The Current Situation In Germany (My experience As A Brit) 

Morning all. How is everyone today? Enjoy your Sunday ❤

Did you just say that the price of cocaine doubled?!?!

I lived in Dresden for 2 years 2008 - 2010 and it almost broke my spirit. Almost as I am a high spirited person but my associates were so bogged down with the rules and even though highly educated and very intelligent hardly thought outside the box ever. My next stop was a Convent stay at Lago di Garda Italy and I felt such freedom and a relief to be away from all the heaviness of Germany

As a native I can totally agree with your assessment of the German job market. These contradictions have been going on for decades. Qualified workers? Yes, but please at ridiculously low wages. Many companies desperately look for employees but their stubbornness in terms of overregulation and bureaucracy makes it more or less impossible to hire people - no matter if they are Germans or foreigners. More than 200 000 qualified or even highly qualified persons have left Germany since 2016. You are right - this situation has to change really soon if Germany wants to prevent going down the drain...

I work for a German company in the UK, I'm constantly surprised by how long it takes to make a decision. They are also very pedantic about everything and again nothing gets done.

I am native german, and living here . Lots of my staple groceries have gone up 50%+ within 2 years . Within 12 months my monthly utility bill ( gas/electricity ) has gone up 75% . My rent has gone up 12% beginning this year . Meanwhile, Unions fight for raises around 2/2.5% . This can not go on for much longer . No idea what can/will be done to change this though .

Abolishing cash would be the single most privacy infringing thing they could do, I hope it never comes. I pay for everything in cash except internet purchases (obviously). No credit institute or data collecting firm needs to know what and how I consume. It's none of their fucking business!

Dear Benikon, the cost of living has risen but not the wages and subsidies by the administration. I'm a landlord with 30 flats and was asked by some tenants if I wanted to raise rents. My answer has been how can I in good conscience raise rent when I know that people are struggling with paying utilities? I can't. But I'm fortunate to have (at the moment) no long-lasting mortgages with the risk of rising interest rates. I know for a fact that most private landlords (and many companies) are in mortgages up to the neck and are forced to raise rents because of rising interest rates. Granted, there are always black sheep that try to exploit the situation but the majority of landlords prefer a smooth relationship with their tenants. Because guess, what happens next when you successfully raise the rent? The tenants will deduct even more money for real or fake defects and deficiencies (Mietmängel). And then you're worse off than before. Schufa is obliged to destroy all data concerning fully paid credits, contracts, etc. after three years. Do they always do it? I don't know and I don't care. I don't ask future tenants or their Schufa-score, and I don't ask for a Gehaltsauskunft (salary report) either. I only ask for a Selbstauskunft (report on themself) about (besides personal data e.g. phone number, e-mail, etc.) how many tenants will move in, do they have pets, are they playing musical instruments, and net household income. If they lie in this form, it's grounds for immediate termination. Even though I can't just throw them out (I envy American landlords), at the latest after 6 months of court proceedings they will be out. Personally, I prefer to know that all the craftspeople that do work for me have the required qualifications. I don't want a random person to repair the electrical installations in my home or the rental units. I want a regular electrician (with a certification of the Handwerkskammer) to do the job. It's for safety and quality assurance reasons. If you've got experience on the job you don't need to go through the whole qualification process with app. 3 years of apprenticeship. If you can prove to Handwerkskammer or IHK (depending on the profession) that you worked on the job for one and a half-time as long as the apprenticeship is set, you can enroll for the Gesellenprüfung (journeyman exam) which consists of theoretical, practical, and oral exams. I did this 10 years ago. After my marriage, I worked in the office of my husband's company for almost 25 years, doing anything from writing letters and invoices to payroll and accounting. When my husband passed away 10 years ago my mother-in-law suggested I should get the "paper" meaning an official certificate by the IHK as a "Bürokauffrau" to be able to get a job elsewhere and so I did. I got hold of some old exams, filled out the forms, and compared my answers to the correction sheet to train for the exam, I refreshed some areas (where I lacked knowledge) by reading books - and passed the exam with the mark "good". Not bad for a 48-year-old with no formal education in the field, just training on the job. CU twinmama

