Triumph of Neo-Liberalism: The German Table Movement

For years The Wall Street Journal has ridiculed Germany for its social welfare system, pointing to the slow growth and high unemployment as the direct consequences. According to the WSJ editors, the path to "American-style" prosperity is tax cuts for the wealthy and an a wholesale jettison of expensive social programs. Germany has been systematically dismantling the Sozialstaat of the postwar era, and now the Wall Street Journal reports on its front page on the new reality: New Trend in Germany: Handouts for the Poor (subsciption required):

WUPPERTAL, Germany -- Men with shoulders hunched against the rain line
up at the back of a van, where volunteers dole out bowls of stew and
chunks of bread. Once served, the men take shelter under shop awnings
to eat. Few speak.The scene could date from the Great Depression, but it takes place
every evening in this bustling industrial city in Western Germany

Like others sipping their soup, Hans Martin says he comes here for a
simple reason: "Hartz IV." That is the 2005 welfare law that slashed
benefits for Germans who have been out of work for over a year. Mr.
Martin, a 54-year-old former warehouse worker with heart trouble and
numerous missing teeth, says he can't find work. His monthly benefit
checks cover him for only about 20 days, he says. Toward the end of
each month, he comes to the soup van to avoid going to bed hungry.
"I'm lucky, I don't drink," he says. "Others here do and they run out
of money on day 10."

The article goes on to descibe the volunteer "Table Movement" (Tafel-Bewegung) which has been filling the void with soup kitchens across Germany.  But still, it rankles that the destitute in Germany aren't quite as miserable as their American counterparts:

In all of Germany, around 14 million people, or 17% of the population,
live below the poverty line, which today corresponds to a monthly
income of about $1,280 for a person living alone. Such poverty is far
less acute than the destitution found in slums of developing countries
or even in those of some U.S. cities. And in contrast to millions of
poor Americans, all Germans have health insurance.

How long before Germany has an "American-style" health care system?