In the last four weeks of talks aimed at forming a governing coalition, Germany's two main parties -- the Christian Democrats under chancellor-in-waiting Angela Merkel and the Social Democrats -- have quietly transformed themselves. Reforming the country's flagging economy seems no longer to be a top priority. 

And German commentators are not happy. Rather than show any vision, editorialists say on Friday, the country's leading politicians have instead opted for tax hikes that may help plug budget holes but will hurt businesses and keep consumers out of the shops. Party negotiators have agreed to raise sales tax to 19 percent from 16 percent from January 2007. They are still discussing a possible tax on the wealthy in talks expected to finally come to a close late Friday evening.

Financial Times Deutschland says the government's plans are causing outrage across the country. "A handful of politicians are sitting together in Berlin and devastating Germany," writes the paper in an editorial next to a cartoon showing an unhappy German left with nothing but his vest and underpants after his empty-pocketed trousers have been taken away from him. Not a single member of the negotiating teams has come up with any proposals that could be termed forward-looking or confidence inspiring, the paper says. "What's happening in Berlin is an attack on democracy." Ordinary Germans are losing faith in the parliamentary system, it warns darkly. "The makers of the grand coalition are reducing the state to the function of a grand pimp that doesn't give a hoot about rationality, promises or the future –- and which appears to be primarily focused on looking after itself."

Mass circulation tabloid Bild says the "grand coalition" being finalized between Merkel's CDU and outgoing Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's SPD is taking the easy way out by opting for higher sales tax rather than cutting back on government spending. "A grand coalition with grand plans? Unfortunately not!" writes the paper. "This grand coalition has so far achieved little more than agree on the lowest common denominator." The paper, which earlier this week published photo montage pictures of the party leaders sporting elongated noses, quotes top auto industry executives saying the parties have lied about their policies.

Left-wing Die Tageszeitung is equally scathing. "Where are the positive signals? What direction does this government want to take? It hasn't formed a vision to encourage people, and it hasn't got the courage to invest substantial sums into research, development and new products that will be hits of the future." Germans are being punished for not having had enough children, not having worked hard enough, and not having spent enough money, writes the paper.

Business daily Handelsblatt says the last few weeks have made clear that Merkel will fail to create the "coalition of new possibilities" she had promised in the wake of the post-election chaos. "The state is restructuring its finances –- but it's doing so at the expense of its citizens," writes the paper. It noted that the payroll of government employees has remained at a steady 15 percent of public spending in the last seven years while federal investment outlays have fallen by €7 billion euros. "A government really committed to saving money should rationalize in the same way private sector companies have in recent years," writes Handelsblatt. "This simple idea has been lacking in the long coalition negotiations over recent weeks. That speaks for itself."

In addition to trashing on their own politicians, commentators on Friday also take a look at the devastating terrorist attacks that struck Amman, Jordan on Wednesday. Some 60 people were killed in the attacks which, according to a Friday statement posted by al-Qaida on the Internet, were carried out by four people from Iraq including a husband and wife team.

Conservative daily Die Welt says al-Qaida's triple hotel bomb blasts may backfire because the victims were ordinary Jordanian Muslims rather than members of the police, the army or royal family. "Even diehard fanatics should now finally realize that the totalitarian nihilists of al-Qaida are waging a war against the whole of humanity, at least against all who don't want to bow to their demand for total domination," writes the paper. Attacks such as those in Amman will fail to rock Jordan's society and are abhorred by everyone apart from those who already back the terror of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born leader of al-Qaida operations in neighboring Iraq who is believed to be behind the blasts, says the paper.