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Every time I see the news I see yet another European country coming to Germany for a welfare check and I just sigh. It's like the entire Eurozone wants to get hitched on Hartz IV. Is there any truth to this financial bailout of Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy etc as being nothing more than a very indirect way of bailing out German banks who actually own the debt and would be insoluble if there were defaults? I'll be coming to Germany on an Internship this Spring and I'm hoping to land something permanent afterwards. How likely is the entire German economy going to collapse into a clusterfuck of unemployment and austerity measures within the next 2-3 years?
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Sep 26, 2011 01:10
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unixbeard posted:
No government is perfect, naturally but if there's one country I can trust to get all this right It's gotta be the Germans. I'm sure whichever leader or economist finds a solution to this economic problem we have this year will probably become a legend like Roosevelt and Keynes. By the way, what is the diplomatic relationship with Germany and Russia like right now? Will German political independence be heavily compromised by their reliance on the new pipeline they have with the Russians? DerDestroyer fucked around with this message at 19:13 on Sep 26, 2011 |
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Sep 26, 2011 19:07
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*nevermind
DerDestroyer fucked around with this message at 09:10 on Sep 28, 2011 |
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Sep 28, 2011 08:53
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clownpenis posted:Do you know in what region you'd like to live? Would you prefer the city or the countryside? Do you need to drive a car, or would you be ok with relying on public transport? These are things you sort of have to be aware of before really committing to the idea of a long term move. I know if I were to move to Germany (something that I have in mind in the coming months) my standard of living would likely improve. It's worth it for me just for the better public transit system in most of the cities.
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Sep 29, 2011 18:17
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Orange Devil posted:I like a lot of the places in Germany, and loads of German people, but I absolutely loathe the country. Don't take it personal though Live in Canada or the United States and your opinion will quickly change. Both myself and my relatives who live there love Germany. When there are so many things fundamentally wrong with your home country you quickly give little things like this the benefit of the doubt. Be happy Deutsche Telekom doesn't throttle your connection and limit the amount of bandwidth you use per month. Also be happy the German government doesn't pass laws that allow them to monitor your activities on the internet and telephone without a warrant and log every detail of it. From my perspective your complaints about Germany come across as whining. But in all fairness I find that the grass is always greener on the other side and no matter where you live you will find a long list of things to bitch about. I think it's true for any country. DerDestroyer fucked around with this message at 01:11 on Sep 30, 2011 |
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Sep 30, 2011 01:08
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elwood posted:I've been living in germany for 33 years now and I've never had a need for a lawyer or had a law suit thrown at me. Yeah but it looks like they ultimately didn't succeed. We have a majority conservative government in Canada that can ram legislation like this through without anything to stop them. I'm on the fence about the German education system by the way. I hear all kinds of horror stories of how well educated foreign students get sent back 4 grades because they're foreign or something. I also hear stories of teachers deliberately recommending hauptschule for children of immigrant background out of some racial bias. Alternatively, I think that there is a great deal of entitlement in places like Canada and the US and too much of a drive for University education without enough jobs to satisfy the supply of people who studied humanities and political science. Somewhere down the line someone decided you must have a University education to get a nice white collar job. If you don't have University, then you somehow failed life. I argue that for those seeking proper career training and a positive future in the job market then University is not necessarily appropriate nor desirable. Yet for whatever reason we have this culture that our standard of living will improve with a Bachelor's degree and I simply disagree with this sentiment. I don't think everyone has the skill set necessary to go to University. In all likelihood I would probably have been sent to Gesamtschule or Realschule if I was German unless my parents stepped in and aggressively forced a Gymnasium entry. I don't think there's anything wrong with becoming an apprentice in the trades. Some people just naturally have an inclination towards those kinds of jobs. Would you rather have an idiot doctor or a really good Werkstattmeister? At least from what I've been told by other Germans it seems people involved in more vocational careers are respected for what they do, especially if they're good at it. In some cases they even make more money than a white collar worker. Meanwhile where I live anyone in a vocational career tends to be looked down upon as stupid or lower class. Even if they're really skilled at what they do they are somehow less qualified than an over entitled rich kid who studied history. I'm not looking down on history majors but I am saying that if you want a job University shouldn't be the be all and end all of qualifications. More valuable skills can be learned elsewhere.
