Head to the checkout at an Ikea in Stockholm to pay for your new leather corner sofa and with the swipe of a Visa card it is yours. Do not try that in Berlin — that will be 1,699 euros (NT$64,000) up front please.
It is that financial culture — a deep-seated aversion to debt and an emphasis on responsibility — that makes Chancellor Angela Merkel’s hardline approach to solving the European financial crisis so popular in Germany.
The attitude shows up in all walks of life, from the daily trip to the grocery store to putting a roof over your head.
Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
The economy is so reliant on cash for transactions small and big, a way to ensure you do not spend more than you have, that Germany pushed hard for the 500 euro note to replace its popular 1,000 mark bill when it joined the common currency.
Around the world Merkel has been derided as intransigent in her approach to the financial crisis, demanding budget cuts and fiscal austerity from allegedly profligate EU members. But her hardline stand plays well among the people who elected her.
A new poll for Stern magazine shows 64 percent of Germans think the chancellor should stick to her guns, while only 32 percent think she should reconsider her insistence on austerity.
(AP)
到斯德哥爾摩的宜家家居結帳櫃台替你的新角落皮沙發買單，只要刷一下威士卡，沙發就是你的了。在柏林可不能試這招，你得當場掏出一千六百九十九歐元（約新台幣六萬四千元）。
正是這種財務文化，也就是對債務根深柢固的厭惡及對責任的強調，才讓德國總理安潔拉˙梅克爾對解決歐洲金融危機所採取的強硬手段在德國這麼受歡迎。
從到雜貨店進行日常購物，到尋找一個棲身之所，這種態度展現在生活的各個面向中。
由於德國經濟非常仰賴現金來進行大大小小的交易，確保不會超支消費，以致德國在加入歐元區時就極力推動印製面額五百元的歐元紙鈔，來取代原本很受歡迎的千元德國馬克紙鈔。
在全球各地，梅克爾都曾因為在解決歐洲金融危機上採取強硬不妥協立場、要求被指為過度揮霍的歐盟成員國刪減預算並實施財政緊縮政策而遭到譏諷。但她的強硬立場在投票選出她為總理的選民間卻極受歡迎。
根據《Stern》週刊最新民調顯示，有百分之六十四的德國人認為總理應堅守立場，只有百分之三十二的民眾認為她該重新考量堅持撙節政策的做法。
（美聯社/翻譯：俞智敏）
A: Harvard professor Robert Waldinger’s “7-day Happiness Challenge” includes: Day 1: Take stock of your relationships; Day 2: The secret power of an 8-minute phone call; Day 3: Small talk with strangers has big benefits. B: That’s not too hard. What’s next? A: Day 4: Why you should write a “living eulogy;” Day 5: The importance of making work friends; Day 6: Don’t cancel those social plans. B: Good ideas. What’s the final challenge? A: Day 7: Keep happiness going all year long. So, I’m inviting some friends to the Taipei Lantern Festival today to build good relationships. Wanna
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