The EU/UK are cutting social programs in half?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The amount of paid leave in many of the EU countries is not sustainable.

Germany also supports a lot of former East Germans who don't have the educational level of West Germany.

Its been 30 years. The generation born the year of the Berlin Wall falling should have nearly 5-7 years of work experience postgraduate now.

Their parents are low level laborers. Many speak limited German.

The acquisition of Eastern Germany was at a very large long term financial cost to Western Germany.

Just a point of clarification. Easterners always spoke German as their native language. This is true before the wall was built, while it was up, and after it came down. At no point in the history of East Germany did another language take over and dominate. They are German and spoke German. Also, East Germany had literacy rates comparable to any western nation (indeed, it was a nation in the middle of Europe that was annexed by Russia-- it isn't different in any tangible way than the surrounding nations). And it continued to have compulsory education and also had universities.

Sadly, East Germans were oppressed under the rule of Russians. German women in East Berlin suffered the largest mass rape in history by the Red Army: https://english.alarabiya.net/amp/features/2018/03/11/PICTURES-The-largest-mass-rape-in-history. That does tend to change a culture. But they are still legitimate Germans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't claim to understand what is going on in Germany, but my young relatives (with small children) are becoming extremely frustrated. They claim that the income thresholds have been cut and now if one parent makes €40k/year, they can't get the parental subsidies beyond the €250/month kindergeld payment. They said that if the working parent just quit his job, he'd make more in welfare payments than the €40k, but at that salary they won't provide any extra payments. They blame this on the money spent on the Ukraine war, and they are also frustrated by the perception that refugees are getting more generous government support than native German families. My family member, a young father, said he's so frustrated he's planning to vote for AfD. The CDU/CSU has lost a lot of credibility with German voters because they were the conservative choice, but they were hugely pro-immigration and that hasn't played well.

So basically if they don't support the economy enough they don't qualify? That's interesting. I didn't know the base entry requirement was 40K a year. And now the limit for the payout is 100K. It seems its for the middle class then. But someone can qualify that statement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The amount of paid leave in many of the EU countries is not sustainable.

Germany also supports a lot of former East Germans who don't have the educational level of West Germany.

Its been 30 years. The generation born the year of the Berlin Wall falling should have nearly 5-7 years of work experience postgraduate now.

Their parents are low level laborers. Many speak limited German.

The acquisition of Eastern Germany was at a very large long term financial cost to Western Germany.

Source? That's a pretty extraordinary claim.

There is no source. East Germans are German. They speak German as their native language. With a different accent than the Bavarians, who have a different accent and dialect than the northern Germans, who have a different accent than the southwest Germans, who have a different accent and dialect than the Swiss Germans, and so on. PP has no idea what they're talking about. Many East Germans before the wall were highly educated. FGS. Angela Merkel is an East German with a Ph.D.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The amount of paid leave in many of the EU countries is not sustainable.

Germany also supports a lot of former East Germans who don't have the educational level of West Germany.

Its been 30 years. The generation born the year of the Berlin Wall falling should have nearly 5-7 years of work experience postgraduate now.

Their parents are low level laborers. Many speak limited German.

The acquisition of Eastern Germany was at a very large long term financial cost to Western Germany.

Just a point of clarification. Easterners always spoke German as their native language. This is true before the wall was built, while it was up, and after it came down. At no point in the history of East Germany did another language take over and dominate. They are German and spoke German. Also, East Germany had literacy rates comparable to any western nation (indeed, it was a nation in the middle of Europe that was annexed by Russia-- it isn't different in any tangible way than the surrounding nations). And it continued to have compulsory education and also had universities.

Sadly, East Germans were oppressed under the rule of Russians. German women in East Berlin suffered the largest mass rape in history by the Red Army: https://english.alarabiya.net/amp/features/2018/03/11/PICTURES-The-largest-mass-rape-in-history. That does tend to change a culture. But they are still legitimate Germans.

Your last paragraph is such load of bull!

[Anonymous]

They're never going back.