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Sep 30, 2011 20:42
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The only problem I see with the system is that there are some genuinely intelligent kids out there who simply lack the motivation or drive to study for some courses because it doesn't interest them or hold any practical meaning. Conversely, there's a lot of kids in North America who really have no business being in higher education who are constantly given a sense of entitlement and positive reinforcement despite not performing appropriately. People in North America are taught that everyone's a winner and that everyone is special and thus under performing people are isolated from the reality of failure. I believe when I went to primary school it was literally impossible to be held back a grade unless you REALLY screwed up and thus you got people being promoted through the school system who really had no business in a higher grade.
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Sep 30, 2011 20:58
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What is Deutsche Bahn like now that it's been privatized? How has it changed since its public days?
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Oct 1, 2011 02:39
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DeusEx posted:Anecdotal evidence: I don't think this applies to people from the Balkans. I'll have to ask some of my Serbian relatives how difficult it was for them to get through education. One of them is a University Professor now so I'm not sure how bad it was for him. I just know he was sent back a few grades when he immigrated as a kid. My understanding is anyone from the Balkans in Germany endures the same discrimination as middle-eastern or black people even though they're technically white and European. Despite having been Canadian for more than 20 years I've always been terrified that having a east European sounding name and "Serbia" written on my place of birth in my passport will condemn me to some severe discrimination in Germany. Your place of Birth is also vividly displayed on your Personalausweis and I feel like this is a way to add to any distinctions in case you are able to speak perfect German and blend into the crowd. It doesn't help that Serbians living in Germany have traditionally been thieves, swindlers and criminals or that Serbia was involved in a genocide a very short time ago. DerDestroyer fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Oct 1, 2011 |
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Oct 1, 2011 22:29
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StrangeRobot posted:The immigrant experience will vary depending on what class the immigrants belonged to in their country of origin. This might explain why my Uncle was able to get his Abitur and become a Professor in his own right. His children followed suit (though they didn't become teachers themselves).
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Oct 2, 2011 18:40
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hankor posted:DeusEx appears to me like a rather stereotypical left-wing brat (I'm sure he'd prefer the term Antideuscher) that enjoys all the freedom this country offers him while getting his panties in a bunch whenever he realizes that he's not living in an anarchist utopia. If you remove systems like the Verfassungsschutz or the mandatory 5% rule to sit in the Bundestag you will just be repeating the mistakes of the Weimar republic. I know this sounds ironic, even counter intuitive but some authoritarian measures are necessary so that the constitution and rights of a nation can be appropriately protected. I really do believe that these measures are in place for good purposes rather than malicious purposes. I'm pretty sure serious pure white Neo-Nazi movements bent on undermining the nation's constitution and instituting a one party state are just as likely to be monitored by the police. Sometimes it is absolutely necessary to fight fire with fire. Some people need to do the dirty work so that the rest of the country can live in peace.
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Oct 2, 2011 20:04
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V. Illych L. posted:...so basically pretty much like the Stasi or Gestapo, but with a much more liberal ideology and correspondingly methods+scope? It's not like Adolph Hitler Jr. is going to mysteriously disappear at night and get driven away in a black van never to return again. This does however prevent YOU from being driven away in a black van at night never to return again because the people who are monitoring those guys are making sure that scenario never happens in the first place. They are bending the rules slightly (with probable cause) specifically so that the rules don't get changed by force and ruin the life you take for granted. In spite of the classism and hidden racism in Germany I would rather live in Germany than in North America any day of my life and I say that as someone who is most likely to encounter discrimination due to the misfortune of having a Serbian birth certificate. The German government and constitution has a very serious commitment to prevent the repetition of history and if there's one government I can trust not to become authoritarian again it's the German one. I can't say the same for the United States and even the Canadian governments. There will always be fringe people in society, especially in European society who will quite happily use democracy to destroy democracy. It happened in the Weimar era and it can happen again in the modern era. The German government set up the current system to prevent that as best as possible. So yes, I would rather see antidemocratic pro-authoritarian crazies monitored by police because that prevents far more serious violations of human rights from taking place. DerDestroyer fucked around with this message at 20:36 on Oct 2, 2011 |
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Oct 2, 2011 20:27
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What's wrong with education in NRW? I'm asking because I'll be living in Dusseldorf and it seems like a pretty nice place so I'm not sure why you guys lump up Hamburg, NRW etc into the "poo poo state" group. I mean isn't Northern Germany supposed to be rich and developed compared to the south? Or is this one of those regional biases where one side will always say they are better than the other? I have heard how BW and Bayern have the best education before though. I'm guessing you're less likely to end up in Hauptschule there?
