Angela Merkel, German chancellor, is Time 'Person of the Year - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Lium;49281374]She won the award for fighting against tyranny, but Daesh's leader is #2 on the list, and past awardwinners have been Hitler and Stalin. Quite frankly this award is worthless and ridiculous.[/QUOTE] Uh no, she won the award because this year she steered Germany into a leading role in Europe's response to the Ukraine Crisis, bailed out Greece, and then integrated hundreds of thousands of refugees into Germany, you haven't even read the first page of this thread because people have already explained that the award is not about being a good influence but being a significant influence on the world [quote=TIME MAGAZINE]Then came 2015. Not once or twice but three times this year there has been reason to wonder whether Europe could continue to exist, not culturally or geographically but as a historic experiment in ambitious statecraft. Merkel had already emerged as the indispensable player in managing Europe’s serial debt crises; she also led the West’s response to Vladimir Putin’s creeping theft of Ukraine. But now the prospect of Greek bankruptcy threatened the very existence of the euro zone. The migrant and refugee crisis challenged the principle of open borders. And finally, the carnage in Paris revived the reflex to slam doors, build walls and trust no one.[/quote]

[QUOTE=EdvardSchnitz;49281216]A woman who screwed over Europe and her country..[/QUOTE] She made Germany the most powerful economy in Europe

[QUOTE=Zeke129;49281430]She made Germany the most powerful economy in Europe[/QUOTE] What? No

[QUOTE=RichyZ;49281300]they should rename it to "Time's Person or Persons who impacted the world either negatively or positively this year of the year award for people who cannot read past the headlines"[/QUOTE] They should call it the Time Saltmaker of the Year

[QUOTE=Rofl_copter;49281412]time is and has always been a fucking joke[/QUOTE] No kidding. I still regard "You" as the biggest cop out in history.

[QUOTE=Dr.Critic;49281422]Uh no, she won the award because this year she steered Germany into a leading role in Europe's response to the Ukraine Crisis, bailed out Greece, and then integrated hundreds of thousands of refugees into Germany, you haven't even read the first page of this thread because people have already explained that the award is not about being a good influence but being a significant influence on the world[/QUOTE] I read it, I just chose to ignore it. [QUOTE=Time Magazine]Ms Gibbs wrote of Mrs Merkel: "For asking more of her country than most politicians would dare, [B]for standing firm against tyranny[/B] as well as expedience and for providing steadfast moral leadership in a world where it is in short supply, Angela Merkel is 'Time's Person of the Year'."[/QUOTE] It's all bullshit and you know it. None of the people (or groups) on that list deserve any kind of awards.

[QUOTE=Zeke129;49281430]She made Germany the most powerful economy in Europe[/QUOTE] Germany's economy was already going very strong before Merkel took the wheel. Although I wonder what more than 1 million refugees/immigrants are going to do to that powerful economy in the following years.

[QUOTE=Firewarrior;49281436]What? No[/QUOTE] Germany is the largest national economy in Europe and fifth largest in the world. That's insanely impressive and also such common knowledge it's literally the first sentence on the wikipedia article for Germany. Perhaps I should have said "presided over the most powerful economy in Europe". [editline]9th December 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=Jordax;49281465]Germany's economy was already going very strong before Merkel took the wheel. Although I wonder what more than 1 million refugees/immigrants are going to do to that powerful economy in the following years.[/QUOTE] Western nations need immigrants to maintain the economy because our birthrates are so low.

[QUOTE=Jordax;49281465]Germany's economy was already going very strong before Merkel took the wheel. Although I wonder what more than 1 million refugees/immigrants are going to do to that powerful economy in the following years.[/QUOTE] Should have spend all that money building a wall instead.

[QUOTE=Zeke129;49281468] Western nations need immigrants to maintain the economy because our birthrates are so low.[/QUOTE] So why don't they just ask more skilled youth from Spain and Greece then? I've heard that they have a huge amount of joblessness with their youth, but apparently they don't deserve any help in getting a job for themselves according to Merkel's actions. Hell, I thought that the European Union was supposed to look out for other European countries first. Or doesn't that seem to be the case anymore as of late?

It's not the birth rates. An immigrating work force keeps the labor costs low in developed nations, thus assuring growth in the long term. A population replacement is a side-effect, of course, but Germany's immigration-based labor force wasn't founded on that exclusively. The post-war economy of Central Europe was practically built on cheap guest workers from less developed countries of the Mediterranean. The problem is that they're not cheap any more. You want a cheap work force? You got to dig deeper. In 30 years you'll probably have Germany import populace from Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, and other developing regions. Unless automation eats up the whole economy by that point. You never know.

[QUOTE=Zeke129;49281468]Germany is the largest national economy in Europe and fifth largest in the world. That's insanely impressive and also such common knowledge it's literally the first sentence on the wikipedia article for Germany. Perhaps I should have said "presided over the most powerful economy in Europe". [/QUOTE] I never said the country I live in isn't the largest economy in Europe. It just isn't like that because of Merkel.

Time person of a year is more of a designation than an actual award. Or maybe some of you are still waiting for that certificate when everyone won in 2006

[QUOTE=Zang-Pog;49281914]Yes and Merkel has nothing to do with Germany being economically strong[/QUOTE] Of course the 10-year leader of a country is partially responsible for the economy of a country. Her government not only got the country out of a recession in 2009 but turned it around in two years and managed to break old unemployment records. Germany has done better than ever under Merkel and it's really naive to think that the leader of the country isn't at least partially responsible for that.

Not bad, but not entirely good. The winner could have been worse.

