5 ms·
There has been at least one book about how "Germany/Germans are getting dumber", "The Big Crash is Coming" or something similar on the Spiegel Bestseller list a
by WA 7y ago
There has been at least one book about how "Germany/Germans are getting dumber", "The Big Crash is Coming" or something similar on the Spiegel Bestseller list at all times. So far, the big crash didn't come yet. These books don't talk about a market correction or a financial crisis like in 2008, but a total economic crash, because "a finite world can't have unlimited growth", because "capitalism", because "climate change".
People don't feel rich. In many families, both partners have a job. Median incomes didn't increase much in the last 10-15 years. With an after-tax monthly income of 5,160€ as a family (or 3,440€ as a single), you belong to the top 10% [1] (translates to roughly 100,000€ / 70,000€ pre-tax anually). The median monthly net income is 1,869€ (roughly around 35,000€ pre-tax anually).
At the same time, people are highly suspicious of the stock market. People have less time for their kids, which spend more time in the educational system. So people wonder if the educational system is really that great for their kids.
I think this is interesting. It's like a vicious cycle: According to [2], 23% of Germans own stocks (although I remember that this number used to be around 15% a few years ago). So, people read books about how everything is going to crash down soon, because they're suspicious of the stock market (and to be able to say "told you so" afterwards). At the same time, these books reinforce the idea that owning stocks is risky.
Most people would rather buy a home, but houses got very expensive in cities in the last 10 years. In major cities, a house for a family of 4 would cost around 800,000€ and more, which is quite expensive for the low salaries of 90% of the people.
Then, major newspapers now have articles about the climate crisis every day. There's the uncertainty of the Brexit. There is uncertainty about immigrants, but also uncertainty and fear of the rise of right-wing parties in Europe (and the AfD in Germany).
So, we have books about how "the system" is shit, how "the crash is coming", how "Germany gets dumber all the time", how "something needs to change". Add some fears about the before-mentioned topics and there's your new book every few months, same content, different cover.
[1]: https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2019-08/institut-der-deutschen-wirtschaft-einkommen-singlehaushalt-gehalt https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2019-08/institut-der-deutsche...
[2]: https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2019-08/geldanlage-sparen-verbraucher-zinsen-bankenverband https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2019-08/geldanlage-sparen-ver...
- hef19898 7y agoYou summed it up pretty well. All of which is reinforcing itself. Could turn, under the wrong circumstances, into a self fulfilling prophecy. But than isn't that valid for almost every other industrial nation as well?
- sc11 7y agoThese books also have in common that they cover topics that everyone has an opinion on, and that you can get really upset and angry over while not being in a position to really do anything about the "issues" they describe. As you say it's about how "something needs to change" but it's never the reader who has to change. > Add some fears about the before-mentioned topics and there's your new book every few months, same content, different cover. Talkshows and other media make these books even more profitable and popular. Publishing such a book almost guarantees that you'll be able to tour talkshows for a few weeks, give interviews to newspapers etc. as free marketing for your books.
- im3w1l 7y ago> but it's never the reader who has to change. Well to be fair the top book was about how to eat correctly. Isn't that about how the reader has to change?
- Killes 7y agoYeah, just as long as the masses don't change so much that they start demanding adequate compensation for their work everything is OK ;)
- sc11 7y agoI was refering to the kind of books that the parent comment also refered to: > There has been at least one book about how "Germany/Germans are getting dumber", "The Big Crash is Coming" or something similar on the Spiegel Bestseller list at all times. Not all books on the list are like that but there is indeed at least one of them at any given time. And those particular books never require the reader to change.
- 7y ago