The German chancellor has called for a welfare reform, putting him on course for a possible clash with the SPD.

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[+] 217 points 1 year ago (15 children)
[–] 175 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Creating 1500B € out of thin air to build killing machines: Whatever it takes to protect the country!

Spending 50B € to actually protect the people from poverty/malnutrition/starvation: Nooooo we can't afford that.

Humanity at it's best: Limitless effort to create suffering, 0 effort to reduce suffering.

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  • [–] 32 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    I suspect there will be many, many 'I didn't think they'd do this to ME' posts coming from German people in the coming months.

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  • [–] 101 points 1 year ago (8 children)

    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!

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    [–] 72 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    And this is how you further damage democracy and strengthen the far right. Because a lot of the people who don’t vote or vote for the far right are people who feel left behind who are of the impression that the system is broken and they don’t benefit from it. Social welfare is a way to directly show everyone what a democratic state is good for. Policies that benefit the poor, the working class and the middle class make a strong society. But Merz and others simply don’t seem to get it or care and stare in wonder at the ever rising numbers of people who want to see the world burn.

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    [–] 72 points 1 year ago

    ... without the rich paying their share.

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  • [–] 57 points 1 year ago (3 children)
    • 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?

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    [–] 54 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Sure it can.

    Just raise taxes on the wealthy.

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    [–] 50 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 49 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Im ashamed for who has become our chancellor. Flying around in his private "middle-class" jet while taxing the poor. Jfc Friedrich, step back

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    [+] 47 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (13 children)
  • [–] 33 points 1 year ago (10 children)

    Austerity doesn’t even work. It’s deliberate cruelty.

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  • [–] 44 points 1 year ago

    So... The Germans are kicking all the wealthy leeches off their generational welfare suckholes, then?

    That's the real "welfare state", NGL... 🖕🏽

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  • [–] 40 points 1 year ago

    Then how about stopping welfare for millionaires?

    Or stop subsiding e.g. plane fuel. Better for the environment anyway.

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  • [–] 36 points 1 year ago

    ... without finally taking the upper ten percent into the taxpaying fold.

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  • [–] 34 points 1 year ago (9 children)

    Merz is a conservative. They're all like that.

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    [–] 22 points 1 year ago

    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.

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  • [–] 18 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    it could easily , just slim down the government , remove tax waste and more. a city near me just bought 32 benches at the cost of 70k€ EACH yes 70.000 why ? end of quarter they didnt want to get budget cuts the next quarter. some citizens found very similiar benches from another company ( like minimal different same material ) for 3,5k EACH 3500 each or many of the million graves of taxes , we have in my city multiple "Autobahn" which arent used but were built and need maintenance why ?

    Our Government makes home owners pay for street repairs in full and more , where does our tax money go?

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    where does our tax money go?

    This is a pretty easy question to answer given that you're talking about a public institution.

    The only difficulty is that the answer is complex and requires reading and understanding many sets of financial reports and accompanying minutes et cetera.

    a city near me just bought 32 benches at the cost of 70k€ EACH

    That's a pretty absurd claim, and simply not how budgets in public institutions work.

    Sure there might have been some kind of fuckup so installation of one of 32 benches cost $70k, or any number of other plausible explanations, but large public institutions don't just throw $2.25m EUR at the end of a quarter as a budget stuffing exercise.

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    [–] 16 points 1 year ago

    For starters, cancel the fucking F-35 order and tell Rheinmetall's lobbyists and investors to shove it.

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  • [–] 15 points 1 year ago

    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

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago

    Friedrich Merz is Germany's Kier Starmer and if you don't understand what i mean go check on UK and how well they are doing under Starmers government and you'll understand.

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  • I typically abhor violence but i understand if somebody would kill Merz due to him being a danger to the general population. A politician has to help the people, not hurt them. If he doesn't fulfill this one basic task, he's unfit to be a politician. He has to understand that or step back immediately. If he doesn't, he's unreasonable and cannot be talked to logically.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago

    The passive voice in that statement is doing a LOT of heavy lifting there, Friedrich.

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  • Merz can no longer be financed

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