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As a German, I think the issues are much more high level and deeply, deeply rooted in society (culture and official administration) than most tech people realiz
by thenaturalist 2y ago
As a German, I think the issues are much more high level and deeply, deeply rooted in society (culture and official administration) than most tech people realize.
1. Germany has built it's entire identity around a social contract similar to Japan that roughly goes like this: We will have a backbone of well paying industrial jobs (both white and blue collar) which we'll use to generate large trade surplusses by exporting physical goods gloablly to fund our internal high cost social security and healthcare systems. As the state, I prefer low worker mobility, cause that keeps unemployment and hence all costs to the state low.
2. Financial markets/ access to capital/ investments/ taxation work the same way: Allocate capital to physical goods manufacturers with high working capital requirements, long investment horizons, tax the shit out of labor vs. capital gains, make the already strong companies stronger instead of gambling on upstarts.
3. There are workers and there are capitalists and these two should not mix: Labor is taxed insanely high, stock options/ labor equity participation basically unheard of and nobody cares about that in the government. It's only relevant to a tiny fraction of the electorate. It's a non-issue for the federal government.
4. No incentive for "the winner takes all", all incentive on "stable, low fluctuation employment".
It's a sh*tshow as clearly showing with the abysmal growth Germany has experienced over the past 5 years.
It will 100% get worse before it gets better (if not for politics simply due to demographics, where a disproportionally large share of social welfare consumers will need to be supported by an ever-shrinking share of tax payers). There are already talks about further tax increases and as the demographics worsen, the state will come looking for new income sources. Guaranteed.
Yes, quality of life is great for now (esp. in places like Berlin) and yes, there is an evergrowing tech eco-system, but this is in no way indicative of where Germany as a whole is going systematically.
- FirmwareBurner 2y ago>Yes, quality of life is great (esp. in places like Berlin) How can quality of life be great when you can't find housing if you want to move there?
- klausa 2y agoBecause you find an apartment every couple of years, and enjoy the city the other 59 months of every 60. The apartment situation in Berlin is bad, but I think it’s a bit silly to say you can’t have high quality of life because of it.
- FirmwareBurner 2y agoYou assume it only takes one month to find an apartment, all while you're constantly battling 200 other people in apartment visitations, for the chance to let a estate agent and landlord shit on you. Is that lifestyle enjoyable?
- ivan_gammel 2y agoApartment search may take 6-12 months, so it’s more like 48 of 60. People hold to their rent-controlled contracts as long as possible for this reason. If you are new to this city, bad luck. If you live here long enough, you may pay ca. 1k€ per month for 90 sqm in Mitte or neighboring parts of the city and absolutely enjoy your life in Berlin.
- thenaturalist 2y agoHonestly, not much of this is typically a problem for "new" tech transplants. Their income still allows them to pick from what's on the market. Sure, if you become picky with regards to area, extras (balcony etc.) the supply is just so low it will take some time, but the reality is far from being unable to house yourself.
- klausa 2y agoAnd if you move _after_ getting a job, you also instantly get an access to a whisper network about people that want Nachmieters too; which is also immensely helpful.
- FirmwareBurner 2y agoWhat does that mean exactly?
- thenaturalist 2y agoNot to be pedantic, but effort required to find housing has almost no correlation to daily quality of life for inhabitants. Sure, housing is one factor, but as attested to by the net migration statistics, inflow into the city has accelerated and reached record levels in the past years. That is a clear indicator that quality of life is desirable for residents, simple as.