Hi Mike, you make an interesting point about tax cutting and economic productivety. I actually agree with the liberal economic theory that high tax limits productivety and growth. This link has a story about German unemployment figures which demonstrates i think, that there high tax model leads to very high unemployment. Compare the rates with the UK over the past ten years or for a starker analysis look at the USA or Japan. Japan's unemployment is 5.7% right now (which is a record high) and thats after two 'lost decades' of little growth or none at all. Yet this rate is much lower than germanys. I would argue of Germany made it easier to hire and fire and also cut tax, especially at the low end then people would be more likely to work.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aeox2DyjApJs

I would also point out that German economic growth has been sluggish at best since reunification while the UK, USA have grown very well.

Germany may be the richest, but it has struggled over the past years and high tax and spend must be part of the reason for this.

The true test of this will be how each model rebounds from this economic mess. I would think that the lower tax, more economically liberal economies will bounce back quicker than the likes of Germany.