Employers asking for a Schufa report is far from universal, and in general they need to have a really good reason to even ask for it (such as the job giving you control over company accounts). They are also expressly not allowed to request the report without your consent. I work in financial services and all I ever had to produce was a "polizeiliches Führungszeugnis" (police clearance certificate detailing any recent brushes with the law). For the record, the Schufa's business practices are increasingly seen as violating data protection laws or defeating the purpose of e.g. private insolvency. I believe we will see their wings clipped a bit in future.

In my lifetime the book 1984 has gone from being a dire warning to a welcome brochure.

You don't have to pay for a Schufa report. They have to release the credit score and all information held on you for free by law. They just hide this option on their page as they want to charge for it.

I left in 2000. I had a passport and social security card from my dead beat Army dad and i took advantage of what he had left me. All i knew was my single disabled mom struggling on Sozialhilfe which wasnt a Hilfe at all. Growing up with that stigma and somehow being expected to stay in that system. I just wanted out for various reasons. My mom still lives there and shes managed her minimalistic lifestyle and somehow is happy. I am now a truck driver and have a paid off truck. Ive traveled the entire US and Canada. I dont think this type of freedom would have ever been afforded me in Germany. Im glad i had inherited and preseved a hard work ethic and i used my wits and chased my dreams. I would never under any circumstances return to Germany. I visited once and immediately felt claustrophobic. I also could not handle the materialistic cutthroat mindset of Germans. Americans have always been friendly and receiving towards me no matter where i went. I also couldn't imagine forking over 50% of my wages in taxes and being dictated on what size engine i could drive etc. Had i stayed there i probably would have never been able to afford a car or even a driver's license. The education system was amazing however where i went and sat in class with politicians kids and lawyers kids. Everyone i graduated with somehow ended up in the financial or political market but more so because of parental guidance. I just didn't really have any true role models to follow in my own family setting. Most unemployed and living off welfare or working their butt off on minimum wage. I might return for a vacation and thats about it.

Nothing you have listed about the digitisation of life is something I would rate as something positive.

"I'm going to break this video down into 3 parts". Ah excellent. The German tendency for organisation and clarity has grown strong in this one.

Thanks for the video. I'm very sorry to hear about the increased digitisation: I loved the old form filling days! Cash is still king to me - forget cards.

I visited Germany several times, both cities and country sides. I don't dislike Germany, it's just not for me. Having said that, I have worked with a few Germans, I am impressed with their techniques - very solid foundation.

Your rant is still very diplomatic! 😄

An excellent summary! I have been here eleven years and can only endorse your opinions. My rent has been upped by over 10% and will be raised again by the same amount in March! For me this has become unaffordable. But from my travels this year I conclude that we are still better off than many of our neighbours.

Thanks for this. It's a very interesting video Very informative, too. It's actually made me appreciate my own country all the more! One was inclined to take it for granted. 🙂

Thanks for your informative video. What I also want to emphasize on is, you have very nice voice! Seriously. Keep doing the good work. 👍

From what I've heard in the USA, they're undershooting the effect of inflation---one of the things they're doing is replacing a more expensive food with a less expensive one in the hypothetical budgets they're using to gauge inflation. So inflation is worse than they're saying it is.

High degree of digitiszation of life isn't something to be proud of or worthy of flaunting. It means that the State/big brother has higher degree of surveillance and control over residence. And lower degree of resistance from the residents, which only indicates their higher degree of sheepleness.

Wow! Love this channel and subbed 😊

Fascinating stuff….now subscribed.

