Economic Effects

The Netherlands, while a very affluent country with a robust economy, is just as adversely effected by the world's current economic downturn as anyone else.  The Dutch stereotype is similar to the Scottish stereotype; very tight with the money.  It is true, the Dutch hate to spend money.  The average Dutchman saves almost 14% of their disposable income every month (according to a radio show I heard a couple days ago this is about 240 Euros a month into savings).  The average American saves less than 5%.  Dutch people do not use credit cards, they abhor debt.  The average American owes $10,000 to $14,680 in credit card debt alone (different stats by different sources but the effect is the same).

The historic economic paranoia means that the Dutch will start to cut back spending at a point where most other countries would think they were on top of the world.  So right now a lot of simple stuff just isn't getting done.  Road and bridge work continues as well as any other project that directly impacts commerce and trade.  But other things are put off.  In my village, the Gemeente (municipality) is only cutting grass in public areas twice a year.  This past winter theu made no attempt at all to clear roads or put down salt except on major roads.  My village was nearly impossible to drive through several times this year.

The Dutch government announced severe military personnel and funding cutbacks earlier this year.  Several thousand positions will be eliminated; and that is from an already really small military force.  The entire Dutch army, for example, was only three brigades.  The Dutch eliminated their entire armor force as part of this cutback; they no longer have tanks.  See the news article below:

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

The Dutch Military In Action...Against Cuts

For (most) foreign soldiers it's a strange concept, but in the Netherlands there are several military Labor Unions. When the plans of the current Dutch government became known, they started organising small scale action meetings to get attention for the consequences of those plans. The first was on December 10 on Volkel AFB.

After that came a surprise. At a demonstration in the Dutch seat of government, the Hague, for all employers in the public sector a lot of soldiers were present in uniform. That was something I had never seen before. When the actual cuts were presented, different military unions (7) decided to join forces. They have organised 30 local action meetings and set up a website and twitter account.

And while soldiers aren't allowed to strike, they have decided they will stop with all the volunteer work they do. And they do a LOT. Also, they will do rule-book slowdowns. This could have consequences for Rotterdam and Eindhoven airport, that are also military airports and civilian flights could be delayed because of it.

So if it takes you a little longer to get services done or the Dutch military member you work with is not in a great mood; you now know why.