DerDestroyer fucked around with this message at 19:42 on Oct 3, 2011 |
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Oct 3, 2011 19:35
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Previously on GBS posted:No, the south is doing better in pretty many respects (education, unemployment, crime...) Starting to wish I actually applied for that one job in München that matched my qualifications perfectly.
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Oct 3, 2011 19:54
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Previously on GBS posted:Are you in IT? Yes and no, I have an IT background with some summer job work experience but I studied Finance in University because the IT jobs in Canada dried up so I thought everything was being outsourced to India. Then the financial crisis hits and now I find all the Finance jobs are either highly competitive or non existent so I'm back in IT mode. I can pretty much do any Business Analyst style position and it's what I'm applying for now when I look for work. I'll probably go back to school sooner or later to get a more solid IT background and maybe get an ITIL certification afterwards.
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Oct 3, 2011 20:06
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Einbauschrank posted:You've got better chances if you're well raised by your parents. Household income is a confounding variable. Being brown is another confounding variable. Many "brown" foreigners are from backwards region like Anatolia and don't see the point in higher education or if they see the point they do not know how to nudge their children towards it. This would be another case of bad parenting rather than social apartheid. This is exactly the kind of poo poo self hating Germans never want to see or hear and you're going to get accused of being a complete racist and an anti-turk. But I can't help but point out that a lot of the people Einbauschrank is talking about basically resent Germany, the German culture and the system they live in and would rather their kids not even learn the German language. Some cultures just have incorrect traditions that are in open conflict with western traditions and no one wants to hold these people responsible for their own actions. Instead it's somehow "Germany's fault" for not accommodating them. Really though, it's Germany not Eastern Anatolia, their rules don't apply here. When you immigrate to another country you need to understand that if it's a country like Germany your culture doesn't apply in Germany, the German culture is the one that takes precedence and its up to you to adapt it as your own. If you were living in Eastern Anatolia, the local residents would expect the same of you. EDIT: I'm not even talking about being Muslim, that isn't the issue here. It's the open hostility to everything non Turkish and rear end in a top hat family members murdering their own daughters or sisters because they are "too German". DerDestroyer fucked around with this message at 08:46 on Oct 4, 2011 |
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Oct 4, 2011 08:42
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Hungry Gerbil posted:Germany didn't bother with integrating the Turks. It's mostly our fault. And now it's too late. Yeah it's a two way street. But the first mistake was to lopsidedly admit a large number of immigrants from one country and culture without any oversight or attempts to adjust them to their new home. They should've really focused on balanced out immigration between multiple countries around the world but I guess they needed an immigrant group that wouldn't possibly be Soviet spies or something. Inviting rural Turks to live in Germany is like asking Jehova's Witnesses, Mormons and ultra conservative Christians to move en-masse to Las Vegas. DerDestroyer fucked around with this message at 08:52 on Oct 4, 2011 |
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Oct 4, 2011 08:48
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Einbauschrank posted:I think it is getting better. Speaking of which I think there used to be a lot of Vietnamese immigrants in Germany. I think the new head of the FDP is a Vietnamese person as well. How did the Vietnamese experience differ from the Turkish one in Germany?