Your experience with authorities is nice. For children there is now a Kinderreisepass passport which only valid 12 month. In my town I have to book a appointment online, which doesn't work on afternoon, for afternoon i have to call in the morning. It takes around 20 minutes, a new image has to be provided and both parents have to be there, or a letter that the other permits to do so. Yes the people in the office are very kind and service oriented (which is not always the case) but the whole thing is just clumsy expensive beaurocracy

Casually throwing in: ... the price for cocaine has gone up ... Wait, What? 😂

Thank you for the video! Okay, not going to leave my home country for now ;)

I was surprised I had never seen your channel before. I'm a US based Germanophile. I saw you remark somewhere about "knowing nothing about video" when you started but even your fairly early videos had a lot of style.

Have you come across the term “Führungszeugnis“? You Need a certificate of „good/decent conduct” if you go into teaching or any other position related to public service. It’s always interesting to listen to your comments on life in Germany. I tend to have a “Tunnelblick” as regards my home country. Have a good Sunday.

Cash is also the only way to purchase something in case of a power outtage, or even a malfunction of the card payment systems. (We had the later one last year for half a day in austria, and people realized that cash still works then.)

Regarding Schufa: Yes, the system is not perfect but if there was no schufa there would be worse problems. Say in France there is no schufa so if you take out a loan the bank forces you to get an insurance which increases the price borrowing money. The same applies to finding good renters for your property. If there is no schufa landlords will try to find other ways to protect themselves against bad renters "Messis" through higher rents, more checks, mandatory insurance or higher deposits. Finally, other countries have similar agencies. I think in the US it's Equifax and a few more.

Price at FKK doubled too. I was there last month. The quality of service did not double though.

The root cause of spike in prices in EU and it's domino effect was Germany's disastrous policy of putting geopolitics above the interests of its own people and economy. Scholz did not have a plan B for ditching cheap Russian energy and blindly followed US dictates. This was reckless and irresponsible at the very least. That German manufacturers simply stood by together with most Germans shattered my respect for German intellect. As if everyone was mass hypnotized to go along with Scholz and equally pernicious Van der Leyen. Keeping Ukraine neutral would've avoided this American Mal escapade but what US wanted everyone had to tag along. So sad for Ukraine that NATO turned into a graveyard just because US wanted Putin out but badly miscalculated. God always upholds the righteous and smites the wicked.

We have rental prices like Berlin now in Warsaw. It’s terrifying.

So glad I left a year ago.... It's not really better elsewhere but you learn to be relaxed

I lived in Germany in 1997, it was cool!

Good Morning to you also. I moved in in 2016 from Canada because I married a German. I was allowed to work under the program of family reunification. I'm in IT for 25 years now specialized in Data Management and Data Warehousing. Most job posting ask for a degree in computer science or mathematic or ... similar job experience, so on that aspect it's not to difficult for experience workers to find work. I work now fully in an English speaking environment having more than half the employees comming from abroad or being physically in Poland. My level of German suffers for not having enough daily practice, so looking for some other opportunity is difficult because most job ask for proficiency in the language + good English. B1 doesn't cut it, not even close. They often asked fluency at least C1. When I first arrived here I was qualifying for so many opportunities but 95% of the doors were closed because of the language barrier, even though everyone in the industry speaks English's. So when they complain that they can't fill vacancies even though they accept outsiders, they effectively don't. My goal for the end of the year is to get my C1 certification. That would open me so many more doors than at the moment. As for the cost of living, I keep a very close eye on everything spent, track every expenses and group them into accounts so I can see where our money goes. Price of food have really shoot up in the last 6 months. I could not believed how much we spent in June, over 20% more than last June. We are relatively comfortable, both working and no kids but when I see the price of food and energy skyrocket I can understand that families with lower incomes are now feeling the squeeze hard. This said I speak with my Mother in Canada weekly and when she told me how much some items cost now over there I find that we have it much better still here. For example she told me that 500g of butter is now average 10 Canadian $ or about 6.5 euros. 500 grams of Nature Yogurt average 8 $. I don't know where this will slow down but if it's not salaries will have to follow ... hopefully.

