4 ms·

true. there was an interesting text posted here once, about how one of the worse things about poverty is that it kills the will to dream big and make plans. whe

by bakhy 11y ago

true. there was an interesting text posted here once, about how one of the worse things about poverty is that it kills the will to dream big and make plans. when you're scraping by, it's much harder, and any big plan can easily fall through due to bad luck (some unexpected expenses you cannot cover eat up your small savings, e.g., and ironically, since poverty is not healthy, unexpected expenses are more likely).

vog 11y ago
> ironically, since poverty is not healthy, unexpected expenses are more likely Well, that's mostly an US issue, I guess. When you live in a country with even modest public healthcare, such as Germany, things are not that terrible. Here, if you get ill, no matter how bad, you get the base treatment that you need. Of course you can (and should) pay on top of that for better treatment. But event without money, you don't have to fear to be denied important treatments. (With some unfortunate, but luckily very rare exceptions.) Thinking of that, I wonder why we Germans are so conservative, despite living relatively secure. A large portion of our people could take a lot of risk without falling too deep. Probably this is because "falling deep" here means to have to rely on social welfare provision, of which people are afraid of. But this is not really falling deep, compared to living on the street in utter poverty.
- bakhy 11y ago
  coincidentally, i live and work in Germany ;) immigrated from Croatia 2 years ago. and i agree, no doubt about it, the system is really functional here and provides a good safety net (although, welfare involves a bit of humiliation everywhere, the money is never just handed out...). from my kinda outsider perspective, Germans seem obsessed with doing the "right" thing. the word "ordentlich" came to mind ;) the culture is a bit conformist, not too much, but noticeably. so, many people play it safe, avoid going too far out on a limb. but i'm still processing the whole experience, and occasional culture shocks, so i don't stand too firmly behind these impressions.
- ant6n 11y ago
  Maybe having everything trashed during the World Wars (plus other interesting times like hyper-inflation) instilled conservatism in the common psyche.
kome 11y ago
Where can I find the article you are talking about?
- bakhy 11y ago
  it was a while ago, but I think it was this one: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/sep/21/linda-tirado-poverty-hand-to-mouth-extract http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/sep/21/linda-tirado-... (hat tip to Algolia's HN search ;) )

by bakhy 11y ago

vog 11y ago

> ironically, since poverty is not healthy, unexpected expenses are more likely Well, that's mostly an US issue, I guess. When you live in a country with even modest public healthcare, such as Germany, things are not that terrible. Here, if you get ill, no matter how bad, you get the base treatment that you need. Of course you can (and should) pay on top of that for better treatment. But event without money, you don't have to fear to be denied important treatments. (With some unfortunate, but luckily very rare exceptions.) Thinking of that, I wonder why we Germans are so conservative, despite living relatively secure. A large portion of our people could take a lot of risk without falling too deep. Probably this is because "falling deep" here means to have to rely on social welfare provision, of which people are afraid of. But this is not really falling deep, compared to living on the street in utter poverty.

bakhy 11y ago
coincidentally, i live and work in Germany ;) immigrated from Croatia 2 years ago. and i agree, no doubt about it, the system is really functional here and provides a good safety net (although, welfare involves a bit of humiliation everywhere, the money is never just handed out...). from my kinda outsider perspective, Germans seem obsessed with doing the "right" thing. the word "ordentlich" came to mind ;) the culture is a bit conformist, not too much, but noticeably. so, many people play it safe, avoid going too far out on a limb. but i'm still processing the whole experience, and occasional culture shocks, so i don't stand too firmly behind these impressions.
ant6n 11y ago
Maybe having everything trashed during the World Wars (plus other interesting times like hyper-inflation) instilled conservatism in the common psyche.

kome 11y ago

Where can I find the article you are talking about?

bakhy 11y ago
it was a while ago, but I think it was this one: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/sep/21/linda-tirado-poverty-hand-to-mouth-extract http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/sep/21/linda-tirado-... (hat tip to Algolia's HN search ;) )