If you produce a lot of goods and you can lend money to the people who consume them and then as a result of the debt gain control of their fiscal policy to focus on repaying debt instead of either social services or developing competitive industry, that works out really well. Germany (German banks) can complain about not getting all they are owed, the same way the US and US banks can complain about a country like Haiti not paying their debt, but the system works out well for the lending countries/banks. And if you can actually infiltrate and corrupt their government it calls into question whether or not the debtors are accountable for their debt.
Either that or maybe Greek people are lazy and stupid.
So what’s going on here is that you live a country with a sane tax level already. We do not. I’ll be real with you zara, if you cared about money at all you’d already be in the US. You speak fluent English and are good at math. My 26 year old brother just got a 100k salary + up to 3x bonus gig at an consulting firm a few months ago. And you’re right that you’d pay less taxes, have the same level of healthcare, and get vastly better money.
People like you (the ones whose skills/abilities fit whatever society has a shortage of giving them economic power) have been doing really well in the US for the last forty five years or so. Everyone else has had it meaningfully worse, and for every notch better your life would get 4-5 people not as economically necessary as you would have it a notch worse.
It really comes down to what kind of society you’d like to live in. You should pay attention to the fact that I probably make 2-3x what you do and would opt for your tax system in a heartbeat. It wouldn’t be the best thing for me probably, but I have it better than I know how to process already.
This country was built for the ownership class. I’m on the bottom rung of that upper class, but it’s seriously as significant as having a title vs not having a title in the middle ages. It’s fucking crazy. I’m really having a weird time with the culture shock of it all.
Exactly. And good for her. She lives in a country where that’s a whole lot more viable. In this country if she did something similar she’d be risking her life. Ask anyone who was ever an adjunct professor and had a major medical emergency lol.
That is how I meant it and how I thought you understood it. You think wealth is flowing from Germany to Greece, right? You think the Greeks are to blame, right? What is their fault? They are not lazy or stupid, but just selfish and exploitative? The Germans are exploited (and stupid?)? They aren’t a democracy and you only blame some limited subset of Greeks? If they aren’t a democracy, then who is in charge?
Yeah I’m pretty sure the problem is her… and I understand what you’re going through. There are few things as annoying as what I call the undeserving poor. These are the people who are doing badly in society because they’re lousy people. These people are unpleasant, lazy, and a net negative for everyone who interacts with them (because their life’s goal is to get as much something for nothing as they possibly can).
Thing is these people exist in every social class. I’m convinced that one of the keys to a happy life is to set your boundaries firmly enough and far enough out that you never have to interact with these people more than the absolute minimum. I for sure wouldn’t still know your neighbor, and might go as far as moving to lose her. This is also why I actively avoid knowing my neighbors. I don’t want a relationship with those people, that could get really unpleasant if it went sideways.
The issue is when we see people applying this to every person who isn’t making money like them. Looks like that is what’s going on here. Also, does she know that person is on welfare? Or just making money by not working as hard?
So, you think every person needing help is a fraudster because of her? OK, from another post I just read it sounds like you think she is crazy. Not all poors are crazy. Hope that helps.
LOL. That response is exactly what I expected. How much of your income goes to helping poor people? Here, it’s like less than 5% and if she has issues I’m more than happy to help.
I’m definitely not going to talk about it here, but my brothers work is interesting. That’s what you’re being offered in the US. Money AND interesting work. There’s too much work to do for the number of people they need to do it, so you get to pick the mining shaft you want to go down AND get a nice cut of what you pull up in your cart.
Just remember that the amount more you’d be making here vs there came from somewhere and it wasn’t corporate profits… ours are bigger than yours.
She’s talking total burden between gross and net I’m pretty sure. She lives in Germany not in the US, so her taxes are legit way higher.
I’m genuinely interested in the layout of zara’s paycheck hilariously. I’d really like to look at every line and figure out how the german state taxes its citizens.