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Oct 4, 2011 09:00
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Stuhlmajor posted:That's just...no...just not at all. Where does any of the complicated, hairsplitting german gibberish sound even remotely like any of the clear-cut, black-and-white, pseudo-virtuous bullshit in the states? German idiocy seems more accidental as opposed to American idiocy which is downright spiteful and criminal. The grammar is awesome though. Learning it has been a blast for me and I love how precise I can be with the German language in ways I can't even express in the English language. Probably one of my favorite things is being able to re-arrange the position of the subject and object in a sentence to stress the object or subject in the sentence respectively whereas in modern English you can't do this because it would cause the subject to turn into the object. I always thought it was funny how much our academic circles in the English speaking world value old works of art like Shakespeare and yet now that I know a bit more German I've come to realize the major German influences in the Old English language. Who said German isn't a romantic language? It only sounds as awful as you want to make it sound. DerDestroyer fucked around with this message at 18:58 on Oct 4, 2011 |
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Oct 4, 2011 18:54
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hankor posted:Mark Twain did. Yeah I thought it was hilarious when I read that last year. I still like the language more than English. This should really be in the opening of every Germany thread though because it's awesome.
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Oct 4, 2011 19:17
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StrangeRobot posted:Tell us more about what you, a canadian/serb living abroad, thinks constitutes true Germanness. Considering I have actually invested myself academically into the German language and culture I'd like to think I'm entitled to a few opinions of my own which I have stated in a civil fashion. Your response on the other hand seems to be rooted more in conditioned knee-jerk emotional reaction than any facts that you actually attempted to verify. I've said my piece and your adhominem attempts to suppress my opinion reek of the very fascism you claim to be crusading against. DerDestroyer fucked around with this message at 22:44 on Oct 4, 2011 |
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Oct 4, 2011 22:34
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Deceitful Penguin posted:Anecdotal evidence: In the 6 months I spent living in Germany and on the many occasions I go back I have not met a single person like this. Not one. It's almost as if the fact that I go to my small rich prosperous village where they made an actual effort to integrate their immigrants makes a difference to going to a lovely urban hellscape where they hosed them over, rather than it being the fact that they're Turks. Nope. Tell us more about how you support honor killings and oppression against women and antisocial behavior on the basis of multiculturalism. http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,777109,00.html Eastern Anatolia, the writing is on the wall. I got no problem with the other Turks or foreigners in general but denying there is a problem on both ends is intellectually dishonest. DerDestroyer fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Oct 5, 2011 |
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Oct 5, 2011 03:26
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I've been told previously that the SPD aint what it used to be. But if I was a German voter that seems like the party I'd most likely throw my vote in with since I admire what Willy Brandt did back in the day and I see him as one of the few politicians in the western world who actually did some good for his country. That being said apparently the SPD is just CDU in disguise now, can anyone shed more light on how the SPD differ from the CDU and how they are the same?
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Oct 11, 2011 00:24
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hankor posted:To expand on that, the shortages resulted in quite a few product lines that substituted expensive goods so you had "Schlager Süßtafeln" that were pretty close to real chocolate when you consider that it had only 7% actual chocolate in it, another popular substitute was "Muckefuck" which was pretty disgusting instant coffee without any actual coffee in it. Would you go back to those days if you could or are you happy with a unified Germany?
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Oct 12, 2011 20:29
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The reason I ask this question is because I'm seeing and hearing a lot about people who are really nostalgic about the GDR days and want to go back to those days because they were guaranteed a job etc etc. I mean I've heard of all sorts of shenanigans under the communist system like how if you work for a Chandelier factory you had a quota set in kilograms. So what they would do to meet their production quotas is start building them with lead. Then you got a whole bunch of really heavy chandeliers that had a habit of falling on people. I know having a job is really important but if you're not being productive at your job and making lovely products I don't see how that can be a job you can be proud of. Don't take that the wrong way though I'm probably one of the more left leaning people in D&D and pretty much an unapologetic socialist, I just think you have to be reasonable about these things. If Germany hasn't been outsourcing its skilled and unskilled labour for so long there'd still be jobs for a lot of the East Germans to fill. So many big name companies have outsourced jobs that were traditionally done in Germany and I think it's not only hurt the image of the brand but also hurt the employment prospects of working class Germans.
