Privatisation always feels like a solution to shitty government services till some ultra rich company comes in, provides good service while burning cash, capturing the entire market forming a monopoly or duopoly, then raising the prices while making service shittier, and the government will say they can't do anything now because shutting them down would mean paralyzing the entire railway of the country.

If this feels oddly specific, it's because I've seen this happen with my own eyes, just not in the railway.

Yes, this is the result of neo-capitalist policies; Deutsche Bahn has been partially privatized, which—as is always the case with this logic—means that profits flow into the pockets of billionaires while losses are borne by the general public. That is why, for example, Germany’s internet infrastructure is at the level of a Third World country, even though Telekom generates enormous revenue.

It’s the result of U.S.-style exploitative capitalism, from which we cannot break free because—just as in the U.S.—it has corrupted all the levers of power—but hey, that’s why Germany has so many billionaires compared to other countries.

Edit: That, by the way, is also why the AfD is so strong in Germany. It’s a carbon copy of MAGA and owes its popularity to the same billionaires. This party is anything but an “alternative,” as its name might lead misinformed people to believe: It embodies everything Trump stands for—corruption and unscrupulousness—and that’s putting it quite mildly.

Educate yourselves, read their party platform, and let people know what it stands for. If you don’t want an oligarchy, that’s your civic duty!