German-born children would automatically become citizens if one parent has been a legal resident for five years, down from eight years now.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/german-parliament-approves-easing-rules-citizenship-dropping-restrictions-106508544

[Anonymous]

Ethnically, Austrians are also Germans (shock). OP probably missed learning about the Holy Roman Empire in world history class. Clearly OP missed the unit on WWII. The thought of East Germans not being German is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't claim to understand what is going on in Germany, but my young relatives (with small children) are becoming extremely frustrated. They claim that the income thresholds have been cut and now if one parent makes €40k/year, they can't get the parental subsidies beyond the €250/month kindergeld payment. They said that if the working parent just quit his job, he'd make more in welfare payments than the €40k, but at that salary they won't provide any extra payments. They blame this on the money spent on the Ukraine war, and they are also frustrated by the perception that refugees are getting more generous government support than native German families. My family member, a young father, said he's so frustrated he's planning to vote for AfD. The CDU/CSU has lost a lot of credibility with German voters because they were the conservative choice, but they were hugely pro-immigration and that hasn't played well.

AfD as a frustration vote? this is a slippery slope and reminiscent of how the nazis came to power in the 1930s…my German friend is aghast that AfD has seen a rise of support for that party.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The amount of paid leave in many of the EU countries is not sustainable.

Germany also supports a lot of former East Germans who don't have the educational level of West Germany.

Its been 30 years. The generation born the year of the Berlin Wall falling should have nearly 5-7 years of work experience postgraduate now.

Their parents are low level laborers. Many speak limited German.

The acquisition of Eastern Germany was at a very large long term financial cost to Western Germany.

Source? That's a pretty extraordinary claim.

There is no source. East Germans are German. They speak German as their native language. With a different accent than the Bavarians, who have a different accent and dialect than the northern Germans, who have a different accent than the southwest Germans, who have a different accent and dialect than the Swiss Germans, and so on. PP has no idea what they're talking about. Many East Germans before the wall were highly educated. FGS. Angela Merkel is an East German with a Ph.D.

Speak German sure but they are Slavic from the terrible legacy of the red army.

[Anonymous]

I lived in Germany in the early 90s and was hospitalized in a German hospital for gallbladder removal. The German medical system kept me hospitalized for 4 days, while in the States, patients undergoing gallbladder removal had outpatient surgery. The German surgeon who did my surgery said the German medical system was unsustainable and too costly overall. He said he didn’t know how much longer it could be maintained.

The German women in our village had babies and were paid to stay home for 2 years, and at the end of the 2 years went back to work at their jobs their employer had to keep for them while they were home with their babies. Any raises and promotions they would have been due were automatically paid to them once they resumed work.

Turkish immigrants basically moved to Germany and received free housing, food, cash payments. They didn’t work and many sold drugs and made a lot of money while collecting benefits from the German government.

Germans don’t have ac or window screens. Their homes are unbearably hot and humid in summer. If you open windows for airflow, masses of large black flies invade even the cleanest of homes. You must own a tiny, cold water only washer that is only capable of washing small loads. I had a regular American washer and dryer and the German women in my neighborhood were covetous and jealous of the ability to wash more than 3 pairs of jeans in one load. These were highly educated women married to men with professional jobs. They all owned their own homes, a rarity in Germany. They had families of 2-3 kids they stuffed in tiny, fuel efficient cars like sardines.

We traveled extensively and loved Europe but the lifestyle is not comparable to living in the States. Someone a few pages back said the standard of living in Germany is better. I don’t think the people posting here would like to have a small, cold water washer, a tiny car for their family, no screens on windows and all insects flying in at will, no ability to keep their homes cool in summer. It would drive the people that post here nuts to live that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The amount of paid leave in many of the EU countries is not sustainable.

Germany also supports a lot of former East Germans who don't have the educational level of West Germany.

Its been 30 years. The generation born the year of the Berlin Wall falling should have nearly 5-7 years of work experience postgraduate now.

Their parents are low level laborers. Many speak limited German.

The acquisition of Eastern Germany was at a very large long term financial cost to Western Germany.

Source? That's a pretty extraordinary claim.

There is no source. East Germans are German. They speak German as their native language. With a different accent than the Bavarians, who have a different accent and dialect than the northern Germans, who have a different accent than the southwest Germans, who have a different accent and dialect than the Swiss Germans, and so on. PP has no idea what they're talking about. Many East Germans before the wall were highly educated. FGS. Angela Merkel is an East German with a Ph.D.

Speak German sure but they are Slavic from the terrible legacy of the red army.

OMG the Ahnenerbe have entered the chat.

Go back to your cave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Germany in the early 90s and was hospitalized in a German hospital for gallbladder removal. The German medical system kept me hospitalized for 4 days, while in the States, patients undergoing gallbladder removal had outpatient surgery. The German surgeon who did my surgery said the German medical system was unsustainable and too costly overall. He said he didn’t know how much longer it could be maintained.

