According to the New York Times, almost everything in Germany comes back to soccer these days. A few days ago, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced tax increases coinciding with changes in the health care system. More than one commentator noticed how Ms. Merkel tried to slip that in there while everyone was cheering on the national team. People have been talking about everything from the national identity to the weather as functions of the World Cup and its happy atmosphere. “It’s astonishing,” said one former foreign minister, . “We’ve had a very depressing period. There was a sort of negative propaganda over the years on TV and everywhere about Germany’s decline.” He went on to talk about how there was no spring in Germanyjust a long harsh winter that suddenly turned into summer once the World Cup started. “The poor Togolese arrived in southern Germany in the spring and had to exercise in the snow. And then, suddenly, with the beginning of the World Cup, the heat of summer arrived, and everything changed,” he said. By providing public viewing areas, the German soccer federation has turned it into a national event whenever the team plays. The Times says the one in Berlin is the size of 11 soccer fields and can accommodate 700,000 people. It also includes a Ferris wheel, beach volleyball, and seven big screens, and cost over $6 million. It fills up hours before game time, with the multitudes wearing the German colors. Soccer, as they say, is good for the national psyche.