Fremder, Your comments echo exactly what I have witnessed in former Eastern european countries. Basically these countries are exploited, in a natural process by commercial drivers. In Gremany, as Germany is quite rightly the granular unit of identity, optimisation takes place to secure the strongest profits within it. In many cases, as you say, this has resulted in a closeout of competing enterprises. But as I said this isn't just happening in Germany, it is happening across the EU. In the EU, the granular entity is fast becoming the EU. Therefore, just like in Germany, the EU players will maximise for geratest profits, this is a perfectly natural thing to happen, however, within it lies the exact analog of Germany. Stronger financial entities eat the weaker entities, this is good for optimisation, but has a devastating effect geographically as the weaker ones are invariably in the east. Countering this natural process, is a difficult task, becuase ownership and control quickly move to the stronger player. Which in eastern terms is invariably not the local player. Indeed this was the whole idea with regard to the West's mantra for opening up eastern economies. It was well known that when you open up a weak player, the strong player comes in for rich pickings. Now of course people will talk of natural correction, and it does occur in the end, but the reality is that the playing field is changed forever, due to the fact that real estate and financial control are forever wrested from the local player and moved to the more powerful player. So industry can(not certain) return, due to lower wage rates... but even when/if it does, it is more on the terms of an enetrprise whose commercial centre of gravity lays somwhere else. So the wage slavery service and assembly economies are born, because there is no local champions to fight the local regional cause, to create a balanced protfolio for a region. There are always good intentions, but never enough cash!