Your content is always interesting, especially to an American who has traveled a lot, but only lived in Switzerland as an exchange student in the mid-70s when I was in high school. Basically, what you're saying, is that things are different from a short time ago, but not really so actually dire as life is in America. Inflation is bad, not as bad as in Europe, but incomes have actually dropped here and health care is a privilege for the rich and schools are desperate for teachers. You're lucky to live in a country where the living standard keeps improving, for vast swaths of America the country feels like a third world country. Also. your voice has an almost ASMR quality, soft and low, reasonable, calming, not a lullaby, but more like a soft breeze on a summer day. It is a pleasure to listen to a rant from you, sir.

Your voice would be perfect for audiobooks. Very smooth!

That was great. New subscriber. I'm an expat in Prague for a long time, but when I visit Germany more and more Prague seems like a Disney toy town. Prices are now at Vienna levels, but the level of customer service or digitisation of govt. services is still below average. Most expats left after the GFC. Those of us who remained are all started to get itchy feet ( we thought things might improve post-Covid times, but they seem to be going backwards. Time for a change we're all thinking )

Good video, but as usual I will "correct" you. 😆 Yes, the prices in shops, etc.have increased a hell of a lot, as they have in the UK (I'm there several times a year). Now France and the UK are actually much cheaper than Germany. Traditionally they were more expensive, but considering the much higher quality and range of foodstuffs, I sort of accepted it. Now it really is painful to shop for food in Germany. I drive to France regularly as well, partly to buy food and bring it back for the freezer. I have a feeling that in all countries, the supermarkets are pulling a fast one on the consumers. Rent in Germany is still generally much cheaper than in the UK, although that has really increased over the last ten years. Electricity prices going up! It was or is the most expensive electricity in the World and that was before they told me last year that my yearly bill would go up by (not to) 2,800€. It's an international joke what Germany does with its energy. The largest polluter in Europe, absolutely and per capita. They "invested" a lot in green energy, and look how it has helped. It reeks of German efficiency 🤣🤣 The digitisation of things in Germany: Since Covid many more places accept cards than they used to. Government dealings (taxing, registering, and deregistering of cars, for instance) is still while not necessarily painful, time-consuming. In the UK, you just go onto the website and it is done in a couple of minutes.There is a mass of people working for the government in Germany (I heard it was one of the largest per capita in the World), so they are obviously going to fight for their jobs at the cost of the normal folk. With the Schufa: I#ve never been asked to produce it for a job (the last one being at the end of last year), or for an apartment (the last one being in March this year. For apartments they only ask me for the last years' bank statements. You're correct about the qualifications that German companies ask for. They do love seeing your papers. I've heard that it's similar in France. The UK and other English-speaking countries tend to be more flexible, and definitely take experience as more equal to qualifications. It's obvious that they should, as well. ETA about the qualifications: I can never believe how they think your O and A-level results are relevant to a job that you have been doing for thirty years. It does show a lack of thought. I have said this to them (having omitted my O and A-level results from my CV), and they have accepted it, to be fair, but it was (or is still?) the norm.

I'm an American in Germany, and I found this video both reasonable and useful.

Wow the digitisation looks amazing 😂 here in Portugal it's still 1985. Calls not answered to the immigration office, waiting for hours for an appointment to be told to come back again or you are at the wrong department 😂 it's a delight 😂 also the UK has had credit checks/reports since the 90s, it will not affect your job but it does affect getting a phone/bank/apartment if you have bad credit. Portugal doesn't have that though, probably it will soon given the number of foreigners moving here

Just a note on Schufa. It comes across as if they were a government authority. However, they are a private credit rating company and they collect data within legal bounds just like many other credit rating companies (e.g. Schimmelpfeng etc.). Schufa is more concentrated on the private sector, the others focus more on industry. And b.t.w., one self enquiry per year is free.

