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Well, Germany had money for Covid shenanigans (a lot of which went to friends and family, see various mask procurement scandals). It has money for a WW1-style t

by wxtr 2y ago

Well, Germany had money for Covid shenanigans (a lot of which went to friends and family, see various mask procurement scandals). It has money for a WW1-style trench warfare in the East which has been a stalemate for 2 years. It has money to refuse cheap energy via the remaining Nordstream-2. So, let the bridges fall apart! (The above does not mean that I am in favor of the aggressor. As far as I'm concerned, the aggressor can get the hell out of the occupied territories. At some point though one needs to consider whether it is possible to make progress militarily.)

constantcrying 2y ago
Germany's number one expenditure is it's social security system. Maintaining that is it's single biggest focus.
- mextex 2y ago
  [flagged]
- hnbad 2y ago
  If you remove those who are too young to be in employment (i.e. children and minors) and those who are beyond retirement age and those who are too ill or disabled to work, the lion's share of the social security system exists to subsidize companies unwilling to pay their workers a living wage. Are you saying the government should drastically raise the minimum wage in order to cut back on social security expenses?
  - constantcrying 2y ago
    >the lion's share of the social security system exists to subsidize companies unwilling to pay their workers a living wage. What? That totally isn't true. Minimum wage is high enough already. It absolutely is a "living wage". >Are you saying the government should drastically raise the minimum wage in order to cut back on social security expenses? No, they should drastically cut back on taxes and social spending.
    - hnbad 2y ago
      > What? That totally isn't true. That's literally true. There's even a word for it: Aufstocken. Are you saying Bürgergeld is too high? That the standard of a living wage should be lower than Bürgergeld currently is? How do you define a "living wage" then? You say minimum wage is (too?) high, taxes are "drastically" too high and social spending is "drastically" too high. What does that mean? What tax rates per bracket would you find acceptable? How much lower should Bürgeld be or which group of current recipients should be excluded from it? Or what other social welfare programmes are you thinking of that should be cut? It's easy to say that "social spending" is too high if you look at a context-free aggregate value. But what do you actually envision when you say that you think it should be "drastically" cut?

by wxtr 2y ago

constantcrying 2y ago

Germany's number one expenditure is it's social security system. Maintaining that is it's single biggest focus.

mextex 2y ago
[flagged]
hnbad 2y ago
If you remove those who are too young to be in employment (i.e. children and minors) and those who are beyond retirement age and those who are too ill or disabled to work, the lion's share of the social security system exists to subsidize companies unwilling to pay their workers a living wage. Are you saying the government should drastically raise the minimum wage in order to cut back on social security expenses?
- constantcrying 2y ago
  >the lion's share of the social security system exists to subsidize companies unwilling to pay their workers a living wage. What? That totally isn't true. Minimum wage is high enough already. It absolutely is a "living wage". >Are you saying the government should drastically raise the minimum wage in order to cut back on social security expenses? No, they should drastically cut back on taxes and social spending.
  - hnbad 2y ago
    > What? That totally isn't true. That's literally true. There's even a word for it: Aufstocken. Are you saying Bürgergeld is too high? That the standard of a living wage should be lower than Bürgergeld currently is? How do you define a "living wage" then? You say minimum wage is (too?) high, taxes are "drastically" too high and social spending is "drastically" too high. What does that mean? What tax rates per bracket would you find acceptable? How much lower should Bürgeld be or which group of current recipients should be excluded from it? Or what other social welfare programmes are you thinking of that should be cut? It's easy to say that "social spending" is too high if you look at a context-free aggregate value. But what do you actually envision when you say that you think it should be "drastically" cut?