101–110 of 140 posts
Oh so lobbying the EU comission to both slash CO2 targets and adding tolls to chinese EV cars did not actually make German auto manufacturers more competitive. Who would have thunk? Yes I'm bitter how much influence the German car companies have over the union.
"But they provide jobs!" is the usual rebuttal.
Well, they ain't doin' that any more, are they?
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For being unreliable, it's working strangely well and stable. Far better than the fuel-based sources which fail all the time for various reasons.
I guess the parent wanted to say `intermittent`, as opposed to `baseline`. These are the terms used throughout the industry.
As in "intermittent fault." Hardest to debug.
The job market all over the world is ultimately changing. Wars, AI, energy crisis, etc. — it’s a combination of factors. Yet, the article is too shallow, so it doesn’t clarify much. The two examples are not really representative, “press spokesman at a small industry association” and entry-level “apprenticeship in marketing communications and a bachelor’s degree in international management”. I don’t want to say that t…
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Does German welfare really pay generous benefits if people avoid working altogether? I really don't know much about it, I'd have assumed it follows a similar model to the Swedish one: you can be on benefits while searching for a job, there's even a government agency tasked with finding positions you might qualify, you are required to apply to X jobs a month, and if you get offered a job you need to take it or you wil…
As always, it depends on your definition and situation. If you're a highly skilled, ambitious worker, with a desire for a high standard of living, then no.
If you're unskilled and unscrupulous and willing to game the system every step of the way(like some people I met), then being on welfare definitely pays better than doing unskilled labor, with the advantage you don't come home every day smelly and tired having to wake up early the next day for a long commute to go through this grind every day.
>you will eventually run the clock out on the unemployment payments.
You can prolong this indefinitely by destroying your mind and body with drugs and alcohol so you can go on disability benefits, and not worry about job interviews ever again, because nobody will hire you.
>Of course, there are ways to prolong it but it's definitely not enough to create major distortions
Yeah, NO, it definitely does major distortions. If welfare turns from a temporary safety net only used by a few and paid by many, to a system now many rely on long term and paid only by a few, then it ends up distorting everything: the tax system, the labor market, the rental market, government spending and debt, etc. all of which negatively affect a nation's economic competitiveness.
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Indians. Well educated, hard working, and willing to put in 20 years of serfdom to get that green card. Even a 30% discount on wages is still a better quality of life than their alternatives. If they were granted proper work visas with portability then wages would go up. That's why Elon and co love H1Bs.
India recently reached below-replacement fertility rate - if examples from other countries are anything to go by, sooner or later the Indian government will implement aggressive anti-brain-drain policies. Germany has relied on immigration since the 1960s at least. The immigrants won't save them now, as there are too many factors working against that. -USA can offer higher wages. -EU members to the east can offer sign…
Cannot see this happening anywhere except maybe North Korea.
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I really wouldn’t look at France as a system to emulate. Their economy is also going through a pretty rough decade
France is just an example of strike possibilities. It’s ridiculous to blame unions in Germany where things like political strikes are not allowed … because a former Nazi judge said so.
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> Cut all welfare and government handouts, cut taxes on labor and on employment. Eastern Europe has the former, and as for the latter entrepreneurs in the industry just don't pay their taxes - ask me how I know. There's still a shortage.
Yeah but for completely different reasons.
Highly skilled workers from Eastern Europe go to US, London, Zurich to make big money there better than back home, and low-skilled workers from Eastern Europe go to Germany for the generous welfare and child benefits better than back home.
I'm originally from Eastern Europe too. Countries like Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and the Baltics managed to avoid this outcome, but Hungary and those in the Balkans are kind of stuck in this downward spiral they can't get out of. They've already lost of lot of workers, both skilled and unskilled to the west, and local birth rates are shit and EU funding won't last forever.
Any kind of economic miracle recovery similar to Poland seems out of the question now. Once the war in Ukraine ends, most EU funds will go there instead of the balkans so if they haven't built a strong economy by the time Ukraine enters the EU, they're truly fucked. Similar how East Germany was fucked after Poland entered the EU.
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Indians. Well educated, hard working, and willing to put in 20 years of serfdom to get that green card. Even a 30% discount on wages is still a better quality of life than their alternatives. If they were granted proper work visas with portability then wages would go up. That's why Elon and co love H1Bs.
Germany can't do this because nobody wants to learn German + paid funny amounts compared to USA
Well, the thing is, in Europe you generally get something in return for your lower wages: mostly affordable housing, a decent social security system, good healthcare, public transportation, good education, retirement / pension schemes.
In the US, you have to go private for a lot of things: health insurance isn't enough on its own, you need to have a HYSA or otherwise save money for deductibles/out-of-pocket stuff. Good luck if you get unemployed. Public transportation doesn't exist out of a few selected areas, and most of the rest is unsafe to walk or drive with a bicycle, so you need to account for a car and its cost as well. You need to pay for your own education, which in practice means taking on a whole lot of debts. Housing costs are absurd even compared to the most absurdly expensive European cities (London, Frankfurt, Munich et al). And you need to take care of your retirement plans on your own and fund these.
In the end, after you deduct all the American private expenses, as long as you're not working in US tech with its absurdly inflated compensation you're left with the same disposable income but a much, much higher quality of life.
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India recently reached below-replacement fertility rate - if examples from other countries are anything to go by, sooner or later the Indian government will implement aggressive anti-brain-drain policies. Germany has relied on immigration since the 1960s at least. The immigrants won't save them now, as there are too many factors working against that. -USA can offer higher wages. -EU members to the east can offer sign…
>> government will implement aggressive anti-brain-drain policies Cannot see this happening anywhere except maybe North Korea.
In my country software engineers can enjoy a tax wedge of 15%, or even 8% if they're lucky enough to have formalities go through.
The tradeoff is virtually no state pension, but nobody believes that it's going to be substantial anyway.
This was enough to keep a huge number of people from emigrating, as western Europe outside of the UK doesn't provide such incentives (quite the opposite, actually).
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Germany can't do this because nobody wants to learn German + paid funny amounts compared to USA
> paid funny amounts compared to USA Well, the thing is, in Europe you generally get something in return for your lower wages: mostly affordable housing, a decent social security system, good healthcare, public transportation, good education, retirement / pension schemes. In the US, you have to go private for a lot of things: health insurance isn't enough on its own, you need to have a HYSA or otherwise save money fo…
You must be completely out of the current housing market loop, if you think housing in Europe is affordable right now. It's never been any less affordable.
>And you need to take care of your retirement plans on your own and fund these.
Same with Europeans. By the time millenials and younger will retire the public pension systems in Europe will be insolvent. Those without owned housing, assets or private investments are gonna be doomed to poverty and/or homelessness.