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It's not like Germans are squirrels piling up acorns for the winter. They are keeping gigantic amounts of money in cash, cash that nobody wants. When the cras
by QuesnayJr 7y ago
It's not like Germans are squirrels piling up acorns for the winter. They are keeping gigantic amounts of money in cash, cash that nobody wants. When the crash hits, they didn't do anything useful to prepare for it.
- luckylion 7y ago> It's not like Germans are squirrels piling up acorns for the winter. It's exactly like that. They save not because "omg saving is so cool", they save for rainy days. Germans value predictability and security over short term consumption, though that is changing slowly.
- QuesnayJr 7y agoThey didn't do that at all. Did they stockpile food, or gasoline? Did they build extra houses, or cars, or infrastructure. They did not. They put money in the bank. Money by itself doesn't do anything. It has to be invested, and right now the risk-free investments have negative interest rates. It's hard for individuals to save the way squirrels do. Farmers could do it, but that's it. Now it requires governments, and Germans elected a government that refused to do it, and instead imposed balanced budgets instead. Now they are suffering the consequences of that.