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Being a consultant in Germany myself I can tell you that during the whole "Bundeswehr Berateraffäre" (an alledged scandal involving contracts given to consultan

Being a consultant in Germany myself I can tell you that during the whole "Bundeswehr Berateraffäre" (an alledged scandal involving contracts given to consultancies when von der Leyen was Secretary of Defense), that at least all Blue Chip to Mid Cap Stock Index companies in Germany cringed in silence, as the 300M € von der Leyen supposedly embazzled look pathetic to the budgets these companies dump on consultants each year. One scrum team will easily go for 1.5-2M per year just for the non-managerial developer staff. It was a classic non-scandal, with zero convictions or indictments in the end, in stark contrast to the attention it got in the media. Not surprising considering how German journalists tend to dislike conservatives in general and how my countrymen on average lack basic financial education. Disclaimer: I never voted conservative (CDU) and never will, but as much as I don't like von der Leyen "she's well known for nepotism" is just unfair and untrue.

codethief 6y ago
> the 300M € von der Leyen supposedly embazzled look pathetic to the budgets these companies dump on consultants each year Are you saying that Blue Chip to Mid Cap Stock Index companies regularly spend > 1B on consulting?
- johndrocky 6y ago
  He might be referring to Germanys beacons of good corporate governance and not corruption; Deutschebank and Wirecard Either way using relativism to minimise a crime is sophistry "I murdered a few people - the US government kills thousands of people a year in <current war>" - you're still guilty of murder, even if someone is better at the crime than you are.
  - woodpanel 6y ago
    still guilty of murder - so much for subtlety… Again: Although there were a parliamentary investigations, there was no crime. No conviction, no indictment, no charges pressed. 300M € was what was spent on all external consultancies combined. The yearly Bundeswehr budget is 42 bln € [1]. 300M is < 1%. In 2018, the big four (KPMG, PwC, EY and Deloitte) extracted 650M € from the 30 DAX companies alone. And that is just the auditor segment. This doesn't include the strategic consultancies, IT consultancies or Headhunters. And it also doesn't include the consultancy subsidiaries of said DAX companies. Speaking of subsidiary consultancies: 2/3 of said 300M € "embazzled Bundeswehr money" were spent on it's own consultancy BDI. This whole "Affair" just resides on general public resentment of the word "consultant" and the public's inability and unwillingness to calculate or research these numbers themself. Especially as soon as there is a "smoking gun" to find by focusing all efforts on looking the other way, which allows us to create a hoax like this. [1] German: "Milliarde"
    - codethief 6y ago
      > In 2018, the big four (KPMG, PwC, EY and Deloitte) extracted 650M € from the 30 DAX companies alone Compared to 650M € and 30 DAX companies, 300M € spent by one single "company" do not sound like peanuts, especially since AFAIK the latter money was only meant for IT services & infrastructure(?) > 2/3 of said 300M € "embazzled Bundeswehr money" were spent on it's own consultancy BDI. I suppose you meant BWI, as in https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/BWI_GmbH https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/BWI_GmbH ?
- woodpanel 6y ago
  Yes (See my explanation in another answer). I also like to point out that of those political groups that were screaming foul the loudest with regards to the "consultant affair", these were the groups with the least interest in or sympathy to the German military. Which is adding insult to injury because the whole reason the Bundeswehr has to hike its expenditures on consultants at all is because policies of the last decades, specifically of those groups, left the Bundeswehr one of the least attractive employers in the whole country, especially for seeked after talent.
fakedang 6y ago
What's more pathetic is that even after such high government expenditures in defence, Germany still lags behind most smaller nations in terms of the size of its army as well as the technological capabilities. So clearly she hasn't done a good job, yet she's been rewarded with the presidency of the EU, which is corruption in itself.
- woodpanel 6y ago
  What's more pathetic is… I'm sorry, the cost/performance ratio makes complete sense. The Bundeswehr is culturally frowned upon in large parts of our society since at least the 1970s so it is no wonder that policies enacted breathe that spirit. Thus we are a country whose military openly admits it can't defend the country. For a couple of years now. There is close to zero outcry about that, certainly less outcry than the "Berateraffaire" got. So clearly she hasn't done a good job Not saying she did in general, but blaming an army depleted and frowned upon for decades on her six years as Secretary of Defense (SoD) is deceitful (not saying that you do). On the contrary: Turning this shipwreck around affords even more expenditures. So expect the cost/performance ratio to become even worse. she's been rewarded with the presidency of the EU, which is corruption in itself. Since von der Leyen clearly hasn't proved herself to be included in the realms of sinister masterminds (she got ousted from her SoD job for a non-scandal) the curruption-part lies within the EU itself, for nullifing an election result, and how they've chosen her.

