Germans are poorer than ever

UPI
Berlin -- "German politicians are debating poverty in a country where some 6.5 million people feel they are increasingly left behind in society, a new underclass that may undermine the stability of any government, observers say.

Commissioned by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, a think tank with close links to the governing center-left Social Democratic Party, or SPD, the study entitled 'Society in the Process of Reform' was carried out by German research institute TNS Infratest and polled some 3,000 voters on their attitudes toward social justice.

The results of the study have shocked the German political scene. Among the figures was that 8 percent of Germans -- some 6.5 million -- saw themselves as having been completely ostracized, or 'left behind,' in society.

One in five people in eastern Germany and one in 20 people in western Germany were said to belong to the ever-growing group of those who are left behind: People with little education, temporary, insecure jobs or no work at all, and nearly no chance of climbing the social ladder.

Leading sociologists have warned that the growing social inequality may lead to civil unrest similar to last year's riots in France, as Germany has traditionally been a country where the lower class can bank on an extensive social net to fall back into." Read on.