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Berlin is lead by a left-far left-green coalition and gets billions of € every year from the Länderfinanzausgleich. Basically, other germans pay for their citys

by JanSt 9y ago

Berlin is lead by a left-far left-green coalition and gets billions of € every year from the Länderfinanzausgleich. Basically, other germans pay for their citys reckless spending on questionable projects. High rents need more living space, not payed-by-other one

tannhaeuser 9y ago
It's been said the majority, or a large part, of the electorate of Berlin consists of people receiving welfare or other community/state benefits in some form or another, including the large number of state employees living in Berlin. It's a very unhealthy situation going forward, since the government of Berlin must appease that part of the electorate, rather than attracting eg. investors or people who can sustain themselves. That the state or municipality is an actor on the housing market really is a perversion and outright declaration of defeat on behalf of politicians. With the negative interest rate set by the European Central Bank and thus lack of investment opportunities, and given the growth of population in the metropolitan areas of Germany, you'd think this market should be able to see after itself, like it is in other areas of Germany. Even more so since housing has traditionally been an investment for people seeking to build up a rent for when they're old, a problem that will come big time to Germany in the years to come, the demographics being what they are. But social-democratic politicians in Berlin are generally incompetent or corrupt in the extreme; at the expense of other German's money, they rather want to be perceived as acting in the interest of their electorate.
- JanSt 9y ago
  This so much. Yet, I get downvoted for stating facts by people, who have no idea about the situation.
- Xylakant 9y ago
  How are employees of the federal government "receivers of state benefits"? It's a job like any other job - they work for money.
  - tannhaeuser 9y ago
    It wasn't meant in a derogatory sense, but rather as a remark on Berlin's special electorate composition.
  - JanSt 9y ago
    They are - in a sense - by taking 40 paid days off/year on average for being 'sick'. [1] That's two month out of every year in addition to ~10 holidays and 30 days vacation. [1] http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/gesundheitspolitik-in-berlin-beamte-sind-im-schnitt-40-tage-krank/11971286.html http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/gesundheitspolitik-in-berl...
    - Xylakant 9y ago
      These are not employees (Beamte are not employed) and they're not federal government. So the article kind of does not apply twice. These statistics also counts weekends and holidays as sick leave, so - as the article mentions - the data cannot be compared with the usual averages which do only count work days. On top, the groups with the highest sick leave are people in high risk jobs - policemen and firefighters. These are definitely not rent-seekers from the government.
      - tannhaeuser 9y ago
        My post wasn't an insult on state employees of any kind, or some such. The point was that the electorate consists to a very large extent of receivers of tax payer's money, and that the Berlin Senate buys their electorate with money they receive via cross-financing from other German countries ("Länderfinanzausgleich"), which I do not approve of. Edit: cf. rsync's quote
        Xylakant 9y ago
        This is not a case of the senate buying anything. The district of Kreuzberg uses it's right to preempt the sale and direct it to a public housing association. The voters in that building a most certainly not government employees, but low-income residents. You're mixing up things in a disingenuous way.
- rsync 9y ago
  "It's been said the majority, or a large part, of the electorate of Berlin consists of people receiving welfare or other community/state benefits in some form or another, including the large number of state employees living in Berlin. It's a very unhealthy situation going forward ..." I am reminded of this quote, which is often misattributed to Alexander Fraser Tytler[1]: "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing ..." [1] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Fraser_Tytler https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Fraser_Tytler
bwedw 9y ago
Why is this downvoted? Berlin is full of slackers, civil servants and other parasites who are supported by the working population.

by JanSt 9y ago

tannhaeuser 9y ago

It's been said the majority, or a large part, of the electorate of Berlin consists of people receiving welfare or other community/state benefits in some form or another, including the large number of state employees living in Berlin. It's a very unhealthy situation going forward, since the government of Berlin must appease that part of the electorate, rather than attracting eg. investors or people who can sustain themselves. That the state or municipality is an actor on the housing market really is a perversion and outright declaration of defeat on behalf of politicians. With the negative interest rate set by the European Central Bank and thus lack of investment opportunities, and given the growth of population in the metropolitan areas of Germany, you'd think this market should be able to see after itself, like it is in other areas of Germany. Even more so since housing has traditionally been an investment for people seeking to build up a rent for when they're old, a problem that will come big time to Germany in the years to come, the demographics being what they are. But social-democratic politicians in Berlin are generally incompetent or corrupt in the extreme; at the expense of other German's money, they rather want to be perceived as acting in the interest of their electorate.

JanSt 9y ago
This so much. Yet, I get downvoted for stating facts by people, who have no idea about the situation.
Xylakant 9y ago
How are employees of the federal government "receivers of state benefits"? It's a job like any other job - they work for money.
- tannhaeuser 9y ago
  It wasn't meant in a derogatory sense, but rather as a remark on Berlin's special electorate composition.
- JanSt 9y ago
  They are - in a sense - by taking 40 paid days off/year on average for being 'sick'. [1] That's two month out of every year in addition to ~10 holidays and 30 days vacation. [1] http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/gesundheitspolitik-in-berlin-beamte-sind-im-schnitt-40-tage-krank/11971286.html http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/gesundheitspolitik-in-berl...
  - Xylakant 9y ago
    These are not employees (Beamte are not employed) and they're not federal government. So the article kind of does not apply twice. These statistics also counts weekends and holidays as sick leave, so - as the article mentions - the data cannot be compared with the usual averages which do only count work days. On top, the groups with the highest sick leave are people in high risk jobs - policemen and firefighters. These are definitely not rent-seekers from the government.
    - tannhaeuser 9y ago
      My post wasn't an insult on state employees of any kind, or some such. The point was that the electorate consists to a very large extent of receivers of tax payer's money, and that the Berlin Senate buys their electorate with money they receive via cross-financing from other German countries ("Länderfinanzausgleich"), which I do not approve of. Edit: cf. rsync's quote
      - Xylakant 9y ago
        This is not a case of the senate buying anything. The district of Kreuzberg uses it's right to preempt the sale and direct it to a public housing association. The voters in that building a most certainly not government employees, but low-income residents. You're mixing up things in a disingenuous way.
rsync 9y ago
"It's been said the majority, or a large part, of the electorate of Berlin consists of people receiving welfare or other community/state benefits in some form or another, including the large number of state employees living in Berlin. It's a very unhealthy situation going forward ..." I am reminded of this quote, which is often misattributed to Alexander Fraser Tytler[1]: "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing ..." [1] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Fraser_Tytler https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Fraser_Tytler

bwedw 9y ago

Why is this downvoted? Berlin is full of slackers, civil servants and other parasites who are supported by the working population.