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Oct 12, 2011 21:02
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niethan posted:It always feels really closed minded to me when people think strictly within their national borders and get real angry about foreigners stealing their jobs. The fact of the matter is, as long as a nation state exists and a government that "claims" to represent your best interests is in power then steps need to be taken to ensure that poverty is minimized within your own borders before you worry about poverty across the pond. As it stands Germany and many other western countries are simply trading off the prosperity of their lower and middle class for the prosperity of another country's lower and middle class. How else do you view that as anything but a betrayal of your sovereign duty to look out for the best interests of your citizens? The fact of the matter is big corporations have been outsourcing jobs from western countries for well over 20 years now and its putting a lot of good people out of work. This is not a racism or closed minded issue this is simply fat-cat capitalists trying to increase the size of their profit margins. There is nothing inherently altruistic about globalization. All globalization has done for the world is enable wealthy capitalists in industrialized countries to deindustrialize said countries and weaken their position in the manufacturing world so that they may export the exploitation of the working class to another country while leaving their own working class idle, unemployed and destitute. The only people who benefit in the end are the wealthy capitalists. What you're essentially doing is repeating history where the capitalists of every nation mirror the aristocrats of old who manipulate the lower classes they lord over for their own benefit. Remember that a coalition of aristocrats who felt that their monarchies and feudal systems were threatened by French Revolution ideals tried to invade and conquer the nascent French Republic in order to restore the monarchy. Today capitalists around the world are united in ensuring their unquestioned dominance over government is maintained and that the lower classes of their respective nations are suppressed and exploited for their benefit. Nothing has changed in the end, be it 18th century or 21st century we just traded one aristocrat for another and we are all still peasants that are moved around like pawns on their global chessboard. What they have essentially done is exported jobs which were properly protected by unions and leftist legislation to countries where such jobs are not properly protected thus repeating history outside of national borders and not taking moral responsibility for their actions. It's better that a few Germans/Americans etc get to make good money assembling cars in a safe well ventilated work environment than exporting that to China where people work sweatshop hours in unsafe conditions and for minimal pay benefits. At the end of the day what globalization has done is created the perfect excuse to gut and weaken the middle and lower class by pulling the carpet from under them and watching them fall to the ground. As these disenfranchised classes start clamoring for jobs, conservative neo-liberal parties in the pockets of big business promise them jobs by gutting, chipping away and destroying the legislation that made those jobs so lucrative in the first place once more returning the country to the state it was in during the industrial age and thus recreating a profitable environment to exploit workers in once more. It's quite brilliant really and its already happening in Canada and the US with back to work and union busting legislation flying out left and right. Simply put, outsourcing jobs is WRONG and until we have an Earth Federation or whatever; the German government has betrayed its citizens by hemorrhaging jobs to Mexico, China etc. DerDestroyer fucked around with this message at 22:00 on Oct 12, 2011 |
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Oct 12, 2011 21:47
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unixbeard posted:I hope you've never bought anything that wasn't produced in Germany otherwise you're supporting those who outsource You're not given much choice in this matter anymore. Just look at what they're doing to call centres. I think that tech support and call centre related services have SUBSTANTIALLY declined in quality since they started outsourcing it to India. elbkaida posted:How can the government stop companies from opening factories in other countries though? Banning the sale of said product within the country unless it's made in the country with workers hired from within the country. Or adding a levy for every profit made on a product built outside the country. DerDestroyer fucked around with this message at 22:51 on Oct 12, 2011 |
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Oct 12, 2011 22:48
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unixbeard posted:The reason why companies outsource is because consumers of their products vote with their wallets and choose the cheaper version the vast majority of the time. If you become protectionist by raising tariffs on foreign made goods you'll lose your export market because other countries raise their tariffs on German made goods. Exports are a big part of the German economy, so if that goes, where are the jobs then? I am not saying I agree with it but that is the situation that is faced. If everyone bought German made then it wouldn't be a problem but the reality is they don't. The irony is that quality is taking a back seat to price these days which in the end means it's a lose lose scenario for the consumer. Yes you pay less but you also lose your job and you get a piece of poo poo product that turns out to be vastly inferior to the one you had before it.
