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I think the immigration is what keeps Spain from turning into another Japan or Germany - a stagnant, overly old place stuck in time.
by vrganj 4mo ago
I think the immigration is what keeps Spain from turning into another Japan or Germany - a stagnant, overly old place stuck in time.
- fpoling 4mo agoAnd in Spain most immigrants are from Latin America with close enough culture and language to avoid most integration problems.
- ExpertAdvisor01 4mo agoI wouldn't say most. It's around 55–60% of immigrants who come from Spanish-speaking countries. Also, this uses official numbers, which reflect a larger Spanish speaking share than there is in reality (as people from Spanish-speaking countries have more straightforward visa processes). So the real percentage is probably much lower (as there are a lot of undocumented migrants. 1.2 million applied for "legalization").
- sucrosesucrose 4mo ago[flagged]
- 8note 4mo agospain has a significant rich-brit problem of englishmen spending lots of money and not learning spanish
- indoordin0saur 4mo agoGermany has had an immense amount of immigration over the past couple decades.
- croes 4mo agoImmigrants but not immigration because there aren’t enough resources to help all the people to integrate.
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- wickedwiesel 4mo agoWhich is a political choice - not necessarily a resource problem. Germany, if any, would have the resources to help with integration but for decades most people and politicians were living in denial that people from other countries that came to Germany actually wanted to stay and _live_ there or were living in a world were state debt was seen as the devil's spawn.
- dgellow 4mo ago> were living in a world were state debt was seen as the devil's spawn. You’re not kidding, it’s literally set in the German constitution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_balanced_budget_amendment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_balanced_budget_amendme...
- wickedwiesel 4mo agoYes, correct, and thanks for the addition. To illustrate this quite emotional approach to state finances, the policy of not increasing the the debt was nicknamed "the black zero" ("die Schwarze Null") which got so infamous that the employees of the German Federal Ministry of Finances posed as a "black zero" in this photo: https://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/Content/DE/Bilderstrecken/Bildergalerien/2023/2023-12-27-Wolfgang-Schaeuble/22.html https://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/Content/DE/Bilderstre... Remember, this was at a time when German government bonds were sold with _negative_ interest. So, Germany was refusing to take on any further debt at the time to invest (i.E. in social capital like workers, better immigration, in infrastructure etc. etc.) and is now trying to rectify this partially, at a time where interest rates are close to 3%. Personally, to me as a non-economist, this feels like a missed opportunity of a lifetime.
- dgellow 4mo agoYeah, I like to live in Germany but the leadership is extremely good at missing lifetime opportunities…
- starik36 4mo agoJust came back from Japan and I found it vibrant and modern.
- croes 4mo agoDid you visit the countryside? Japan has an aging problem and a big misogyny problem too.
- kazinator 4mo agoName the country and I will easy find the spots where it is not vibrant and modern, and then say "did you visit those?" Say, I heard France has great cuisine, but I had street food in Paris and it was meh.
- starik36 4mo agoLiterally every country has a countryside problem. From US to Russia to Asia to any country in Europe.
- yitianjian 4mo agoIf you went to Japan in the 90’s, 00’s or 10’s, you’ll find the issue is that Japan still feels mostly the same. It’s a wonderful country, but post-Japan’s asset bubble and crash there’s been noticeably less change.
- snowpid 4mo agoBesides the mentioned comments Spanish speaking immigration is much more welcomed by radical right AND Germany had a lot of German speaking immigration from Eastern Europe. There are just no German speaking minorities left in other countries.
- sucrosesucrose 4mo ago[flagged]