6 ms·

I don't know if it's sheer stubbornness or they're just wired differently. As a German I believe it's more about demographics nowadays. The country and all lar

I don't know if it's sheer stubbornness or they're just wired differently. As a German I believe it's more about demographics nowadays. The country and all large companies are run by older people who only saw rising prosperity their entire life. They all have settled in a comfortable place and do not seriously care about the future anymore. They just want to keep the system running until retirement. There is no long-term strategic thinking anymore, only feel-good policies and short-term cash burning for their respective clientele. As a young person it infuriates me but there is nothing we can do.

OKRainbowKid 8mo ago
That's my impression as well. The future is being sold for the present.
- joe_mamba 8mo ago
  >The future is being sold for the present. That's where the famous high European pensions come from. In France now the average pension is higher than the average salary.
shafyy 8mo ago
You are right about the issue, but wrong about the action. There are things you can do. Vote for candidates and parties that genuinely want a different future. Become politically active yourself. Run for office. Work with your local community. Every bit of action helps.
- ivan_gammel 8mo ago
  There is no party in German political landscape interested, capable of solving or even understanding the problems that needed to be solved. We have lost political center to groups of special interests and medieval guides. The state sponsored tool for informing about political programs (Wahl-O-Mat) is biased towards political issues of the mainstream. E.g. nobody is talking about the suffocating monopoly of notaries or increasing the property ownership by any significant margin. Running for office is an interesting idea, but in party-dominated politics to achieve anything is a decades-long adventure.
  - markbravo0312 8mo ago
    It seems to even get the compass needle pointing in the right direction would require immense personal sacrifice. This brings to mind a line I heard recently: “I burn my life to make a sunrise I will never see.”
    - throwway120385 8mo ago
      Or a lot of smaller sacrifices by a large group of people.
  - shafyy 8mo ago
    For me personally, Die Linke is hitting many spots. Of course, nobody will ever be 100% aligned with a political party's program, but that's ok.
  - kuerbel 8mo ago
    The wahl-o-mat is not biased, it's based on the respective election programs. If one party decides to put something "about the suffocating monopoly of notaries" in it, it's not enough to be mentioned. There have to be some parties at least to make it comparable. Also feel free to peruse election programs yourself. Most parties put out short versions. You also don't need to run for office to have an effect on party lines. I'm a member of a party. There are congresses on a regional (Bundesland) and national level. In my party the process is voting for proposals before the national congress due to the huge amount of proposals, but usually every proposal on regional level is discussed and voted on. It does not take much time to prepare a proposal, but it shapes the discourse.
    - ivan_gammel 8mo ago
      > The wahl-o-mat is not biased, it's based on the respective election programs. That’s exactly my point. If a problem exists or a solution to a problem is possible about which no party is willing to talk about, it will not show it. The choice of topics is based on party opinions, not on voter surveys. This is called bias. > Also feel free to peruse election programs yourself. I read the full programs. This is the main reason why I think German political system is in the state of crisis. > I'm a member of a party. You surely know some examples when a party member shaped the discourse and set the course of institutional reforms. How long did it take for that person to achieve such results?
cucumber3732842 8mo ago
>As a German I believe it's more about demographics nowadays. The country and all large companies are run by older people who only saw rising prosperity their entire life. They all have settled in a comfortable place and do not seriously care about the future anymore However bad Germany is in this regard, I suspect the US is far worse. There is no cohort in the US who remembers living in "East US" to temper the excesses of the people who've only known ease and comfort (though of course those people will tell you they worked hard to <insert career/prosperity path that no longer exists).
- dogemaster2025 8mo ago
  Certain liberal cities are the “East US.”
  - wholinator2 8mo ago
    What do you mean?
  - collingreen 8mo ago
    Which certain ones and in which way are they like the east Germany mentioned? Or is this just lazy bigotslop?
    - dogemaster2025 8mo ago
      The socialist ones, which were like east Germany because they are socialist.
  - realo 8mo ago
    Do you mean places like Kansas? Very clearly becoming "East US" : https://www.npr.org/2026/02/28/nx-s1-5728969/kansas-revokes-drivers-licenses-of-hundreds-of-trans-people-prompted-by-new-law https://www.npr.org/2026/02/28/nx-s1-5728969/kansas-revokes-...
    - dogemaster2025 8mo ago
joe_mamba 8mo ago
>who only saw rising prosperity their entire life. Their prosperity has been artificially inflated and not earned for the last years, as the government adjusted their pensions according to inflation, not according to actual economic growth/fall of the nation. It's a cheat code that shouldn't be used if you wish for economic reality but it's used to buy votes. >They just want to keep the system running until retirement. To be fair, this is a similar issue with Boomers versus Gen-X in the US and most of the west.
collingreen 8mo ago
> there is nothing we can do The is always something you can do. Sometimes it's hard or uncomfortable but you can still have an impact on the things you care about if you're willing to do enough.
Bombthecat 8mo ago
Yeah, I would call it: managing the crash. They try to hold on to everything until retirement and don't care about anything else. In ten years Germany is like, what? 60 percent over 60? Everyone knows it won't work, but try to hold on to it as long as possible.
petre 8mo ago
> As a young person it infuriates me but there is nothing we can do. Spend your money elsewhere, perhaps?