The German women in our village had babies and were paid to stay home for 2 years, and at the end of the 2 years went back to work at their jobs their employer had to keep for them while they were home with their babies. Any raises and promotions they would have been due were automatically paid to them once they resumed work.

Turkish immigrants basically moved to Germany and received free housing, food, cash payments. They didn’t work and many sold drugs and made a lot of money while collecting benefits from the German government.

Germans don’t have ac or window screens. Their homes are unbearably hot and humid in summer. If you open windows for airflow, masses of large black flies invade even the cleanest of homes. You must own a tiny, cold water only washer that is only capable of washing small loads. I had a regular American washer and dryer and the German women in my neighborhood were covetous and jealous of the ability to wash more than 3 pairs of jeans in one load. These were highly educated women married to men with professional jobs. They all owned their own homes, a rarity in Germany. They had families of 2-3 kids they stuffed in tiny, fuel efficient cars like sardines.

We traveled extensively and loved Europe but the lifestyle is not comparable to living in the States. Someone a few pages back said the standard of living in Germany is better. I don’t think the people posting here would like to have a small, cold water washer, a tiny car for their family, no screens on windows and all insects flying in at will, no ability to keep their homes cool in summer. It would drive the people that post here nuts to live that way.

I lived in Germany in the early 2000s and loved my Bosch washer. Germans I know wax poetic over line dried laundry. They are not big fans of dryers.

Germans are more environmentally minded than the average American. My German friends sneer at wasteful American ways. Especially the cars. And owning a BMW is like owning a Ford over here. Even the utility trucks tend to be Mercedes. And I don’t know a single German who loves American air conditioning. On the contrary they’re more likely to complain about it and blame it for making them sick if they come over here. The climate is much milder in Germany in the summer than in most of the US so they don’t feel they need it.

Never had flies swarming in. I loved the awesome casement windows in all the places I lived in Germany. German houses are much more solid than American, built for durability, and the building materials tend to be much higher grade than Americans use. And that is especially true of their windows. And guess what you can get screens if you choose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Germany in the early 90s and was hospitalized in a German hospital for gallbladder removal. The German medical system kept me hospitalized for 4 days, while in the States, patients undergoing gallbladder removal had outpatient surgery. The German surgeon who did my surgery said the German medical system was unsustainable and too costly overall. He said he didn’t know how much longer it could be maintained.

The German women in our village had babies and were paid to stay home for 2 years, and at the end of the 2 years went back to work at their jobs their employer had to keep for them while they were home with their babies. Any raises and promotions they would have been due were automatically paid to them once they resumed work.

Turkish immigrants basically moved to Germany and received free housing, food, cash payments. They didn’t work and many sold drugs and made a lot of money while collecting benefits from the German government.

Germans don’t have ac or window screens. Their homes are unbearably hot and humid in summer. If you open windows for airflow, masses of large black flies invade even the cleanest of homes. You must own a tiny, cold water only washer that is only capable of washing small loads. I had a regular American washer and dryer and the German women in my neighborhood were covetous and jealous of the ability to wash more than 3 pairs of jeans in one load. These were highly educated women married to men with professional jobs. They all owned their own homes, a rarity in Germany. They had families of 2-3 kids they stuffed in tiny, fuel efficient cars like sardines.

We traveled extensively and loved Europe but the lifestyle is not comparable to living in the States. Someone a few pages back said the standard of living in Germany is better. I don’t think the people posting here would like to have a small, cold water washer, a tiny car for their family, no screens on windows and all insects flying in at will, no ability to keep their homes cool in summer. It would drive the people that post here nuts to live that way.

I lived in Germany in the early 2000s and loved my Bosch washer. Germans I know wax poetic over line dried laundry. They are not big fans of dryers.

Germans are more environmentally minded than the average American. My German friends sneer at wasteful American ways. Especially the cars. And owning a BMW is like owning a Ford over here. Even the utility trucks tend to be Mercedes. And I don’t know a single German who loves American air conditioning. On the contrary they’re more likely to complain about it and blame it for making them sick if they come over here. The climate is much milder in Germany in the summer than in most of the US so they don’t feel they need it.

Never had flies swarming in. I loved the awesome casement windows in all the places I lived in Germany. German houses are much more solid than American, built for durability, and the building materials tend to be much higher grade than Americans use. And that is especially true of their windows. And guess what you can get screens if you choose.

Forgot to say that it’s false that you can only wash in cold water in Germany. On the contrary my whites were never so white as when I lived thee because of the extra hot cycle that practically boiled them.