Polish book cover - "Golden Age"
Polish book cover - "Golden Age"
Just to put that comparison into some perspective that's not skewed by the boundless greed of a Friedrich Merz and his ilk: Back in the day when the peasants did this, the rich also did pay a way higher share of their income and property as taxes, and the peasants could afford way more for that money.
Germany had it quite good for some time, the concept of taming capitalism under "soziale Marktwirtschaft" did work, but then greed and corruption happened, and the restraining elements were being dropped one by one, resulting in the overly rich using their new found freedom to exploit everyone and everything else for their own short term profits with zero repercussions. Neoliberal politicians in practically all relevant parties did support this through both ideology and corruption, and now we're left with an outright ridiculous shitshow of crumbling infrastructure and increasingly dysfunctional institutions. But line go up!
concept of taming capitalism under “soziale Marktwirtschaft” did work
Could it be that the elite restrained itself to make Capitalism look good while Communism existed?
We are now seeing unrestrained Capitalism and ihe inability of the masses to restrain it, like Communist literature predicts.
After seeing the effects, could the regular citizens be motivated to put in the work to do the restraining? Could they further be motivated to make the investment decisions to create the next generation of successful companies?
Could it be that the elite restrained itself to make Capitalism look good while Communism existed?
That's very likely a factor.
After seeing the effects, could the regular citizens be motivated to put in the work to do the restraining? Could they further be motivated to make the investment decisions to create the next generation of successful companies?
Greed does corrupt people. Unless the restraints come from top down in the form of law, it's very unlikely for them to be long lived.
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Welcome to YUROP
The Ultimate Eurozone of Culture, Chaos, and Continental Excellence
A glorious gathering place to celebrate (and lovingly roast) the lands, peoples, quirks, and contradictions of Her Most Magnificent Europa. From the fjords to the Med, the steppes to the Atlantic spray, this is a shrine to everything that makes Europe gloriously weird, wonderfully diverse, and occasionally passive-aggressive in 24 languages.
Here we toast:
🇪🇺 The progressive Union of Peace (and paperwork)
🧀 The freest of health care
🍷 The finest of foods
🏳️🌈 The liberalest of liberties
🌍 The proud non-members and honorary cousins
💶 And the eternal dance of unity, confusion, and cultural banter.
Post memes, news, satire, linguistic wars, train maps, cursed food photos, Eurovision fever, propaganda and whatever makes you scream “only in YUROP.”
Leave your stereotypes at the border control and enjoy the ride.
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Germany could also have a booming economy, if the peasants would just work for 5 DM/hour and 60h/week again!
Angry Merz noises
save