About the SCHUFA. It is one of the financial "line of defences" for non-trivial purchaces or contracts. The most common one is renting: the landlord (German: Vermieter) wants to see if this new custormer is actually able to pay the rent. This kind of distrust-in-advance has some nasty real basis: there are not few people who are called "Mietnomaden". They appear as wealthy on false claims or well dressed, or they abuse the (naive) trust of some landlord or -ladies. Then they move in but they never pay a single cent. They ignore all the reminders and let it go until finally, after maybe some years, thye landlord managed to get a court making a verdict against that person, with an order that he must leave the place he "rented". It used to be utterly difficult to get such a verdict as all courts are hopelessly overburdened with any kind of civil trials. Some landlords got bankrupt because of this. The Mietnomaden-trend is not new, it exists at least since 3-4 decades, but this and other kind of frauds rarely makes any headlines. People keep a cynical view on it: well, why did not they check the person in the first place ... "Passen Se doch auf!". Sorry for yet another "negative" comment, but that is reality.

I never had to give a Schufa record on anything for any reason. I recently went into public service and they wanted to see police records (what they get is a slip that tells them whether you were sentenced for a crime or searched with a warrant, I think. Not an exhausive list of every legal interaction), medical checkup and birth certificate. Nobody asked for Schufa, though. If anything in Germany is close to a social credit system, it's probably the police records, or the traffic violations register. Schufa behaves much more like the American credit rating agencies. Except it judges tardiness as negative and not being in debt as positive, rather than rewarding a revolving door of credit card payments and mortgages.

The fact that more and more young Germans are emigrating to America, Canada, Australia and Switzerland speaks volumes about the situation in Germany.

Your Videos are very interesting but BORING!!!! Whenever I have problems sleeping I watch one of your videos & I fall asleep within 30 seconds!!! Works a treat!! Thank you.

Most supermarket items are up 20-40% since pre ccovid

Dont pay digital!!! PAY CASH, ALWAYS!!!!

ZEK in Switzerland is similar to Schufa with the certainly one aim being to ensure that people do not obtain too much credit / debt. So prevents people falling into a debt trap. Now it doesn't help if you need to buy something essential for your family (food, medicine etc.) but if you are 21 year old with no job trying to buy a car on a loan agreement then these and escalation of debt will be limited).

Thanks, for another insightful vid ! Schufa can indeed be a pain the posterior but only very rarely in the context of seeking a job. The only thing I did not quite succeed to grasp was the point on the necessity to liberalize the labour market. What precisely is the problem according to your experience ?

I agree that the lack of digitization is exaggerated in Germany. It's mostly the government depts. that are behind, but in Canada, where I am from, it's the same. One thing that blew me away here was how efficient and digitized Deutsche Post is. You can print out stamps, including registered mail from your printer. I can order stamped envelopes delivered to my door in 2 days. Mail picked up twice a day from mailboxes, delivered 6 days a week. Canada has been cutting mail service for decades.

🤔English are not Ausländer they are family and should stay here as long as they want... 🌹🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Welcome

As a german I can totally agree on the Food Price Increase subject but also the RAPID digitization at least in Urban Cities... Hell even at my work that has to do with vegetables and "Saisonarbeit" one can finally pay via EC Karte or Paypal... A change I would not have seen a few years ago if Cov19 did not have happened!

Credit checks happen in pretty much every country as far as I'm aware. Experian does the same thing in the UK, and we have this in North America too.

Did this dude just say the price of cocaine has almost doubled? I had to listen to that four times before I believed my ears. 😂😂😂😂

A thing about Schufa. You are entitled to a free basic report from Schufa every year. Since Schufa is a private company, they arent realy open about that. This basic version is just as valid, but must be censored a bit, to protect your own sensitive information.

I love how he casually just throws into the mix the fact that coke has doubled in price too

Cash only can be cumbersome>>>The option to use cash or digital is great>>>Digital only means someone knows everything you purchase>>> Centralised digital means someone else has the power to decide whether or not your purchase can take place.