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Oct 12, 2011 22:54
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ArchangeI posted:Welcome to the 17th century. You are proposing mercantilism in its purest form. I'm proposing governments worry about keeping their citizens employed because they're creating third world ghettos in 1st world paradise while funneling those jobs and the money somewhere else. If that's the 17th century then so be it. Globalization was a terrible idea to start with and it only makes sense if you're a CEO of some big name company and you want to maximize your margins. At the end of the day the only people who really benefit from it are rich people. If you want to return to the 19t century, be my guest because that's what happening. We're recreating the problems the working class had in the 19th century bit by bit so it's not like what's currently happening is a solution either.
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Oct 13, 2011 18:15
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dreamin' posted:You're a genius! Just a short question: How much of the sales of a German company happens inside Germany, what do you think? Let's take the good German cars from VW for example that have been quoted as patriotically superior to the cheaper Skoda cars? Okay, lets shut down Wolfsburg and move it to South Africa then because its cheaper. I bet something like that would have happened had the State of Niedersachsen not been a major shareholder in VW. Then you get to come to the sad realization that German products aren't made in Germany anymore and you have to re import them from somewhere else. Volkswagen! Designed in Germany, built in Timbuktu. Meanwhile another ten thousand people find themselves on Hartz_IV and 1 Euro jobs. Where you like it or not a significant number of people have lost their jobs to globalization and are living in total destitution because of it. A more significant number of people will continue to be unemployed as their jobs get phased out in the future too. So rather than do something about it, this stupid neo-liberal kool aid everyone is drinking has us rolling back on all the gains the labor movement has made in the last century and your only response to all this is cries of mercantilism and racism. Maintaining the status quo just slows the inevitable death of opportunities for middle and working class people not just in Germany but many other western countries as well. Something has to be done and I don't think lowering their pay, benefits and rights is the way to go. DerDestroyer fucked around with this message at 22:18 on Oct 13, 2011 |
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Oct 13, 2011 22:05
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elbkaida posted:Uh I think you are going a bit far with your point, what you just said could basically be printed on a NPD poster. Maybe I am going too far, but I think it's fair to say there is a lot of rage right now among people from many different countries including Germany because of whats happening to their jobs. Not everyone can make the cut for Engineers and Scientists which is currently what Germany needs. I know full well that from a CEO perspective it doesn't make a lick of economic sense to maintain your manufacturing operations in Germany now. It's better to just keep your core competency (the design of your vehicles and your R&D) which also happens to cost the most money for you and reduce your costs where necessary. So what do we do about the rank and file workers who slaved away for up to 20 years of their lives and suddenly find themselves useless? Just because it's more efficient and cost effective to build all your poo poo elsewhere where workers have less rights and less pay doesn't make it right. You can't just tell them to bootstrap their way through it. They would if they could but they get marginalized and find themselves without hope as they have no recourse.
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Oct 13, 2011 22:31
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Hungry Gerbil posted:http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_Einkommensteuer I like this, but as long as the wealthy control government it'll never happen. But in all honesty at this point this is the only way to support the increasing population of unemployed people. A scheme like this could potentially make it easier for many lower class people to find the time and money to study for the actual in-demand jobs in Germany without any pressure on their lives.
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Oct 13, 2011 22:39
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Paul Pot posted:I believe there's still a market for skilled 1st world factory labor, you just have to find the right niche. Infineon manufacturing chips in Germany doesn't make sense to me, luxury vehicles made in Germany does. Both the Passat and Jetta have had their production outsourced to other countries. The Jetta at least wasn't bad until the MK6 was made. I just spent a good deal of time in the VW thread in AI raging about how poorly built the new Jettas and Passats are. VW basically tried to pander to the Toyota/Honda buying mainstream Americans by applying severe quality and cost cutting measures to the American Passat and Jetta. An American Passat has a poo poo interior, poo poo suspension and generally low quality build compared to the European version and it's built in a newly set up plant in Chattanooga Tennessee. So VW had already slumped down to the Corolla/Camry level because of price considerations.
