The Autobahn Is Just Fine, Thank You

So far, Martin Schulz, the Social Democrat candidate for the German chancellorship, has failed to dent the formidable poll lead of Angela Merkel's conservatives. But his latest attempt to prove that he can be a better leader for Germany is about more than politics: It touches on the country's biggest non-problem -- its allegedly crumbling infrastructure.

Few English-language news outlets have refrained from using this epithet (here's The Economist, Financial Times, CNBC, The Guardian). The news stories usually seize on a few anecdotes -- a worn-out bridge, a school with a leaky roof, train delays, traffic jams caused by widespread road repairs. But there's research to back it up, too: The German Construction Industry Association, for example, publishes surveys that show the quality of German streets, rail system, ports and airports deteriorating relative to European neighbors. It was, according to the group, as bad as in the U.S. in 2016.