OKRainbowKid 8mo ago

That's my impression as well. The future is being sold for the present.

joe_mamba 8mo ago
>The future is being sold for the present. That's where the famous high European pensions come from. In France now the average pension is higher than the average salary.

shafyy 8mo ago

You are right about the issue, but wrong about the action. There are things you can do. Vote for candidates and parties that genuinely want a different future. Become politically active yourself. Run for office. Work with your local community. Every bit of action helps.

ivan_gammel 8mo ago
There is no party in German political landscape interested, capable of solving or even understanding the problems that needed to be solved. We have lost political center to groups of special interests and medieval guides. The state sponsored tool for informing about political programs (Wahl-O-Mat) is biased towards political issues of the mainstream. E.g. nobody is talking about the suffocating monopoly of notaries or increasing the property ownership by any significant margin. Running for office is an interesting idea, but in party-dominated politics to achieve anything is a decades-long adventure.
- markbravo0312 8mo ago
  It seems to even get the compass needle pointing in the right direction would require immense personal sacrifice. This brings to mind a line I heard recently: “I burn my life to make a sunrise I will never see.”
  - throwway120385 8mo ago
    Or a lot of smaller sacrifices by a large group of people.
- shafyy 8mo ago
  For me personally, Die Linke is hitting many spots. Of course, nobody will ever be 100% aligned with a political party's program, but that's ok.
- kuerbel 8mo ago
  The wahl-o-mat is not biased, it's based on the respective election programs. If one party decides to put something "about the suffocating monopoly of notaries" in it, it's not enough to be mentioned. There have to be some parties at least to make it comparable. Also feel free to peruse election programs yourself. Most parties put out short versions. You also don't need to run for office to have an effect on party lines. I'm a member of a party. There are congresses on a regional (Bundesland) and national level. In my party the process is voting for proposals before the national congress due to the huge amount of proposals, but usually every proposal on regional level is discussed and voted on. It does not take much time to prepare a proposal, but it shapes the discourse.
  - ivan_gammel 8mo ago
    > The wahl-o-mat is not biased, it's based on the respective election programs. That’s exactly my point. If a problem exists or a solution to a problem is possible about which no party is willing to talk about, it will not show it. The choice of topics is based on party opinions, not on voter surveys. This is called bias. > Also feel free to peruse election programs yourself. I read the full programs. This is the main reason why I think German political system is in the state of crisis. > I'm a member of a party. You surely know some examples when a party member shaped the discourse and set the course of institutional reforms. How long did it take for that person to achieve such results?

cucumber3732842 8mo ago

>As a German I believe it's more about demographics nowadays. The country and all large companies are run by older people who only saw rising prosperity their entire life. They all have settled in a comfortable place and do not seriously care about the future anymore However bad Germany is in this regard, I suspect the US is far worse. There is no cohort in the US who remembers living in "East US" to temper the excesses of the people who've only known ease and comfort (though of course those people will tell you they worked hard to <insert career/prosperity path that no longer exists).

dogemaster2025 8mo ago
Certain liberal cities are the “East US.”
- wholinator2 8mo ago
  What do you mean?
- collingreen 8mo ago
  Which certain ones and in which way are they like the east Germany mentioned? Or is this just lazy bigotslop?
  - dogemaster2025 8mo ago
    The socialist ones, which were like east Germany because they are socialist.
- realo 8mo ago
  Do you mean places like Kansas? Very clearly becoming "East US" : https://www.npr.org/2026/02/28/nx-s1-5728969/kansas-revokes-drivers-licenses-of-hundreds-of-trans-people-prompted-by-new-law https://www.npr.org/2026/02/28/nx-s1-5728969/kansas-revokes-...
  - dogemaster2025 8mo ago

joe_mamba 8mo ago

>who only saw rising prosperity their entire life. Their prosperity has been artificially inflated and not earned for the last years, as the government adjusted their pensions according to inflation, not according to actual economic growth/fall of the nation. It's a cheat code that shouldn't be used if you wish for economic reality but it's used to buy votes. >They just want to keep the system running until retirement. To be fair, this is a similar issue with Boomers versus Gen-X in the US and most of the west.

collingreen 8mo ago

> there is nothing we can do The is always something you can do. Sometimes it's hard or uncomfortable but you can still have an impact on the things you care about if you're willing to do enough.

Bombthecat 8mo ago

Yeah, I would call it: managing the crash. They try to hold on to everything until retirement and don't care about anything else. In ten years Germany is like, what? 60 percent over 60? Everyone knows it won't work, but try to hold on to it as long as possible.

petre 8mo ago

> As a young person it infuriates me but there is nothing we can do. Spend your money elsewhere, perhaps?