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How Germany is able to run the world’s second largest export economy

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Re: How Germany is able to run the world’s second largest export economy

#341

Post by helij »

CapricornNoble wrote: post #305
helij wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. I change cars every three years now. The last one I changed after 2 years. I really don't care how reliable they are after 5 years as long as they are comfortable, frugal and safe during my ownership. Technology today just moves too fast to see myself driving 50+ miles a day in a 5+ years old car.

I'm genuinely curious what sort of technical innovations of recent cars you feel make something like a 2012 Lexus IS-F an unreasonable automotive experience by comparison, let alone a used Mercedes S65 AMG.

Cameras all around. Safety systems are much improved since 2012 as well. Neither of these two mentioned has blind spot monitor for example.

Re: How Germany is able to run the world’s second largest export economy

#342

Post by perfobotto »

usrusr wrote: post #190
Kaiyou wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it always like this. Things written tend to make sense until they contradict your prior knowledge.

The author certainly lost me when he called out Italy as a winner and the Netherlands as a loser in this game. That only ever happens in football.

Italy in exports is indeed successful

Re: How Germany is able to run the world’s second largest export economy

#343

Post by dang »

DraftDodger67 wrote: post #311
biztos wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some members of my extended family own a company (actually a small family of companies) in that category, and of course it's in Swabia. They are market leaders in some very high-margin things most people never think about, and interestingly they sell a lot in Asia, where one might expect them to be more vulnerable to competition. German Quality is a huge brand worldwide. I also have a friend in Berlin who's sort of i…

Therein lies the problem - the current fertility rate for German mothers is only 1.42. How long until there are no more Germans left to run these companies?

Please keep flamewar talking points off HN. This place is not for that.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: How Germany is able to run the world’s second largest export economy

#344

Post by ethnologica »

nick_meister wrote: post #337
kiney wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even though most schools are public, quality very much depends on location. Germany is federal and education is responsibility of the "Länder" (like provincia). In Argentina i visited a private school which was more or less comparable to the my school in germany (Gymnasium "part" of a Gesamtschule in Niedersachsen). Not sure about the quality in Berlin which is notoriously broke.

Thanks! I didn't know that German schools quality varied between locations/Länder.

You are welcome.

Berlin schools, even Gymnasien, have a bad reputation due to Berlin's failed economic policy, which resulted in a lack of equipment and missing teachers. To get into a Gymnasium with a very good reputation processes are highly competitive.

Re: How Germany is able to run the world’s second largest export economy

#345

Post by mFixman »

pnako wrote: post #288
johnzim wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We can look today at Germany as a mature, stable partner in the world but at the time, the argument that there might just be 'something in the soil' of the primary belligerent of the last 2 world wars was not entirely insane. Gratifyingly the world saw that the nation's contrition was sincere and we enjoy the fruits of its labour today.

In 1914, Germany declared war on France. Then Britain declared war on Germany. In 1939 France and Britain jointly declared war on Germany. It seems to me that there are at least three primary belligerents of the last two world wars (I would also include Russia).

In 1939 Germany declared war on Poland after having invaded Austria and Czechoslovakia.

Re: How Germany is able to run the world’s second largest export economy

#346

Post by CapricornNoble »

helij wrote: post #341
CapricornNoble wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm genuinely curious what sort of technical innovations of recent cars you feel make something like a 2012 Lexus IS-F an unreasonable automotive experience by comparison, let alone a used Mercedes S65 AMG.

Cameras all around. Safety systems are much improved since 2012 as well. Neither of these two mentioned has blind spot monitor for example.

Interesting, I call that stuff "nannies for people with poor situational awareness". I suppose they have utility as the size of the vehicle you drive increases (would have loved it when I drove a fuel truck in the Army[1]). In a mid-size sedan or smaller, with an attentive driver, they seem like a waste of resources to me. Side effects of living in a bubble of car modders and street racers, who almost never buy anything brand-new anyway.

I wonder how blind spot accidents in the US are affected by driver education? I'd love to see a comparison of data between the US, Germany, and Japan on incident rates of such accidents...

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_Expanded_Mobility_Tactic...

Re: How Germany is able to run the world’s second largest export economy

#347

Post by helij »

CapricornNoble wrote: post #346
helij wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cameras all around. Safety systems are much improved since 2012 as well. Neither of these two mentioned has blind spot monitor for example.

Interesting, I call that stuff "nannies for people with poor situational awareness". I suppose they have utility as the size of the vehicle you drive increases (would have loved it when I drove a fuel truck in the Army[1]). In a mid-size sedan or smaller, with an attentive driver, they seem like a waste of resources to me. Side effects of living in a bubble of car modders and street racers, who almost never buy anyth…

Well these new systems actually saved me at least once (probably more but it didn't feel as dangerous). It happened when van drove in front of me when I was in a runabout. Automatic brakes reacted immediately and halted the car.

Interesting that you call this stuff like you do. All these systems actually prevented many accidents around the world as cars are getting more and more safe all around.

As for blind spot system. I use it just as another data-point when driving around M25(London). Of course I look at the mirrors and those are perfectly aligned so I have no blind spots but when I look at the mirrors and see no blind spot warning I am sure all is good and I move to the other lane.

Re: How Germany is able to run the world’s second largest export economy

#348

Post by emj »

baud147258 wrote: post #120
emj wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are several countries in the EU that likes and produces big an heavy cars, Germany is not alone, my guess from this post is that France primarily produce smaller cars. To make any difference we should make it easy and cheap to buy fast electric bicycles since they have a lifecycle emission that is about one tenth of cars (Blondel, Mispelon, and Ferguson 2011). At the moment customs for chinese electric bicycles…

I don't think the market is the same between cars and electric bikes. But helping producing affordable electric bike in the EU could be a good idea.

I think the markets intersects a lot, at least if you are to trust what the polls made on people who just bought e-bikes, a lot of them used them to replace cars mainly for everyday work and shopping which is HUGE. Research show that more than half of the car users here live 50 min from their work by bike.

If we spent money on infrastructure for bikes my travel time by bike could be 10 minutes shorter, that would the 50 min area above even bigger.

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