TIME is a fucking shitty libtard magazine. This shouldn't be a surprise. [highlight](User was banned for this post ("Memeshit/Shitposting" - rilez))[/highlight]

[QUOTE=0x0000000C;49282181]libtard [/quote] lul [editline]d[/editline] damn

so the poll said berny sanders won and he didn't even place on the list

[QUOTE=Sableye;49282210]so the poll said berny sanders won and he didn't even place on the list[/QUOTE] TIMES picks their own and does a poll to see what the people think. The poll has nothing to do with the cover

The final list could double as an infamy ranking on Facepunch.

[QUOTE=Zeke129;49281468] Western nations need immigrants to maintain the economy because our birthrates are so low.[/QUOTE] Cos we can't fucking afford babies etc

[QUOTE=Bathtub;49281244]why is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi #2[/QUOTE] And why are the rest of the people even relevant? Like that transgender person. Like who gives a shit? Why does the media hype it up so much? So he changed gender and publicly came out as transgender. Great, good for him, but why does anyone give a shit? I just don't get all this. Why is the president of Iran relevant? At this point i'm surprised that they didn't put that guy on there who created that clock for his school and got labelled as a terrorist and got so much publicity for like a month, then faded into obscurity..

That top 7 sucks, trying my hand at it because why the fuck not. A random facepuncher's opinion can't be much worse than Time magazine's 1. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi 2. Bernie Sanders 3. Syrian Refugees 4. Francis I 5. Bashar al-Assad 6. Narendra Modi 7. Justin Trudeau By impact imo

[QUOTE=Zeke129;49281430]She made Germany the most powerful economy in Europe[/QUOTE] She didn't make Germany an economic powerhouse.

[QUOTE=Jordax;49281465]Germany's economy was already going very strong before Merkel took the wheel. Although I wonder what more than 1 million refugees/immigrants are going to do to that powerful economy in the following years.[/QUOTE] As long as those migrants are allowed to work and don't suffer workplace discrimnation, probably pretty well. [url=http://business.time.com/2013/01/30/the-economics-of-immigration-who-wins-who-loses-and-why]Studies have shown[/url] that immigrants can actually improve countries economies since most of them are low-skilled workers and thus take the jobs that average citizens of first world countries (read high-skilled workers) don't take. Not to mention in general it just increases the number of jobs because employers see a larger workforce who are also a large consumer base creating more jobs. Oh and if anyone thinks that this will put more of a strain on the social welfare system, get the fuck out. As long as they work, immigrants will usually pay more into the system than they get out.

[QUOTE=TornadoAP;49282800]As long as those migrants are allowed to work and don't suffer workplace discrimnation, probably pretty well. [url=http://business.time.com/2013/01/30/the-economics-of-immigration-who-wins-who-loses-and-why]Studies have shown[/url] that immigrants can actually improve countries economies since most of them are low-skilled workers and thus take the jobs that average citizens of first world countries (read high-skilled workers) don't take. Not to mention in general it just increases the number of jobs because employers see a larger workforce who are also a large consumer base creating more jobs. Oh and if anyone thinks that this will put more of a strain on the social welfare system, get the fuck out. As long as they work, immigrants will usually pay more into the system than they get out.[/QUOTE] A study of Hispanics heading to America solely for work?

[QUOTE=Rangergxi;49282820]A study of Hispanics heading to America solely for work?[/QUOTE] And? You can easily compare the illegal immigration of Hispanics to the migration being seen from the middle east. The only real difference is the culture, which is probably the biggest problem anyways. Here's several more relevant links if you really want them: [url]http://www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/briefings/fiscal-impact-immigration-uk[/url] [url]http://fortune.com/2015/09/08/germany-migrant-crisis/[/url] [url]http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/what-migration-can-and-cant-do-for-a-countrys-gdp/[/url]

Is she the first German chancellor to win since......that other guy?

[QUOTE=mdeceiver79;49281248]American conservative thinking he can talk about politics. Aside from the arguably poor handling of immigration and pension age shift what has she done wrong?[/QUOTE] So because someone is an American conservative it means they can't talk about politics?

[QUOTE=Daniel Smith;49282687]That top 7 sucks, trying my hand at it because why the fuck not. A random facepuncher's opinion can't be much worse than Time magazine's 1. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi 2. Bernie Sanders 3. Syrian Refugees 4. Francis I 5. Bashar al-Assad 6. Narendra Modi 7. Justin Trudeau By impact imo[/QUOTE] Bernie Sanders hasn't done much of international relevance outside of perhaps looking refreshingly sane and hasn't had a great impact, if any on US foreign policy. The fact that he's more left than American politics is used to and he's still gained good ground is impressive but you've got to remember this is still in a country where Donald Trump can say something more offensive every week and not only fail to sink his ship, but also maintain twice the support of the next Republican candidate. Syrian refugees? Yeah, I can't argue with that. Francis? Eeeh. He said a few iffy things this year, and he also said quite a few good things but I wouldn't say he's made a "massive impact" on the world either way Bashar al-Assad has basically done nothing but bend over and present his asshole to ISIS and the FSA up until the point the Russians intervened and started obliterating his opponents. He's a point of contention but noone really gives a fuck what he thinks. Had to quickly check who number 6 was. I don't see how he has made a massive impact outside of India or taken a great role and India isn't exactly at the forefront of world politics at the moment Justin Trudeau has done what, exactly? He pulled stopped airstrikes against ISIS and made a "representative" cabinet for some dumbshit reasoning that amounts to "its 2015!", not exactly forging a utopian and fair meritocracy there.