codethief 6y ago

> the 300M € von der Leyen supposedly embazzled look pathetic to the budgets these companies dump on consultants each year Are you saying that Blue Chip to Mid Cap Stock Index companies regularly spend > 1B on consulting?

johndrocky 6y ago
He might be referring to Germanys beacons of good corporate governance and not corruption; Deutschebank and Wirecard Either way using relativism to minimise a crime is sophistry "I murdered a few people - the US government kills thousands of people a year in <current war>" - you're still guilty of murder, even if someone is better at the crime than you are.
- woodpanel 6y ago
  still guilty of murder - so much for subtlety… Again: Although there were a parliamentary investigations, there was no crime. No conviction, no indictment, no charges pressed. 300M € was what was spent on all external consultancies combined. The yearly Bundeswehr budget is 42 bln € [1]. 300M is < 1%. In 2018, the big four (KPMG, PwC, EY and Deloitte) extracted 650M € from the 30 DAX companies alone. And that is just the auditor segment. This doesn't include the strategic consultancies, IT consultancies or Headhunters. And it also doesn't include the consultancy subsidiaries of said DAX companies. Speaking of subsidiary consultancies: 2/3 of said 300M € "embazzled Bundeswehr money" were spent on it's own consultancy BDI. This whole "Affair" just resides on general public resentment of the word "consultant" and the public's inability and unwillingness to calculate or research these numbers themself. Especially as soon as there is a "smoking gun" to find by focusing all efforts on looking the other way, which allows us to create a hoax like this. [1] German: "Milliarde"
  - codethief 6y ago
    > In 2018, the big four (KPMG, PwC, EY and Deloitte) extracted 650M € from the 30 DAX companies alone Compared to 650M € and 30 DAX companies, 300M € spent by one single "company" do not sound like peanuts, especially since AFAIK the latter money was only meant for IT services & infrastructure(?) > 2/3 of said 300M € "embazzled Bundeswehr money" were spent on it's own consultancy BDI. I suppose you meant BWI, as in https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/BWI_GmbH https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/BWI_GmbH ?
woodpanel 6y ago
Yes (See my explanation in another answer). I also like to point out that of those political groups that were screaming foul the loudest with regards to the "consultant affair", these were the groups with the least interest in or sympathy to the German military. Which is adding insult to injury because the whole reason the Bundeswehr has to hike its expenditures on consultants at all is because policies of the last decades, specifically of those groups, left the Bundeswehr one of the least attractive employers in the whole country, especially for seeked after talent.

fakedang 6y ago

What's more pathetic is that even after such high government expenditures in defence, Germany still lags behind most smaller nations in terms of the size of its army as well as the technological capabilities. So clearly she hasn't done a good job, yet she's been rewarded with the presidency of the EU, which is corruption in itself.

woodpanel 6y ago
What's more pathetic is… I'm sorry, the cost/performance ratio makes complete sense. The Bundeswehr is culturally frowned upon in large parts of our society since at least the 1970s so it is no wonder that policies enacted breathe that spirit. Thus we are a country whose military openly admits it can't defend the country. For a couple of years now. There is close to zero outcry about that, certainly less outcry than the "Berateraffaire" got. So clearly she hasn't done a good job Not saying she did in general, but blaming an army depleted and frowned upon for decades on her six years as Secretary of Defense (SoD) is deceitful (not saying that you do). On the contrary: Turning this shipwreck around affords even more expenditures. So expect the cost/performance ratio to become even worse. she's been rewarded with the presidency of the EU, which is corruption in itself. Since von der Leyen clearly hasn't proved herself to be included in the realms of sinister masterminds (she got ousted from her SoD job for a non-scandal) the curruption-part lies within the EU itself, for nullifing an election result, and how they've chosen her.