The German chancellor has called for a welfare reform, putting him on course for a possible clash with the SPD.
The passive voice in that statement is doing a LOT of heavy lifting there, Friedrich.
Sure it can.
Just raise taxes on the wealthy.
Merz is a conservative. They’re all like that.
Its crazy to me that the only left leaning party in Germany was split by internal divisions between neoliberalism and progressive politics. How was that even possible when more than half of Germany’s voters are left leaning?
Are you referring to SPD? They haven’t bothered with actual left-leaning politics for a while. Die Linke is our party on the left, and they are experiencing a renaissance right, but unfortunately not nearly as much as the far right.
To answer your question: Most German voters are centrists with a mix of vaguely conservative and social democratic views. And they’ve been exposed to economic anxiety narratives and xenophobic fear-mongering for the past two decades, while lacking the political education to smell the populist bullshit for what it is in a social media environment defined by anti-intellectualism and fake news.
Then how about stopping welfare for millionaires?
Or stop subsiding e.g. plane fuel. Better for the environment anyway.
… without the rich paying their share.
All this while systematically crippling our tax investigation departments.
If I ever meet Merz or someone like him, I will have choice words to say.
Words alone have never stopped fascists.
there you go, they finally said it out loud. austerity it is.
“Why isn’t anyone having kids? I specifically requested it.”
Austerity doesn’t even work. It’s deliberate cruelty.
It works for the wealthy. It saves them a lot of money on taxes.
It’s short sighted though.
It’s not short sighted for the wealthy. Over the last 40 years, the wealthy have amassed massive amounts of income and wealth. It worked out great for them and the politicians that they purchase.
My view is that it will ultimately ruin the country. Has in the U.K.
I agree.
The wealthy do not care about countries or borders. Once a land is pilfered, their wealth makes it relatively easy to find another place to live.
exactly
Just before Covid it was in British news that austerity hadn’t worked (No shit…), so what did they do? More austerity. It’s fucking infuriating.
So… The Germans are kicking all the wealthy leeches off their generational welfare suckholes, then?
That’s the real “welfare state”, NGL… 🖕🏽
Tick tock on the fascism clock.
My partner and I almost moved to Germany last year and I am so glad we didn’t. If we’re going to be in a fascist country, I’d prefer to be a citizen since white fascists tend to frown extra hard on us brown immigrants.
How’s your Spanish? I hear good things about Chile.
Good enough to be understood but not good enough to not use idioms incorrectly. For example, I spent a solid five minutes trying to remember if “así así” or “ni fu ni fa” can apply to competency before throwing my hands up.
Mediocre. Mi español es mediocre.
I just need practice.
COUNTRY welfare state can no longer be supported
Change COUNTRY for any west European country and this has been said while it CAN be supported but the rich want to get more rich
Merz is predictable and a traitor to the German people. He will usher in the fascist power grab through conservative policies - the AFD will grow in popularity as conservatives protect the 1%.
Die Linke’s tax plan would have paid for the yearly debt of the government and then some; their secret - tax the wealthy.
We can afford all of our costs, we can improve society, we can provide a thriving economy for all Germans if we simply tax the ultra wealthy out of existence. No one should have a billion euro net worth, nor 100 million nor 50 million. No one need own 3 houses while others go without even a flat.
We have enough wealth in this country, it’s just in the hands of the hoarders. Don’t look towards conservatives or the right for change, look towards those that address the root problem!
What if the homeless and poor go to war for your rich ass?
Then there’s plenty of money for the weapons. So maybe buy less of that and more shelter, clothes, food and education?
- Print 1bn in welfare
- Welfare ultimately gets spent into rich folks’ coffers
- Tax that 1bn back out of the rich
- Net cost: zero
What’s “unaffordable” here?
If only “tax” meant “tap” as in “tap a sugar maple for its sweet sweet amber sap” and the freshly gutted 1% could also be used as fertilizer afterward.
Win/win! Poverty and hunger in one fell slash? I’m in.
It’s unaffordable to greedy corporations and billionaires who would not afford the working to have a single dime in their pocket if they had it their way.
… without finally taking the upper ten percent into the taxpaying fold.
Always has been. “We cannot afford x any more” has been their standard argument for dismantling social security and lining up their own pockets for decades now.
