Pundits greeted Angela Merkel’s convincing election win in Germany Sunday with a collective yawn. Commentators think the German economy is sluggish and over-dependent on exports, and believe that a change in the German government from a grand coalition to a center-right coalition will make little policy difference.

I think that’s wrong. It’s an erroneous viewpoint that’s symptomatic of the short memories of the chattering media. It’s also one that could cause investors to miss out on one of the best profit plays in the global marketplace today.

I’m talking about Germany – the real powerhouse of Europe.

The “New” Germany

From the 1950s to the 1980s, West Germany consistently delivered high growth rates and low inflation. West German engineering proved superior to any other…

The American economy contracted only 0.7% in the second quarter, the government finalized today. That’s down from its previous projection of 1% and practically seals the deal for a positive GDP number when Uncle Sam gives his initial third-quarter guess in late October.

Still, this is the fourth consecutive official drop in GDP — the longest U.S. economic losing streak since records began in 1947. The economy has contracted 3.8% since then, the deepest pullback since the Great Depression.

Paging through the fine print, there’s only one outlier — one segment of blockbuster growth while the rest of the economy muddles through, at best: federal government spending, up 11.4%.

“In some ways, the whole GDP discussion is irrelevant,” says Chris Mayer. “As investors,…