161–170 of 203 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> things were always better in the olden days, people don't make 'em like they used to. Just because successive generations make the same observations about doesn't mean that hasn't actually been steadily declining, you know.
https://xkcd.com/1227/
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How about keeping the information public from start so a request is not even needed?
Fully in favour of this and we are making efforts to publish as much of our data publicly as we can. We have set up an open data portal for this purpose. My country differs from Germany in that our Freedom of Information laws are much broader and allow anyone to request virtually any record held by a public organisation, with the grounds for refusal being narrower. For example, generic day to day email exchanges betw…
Why not make those emails public to begin with?
There's no need to compile/publish if all data is public to begin with.
As a German citizen let me tell you, the rate of decline this country is in is truly shocking. This is by far the worst government in my lifetime, and remarkably there is wide consensus about it across the population (above 85% dissatisfaction, if you think I am exaggerating here). Industry and trade associations aren't happy either, which raises the question who asks for this? Life is getting forcefully precarious f…
It's the continuation of a process that is going on for 25-30 years. As others have noted, Germany's industrial base is eroding due to high energy costs and Chinese competition. Its political decisions over the last two decades have been questionable, accelerating the decline and any true reform is unlikely to get a majority in the current gerontocratic society. There is no need to attribute this to malice, I think i…
I would also reject the notion China "happened" to Germany, or energy costs were rising due to moral panics regarding nuclear power.
Germany once was leader in renewable energy tech, both solar and wind. Corruption and lobby driven politics intentionally abandoned that edge and caused an inefficient energy market, which is a main factor in energy costs. Of course our exceptionally productive and capable Mittelstand is not considered "German industry", only a few old-money corporations are. Your are saying the decline happened over 30 years, but the last nuclear power plat was only shut down 2023. And Germany's naive dependence on Russian gas was one of the main causal factors for the Ukraine war and all the expenses it caused. There absolutely was a cheaper, sustainable path intentionally not taken.
The same is true for our industry. It's corruption/lobbyism, arrogance and inaction, in face of slowly emerging Chinese "competition", which caused the downfall. It's not like politics/industry tried their best and failed. They tried nothing. On the contrary, they enforced the status quo over innovation and now when their power play failed they got nothing to offer. The reason BMW isn't the leader in electric cars is because at some point management decided to scrape the successful program, because "muh ICE so technology!". VW never even tried, but rather went all-in on lobbying to future-proof their business. Let's raise taxes for the bail-out.
And then of course the establishment owned media helped too, preventing necessary adaptations: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221462962...
Corruption, arrogance and inaction caused the German downfall.
As a freedom of information officer for a public body in another EU country, I feel that some of these changes such as the restriction of requests to EU citizens are inevitable in my country too. The volume of FOI requests we get is huge and they are more time intensive than ever, due to the fact most are now written by llms. I see no reason why the taxpayers of any EU country should be footing the bill for requests…
How about keeping the information public from start so a request is not even needed?
As a German citizen let me tell you, the rate of decline this country is in is truly shocking. This is by far the worst government in my lifetime, and remarkably there is wide consensus about it across the population (above 85% dissatisfaction, if you think I am exaggerating here). Industry and trade associations aren't happy either, which raises the question who asks for this? Life is getting forcefully precarious f…
Sorry this is more an effect of your social media consumption . I don't deny the problem the country is facing but your doom is multiplied by social media. Touch some grass, maybe pay for traditional media and you get a view of the trade offs the government is facing. It doesnt mean you have to agree with the choice but you know... " Industry and trade associations aren't happy either, which raises the question who a…
> Most AfD members share your sentiment. Maybe you should qquestion this feeling.
I heard they also drink water. Lot's to think about.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
[flagged]
theres a world of difference between a left party, even radical left like die linke, and ddr style communist dictatorship. and i dont like the greens views on nuclear power but they might be the only one who can save germany from afd fascism and cdu family-values flavored petty authoritarianism. if your definition of center right is fdp then get ready for even more corruption and corporate capture of everything that…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://xkcd.com/1227/
So are you just repeating the parent's flawed argument? Maybe you should see what that comic looks like extrapolated out to 2026: "yo on god writing be dead, frfr no cap "
There's little correlation between people complaining about something being better in the good old days, and it actualli being better. Not for no reason is "rose-tinted glasses" an expression.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let's just remember that spd unironically thought the CumEx expert Scholz should be given the highest position in the government. After that debacle I honestly cannot understand how anyone with even an iota of integrity can vote for them again and think any of them would ever act in the interests of their people
"After that debacle I honestly cannot understand how anyone with even an iota of integrity can vote for them again" Well, there is actually a very old song about them, here in a new version (that is also already quite old by now) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vFL0QWxugI But the answer is probably lack of real alternatives.
During Weimar times it was popular with both right-wing and left-wing forces. The Nazis - who sent social democrats to the concentration camps - also used it in their propaganda.
As much as I disagree with many of the things today's social democrats say and do, it's worth remembering that this slogan was popularized and predominantly used by anti-democratic forces. It's not a particularly fair thing to throw around carelessly.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ok, so what did they actually approve? Is this just a "declaration of intent", and the actual laws will follow later?! The article clearly says "lawmakers approved a whole series of reforms" - I was also surprised that this worked so quickly, but what do I know...
It means that this is a cabinet decision, not (yet) legislation. It still has to go through the Bundestag. Given the opposition within the SPD and the idea being very unpopular among voters, it is not yet clear whether this will actually become law. It is still very worrying and the unfortunate result of a lot of things going wrong at the cabinet level.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In context of the article, the economic performance is hardly relevant. The authoritarian forces are still strong in Poland, their institutional damage persistent.
Im really happy for Poland for its growing economy. (though it has the same challenges as Germany roughly speaking) But You can't just deny the political problems. Propably some Americans do it - to cope with Trump who is worser than any PiS president. Poland has the EU as democratic layer but US with Trump doesnt have it.
> Poland has the EU as democratic layer but US with Trump doesnt have it.
I mean, let's see. The US thought checks and balances would hold, but they didn't, and the EU didn't prevent Hungary and Poland to slip into authoritarian dynamics to begin with. It's not exactly the legal body drawing the latter two back to change, but economic benefits. And Germany also suffers the same untested myth of "checks and balances", which really assumes some political decency. And no legal construct considered bazillionaire tech bros playing god with our dopamine receptors.
We all shouldn't take democracy for granted. I hope we all start to see the real enemy of the people and find agreement on what's actually important right now. Luckily, causal relations are becoming evident for everyone to see in this critical time. Now people need to start seeing.
I really hope Europe's citizens find unity, a shared identity and a renewed lust for democracy. Quite frankly, here in this libertarian club the EU regulations are not particularly popular, but for me the EU laws are mostly positive and I am a huge fan of the whole thing.