system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Can someone explain Angela Merkel's unwavering stance on immigration and it's impact on the the German opinion polls?What is her endgame in all of this?
gpt
Merkel was born and raised in communist East Germany so she understands oppression and empathises with the refugees' predicament. She is also reputed to hate the concept of borders, seeing them as containment rather than defence.

Is she securing a source of cheap labour for the future? It's unclear but if so, it's a very precarious policy because of the social and cultural upheaval that it brings with it. And, with the meteoric rise of the AfD, it appears that a growing number of Germans vehemently disagree with the policy.

The problem is, from an economic standpoint, it doesn't really make any sense; the German economy is doing very well compared to the rest of Europe almost entirely because it uses a currency which is extremely devalued in relation to its economic strength. That is a situation which cannot go on much longer - either the Euro will collapse or the EU will go for total fiscal union, both scenarios would stick a knife in the German economy and it will be left holding 2 million refugees that it can no longer afford to support.

But Merkel is very much like many other EU grandees, they have this blinkered laissez-faire outlook, believing that everything will sort itself out in the end, regardless of the cost. As long as they get their United States of Europe, they'll be happy.