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Oct 13, 2011 23:48
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Paul Pot posted:Car derail: I'm totally with you on this. Americans have no idea how to manage their money and manage their cars. It's also funny when said Americans do buy a vehicle that recommends premium gas and then fill up on regular in spite of this and then when their car breaks down they bitch about how unreliable German cars are. I did the math not too long ago in Canada on how much 50L of regular versus Premium costs and it's something like a $7 difference. I can't believe people think saving 7 bucks a week on gas is better than preventing a potentially catastrophic engine failure later in your car's life. But of course this is America, people lease their cars. When those problems catch up with them it'll be someone else's problem because they'll just lease another car. My attitude is you buy a car and you drive it until it reaches the end of its useful life. You take good care of your car and your car takes good care of you. It's never failed me. DerDestroyer fucked around with this message at 00:53 on Oct 14, 2011 |
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Oct 14, 2011 00:51
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hankor posted:The general problem you seem to have with outsourcing is that you seem to think it's a never-ending process, complete companies wander off and whenever a cheaper opportunity arises they migrate again. I agree with you. Speaking of outsourcing, it's little stories like this that always make me feel  about Germany. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UaAZPTNb1I It's probably propaganda, but drat it's so much better than the bullshit American media.
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Oct 14, 2011 06:28
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niethan posted:Why are nationalities and national borders and nations so important to you? The answers to that are obvious and don't deserve a response. Think for a second what would happen if we eliminated national borders over night and allowed the complete free movement of peoples between nations. It would be chaos both economic, cultural and violent in nature. Nationalities, borders and nations will stop being important to me when all countries around the world have been brought to an equal economic and social standing to that of western societies. Then we can talk about a planetary federation or whatever. I'm not anti-immigrant, far from it that would make me a hypocrite having an immigrant background of my own. What I'm saying is it needs to be done sensibly and when there is a need for it. You take in immigrants, acquaint and familiarize them with your nation's culture so they can fit in better and ensure that the skills and qualifications they have can be recognized by your country so that they can quickly find work in their industry. If their skills and qualifications don't meet the standards of the country then provide them with a program to upgrade them to the national standard and make these accessible to them. But thoughtlessly opening your doors to immigrants regardless of background or qualification just makes a bad situation worse. There's enough unemployment issues in Germany that allowing unskilled workers in Germany for example will just worsen the unemployment rate, put more strain on the social system (thus giving the government an excuse to cut back on them) and create an economic underclass like the one we currently see evidence of that will worsen the conflicts that exist. In the best interests of minimizing conflict and ensuring a harmonious society it is probably best to be selective about who is allowed to immigrate and who isn't based on the economic and social situation currently affecting your country. DerDestroyer fucked around with this message at 20:24 on Oct 15, 2011 |
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Oct 15, 2011 20:06
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Hip Flask posted:so which german publications should i read? Arguably the best news source for educated upstanding intellectuals is "Die Zeit". However just about every German news source with the exception of like Bild,FAZ or Süddeutsche Zeitung is still much better than what is available in North America.
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Dec 5, 2011 22:49
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hankor posted:How are the FAZ and the SZ anything but good newspapers? You might not agree with the editorials but besides that I can't think of anything bad about them. You got me there. But yeah overall I've found German news services to be way way way better than anything I've seen in North America. Hell just the way they handle the typeface and the paper itself and how the text is clearly organized is very nice.
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Dec 5, 2011 23:31
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Basically the best paper is the paper from the region you live in  .
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Dec 6, 2011 23:55
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Riso posted:Anti-americanism is not specificly German, it's all of Europe. And the world really...
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Nov 14, 2012 19:12
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