheap then ohers will buy more of them or prefer you over another producer.