As a Canadian who's been living in Germany for over a decade myself, I have to agree with you that with regards to digitalization and payments, things have indeed improved in Germany. However, when I compare with what's possible in Canada (or frankly even Belarus!) with what types of payments or bureaucratic digital forms are accepted in even every tiny village let alone cities, then I'd have to say Germany's still got a ways to go to meet us in the 21st century. I couldn't imagine only being able to make cash payments in our capital at a great number of stores or restaurants for instance. In Berlin, it's totally expected. I would never carry hundreds of dollars around with me in Canada. If you don't carry around an absolute minimum of 50€ on your person at all times in Germany, you would have to start hoping there's an ATM nearby (which there isn't always). PS loved your comment about the cost of cocaine btw 😅😂

Well, hope you travelled to the UK recently. I did, and the country looks and 'feels' like they went back to the sixties. And, I'm that old, that isn't a good thing, the streets are dirty, broken, under repair (with nobody working), and is a rather messy look. Won't be returning anytime soon.

I liked your Schufa comment'Britain has their cameras,...' 😅

At 08 sec.I was happily surprised to see my favorite Austrian beer in a programme about Germany !

Re: Auslandbehörder Your mileage may vary based upon location. I live in Berlin and we had a 7-month waiting period for a visa appointment. I heard Stuttgart is similar. The online was easy and the in-person appointment was easy, but just getting the appointment took a very long time. I've heard it's gotten worse.

WTF. I have NEVER been asked for a Schufa report in my life, and I'm a German by birth and hardly young. I have rented at least 5 different appartments, depending on how you count certain student things, and worked at 4 proper different jobs, and have opened bank accounts at at least 5 completely independent institutions, plus subaccounts, etc. A Schufa credit rating is just that a CREDIT rating. It should only be used to qualify you for loans, and it only takes into accounts whether you have failed to pay back any loans, which is why it has access to whether you have a bank account, but certainly not your actual transaction history, and it most certainly is not a social score system. You will not be punished for criticising the government or non-standard lifestyle. That would be insane. It is actually super illegal for your employer or prospective employer to ask you for it, let alone require it, and also totally irrelevant, since you don't have to pay them, they pay you. I can understand it just a little bit more from a landlords perspective, but even there the only thing usually asked for is confirmation of your last 3 paychecks and them being high enough for you to afford said rent.

Thank you for sharing this interesting comment! Have you ever considered to go back to the UK? Kind regards, A.

Good to know about the streamlining of the process of opening a bank account.

I Iived in Germany, but left because I could not find work or an apartment and took over three months to get I to a language course, there is too much of an emphasis on refugees and and Pakistani IT workers, it's seems that's all they want!

I'm here in Germany too.. It's a total shambles. thank you Greens and the union!!

00:35 Moving to Germany? 40 years ago, the border to the GDR was 500 km away from me. Now it is only 2 km. The Green Khmer try their best to destroy Germany.

In London, the cost of food has gone up between 15%-50% depending on what i'm buying.

Austria always was more expensive than Germany so its less noticeable for me. I mostly buy strategically do a big shop once a month with the rebate stamps I collected with whatever discounts I can get. I always used to store and freeze a lot and buy if possible in bulk. I also changed jobs and made sure to earn quite a bit more than in my previous job. If you stay within the same company, you only very rarely would get a raise of about 10K a year. If you switch jobs however it is entirely possible if you appear to have some valuable experience. So make sure you steadily move forward. With energy, managed to curb consumption while staying comfortable thus I even got a bonus last Winter. At 50 I am quite used to things getting more expensive with time.

Ever considered to make use of your "speaking voice" (for the lack of a better term)? Don't know if you use some sound filter (doubt it), but your eloquence, clear pronounciation and comforting "mic-voice" (yet again for the lack of a better term) would surely qualify you for that. It may not be a full time job and not exacly easy to get in, but maybe a fun way to genererate some extra income. Not suggesting that I think you need it, though. The reason I say this is the fact that people keep suggesting the same thing to me, because sometimes (I do have to occasionally answer incoming calls in my current job), callers tend to hang up the first time around because they think I am a professionally pre-recorded tape - or people immediately start to flirt with the guy they're talking to. Personally, I kinda like the idea for myself, substituting my income by being a GPS-voice, announcing stops in public transport or the voice in airport terminals. Should be fun without the hassle of being a celebrity. I just have no idea how to get in touch with anyone to even be considered for a casting. Sorry for getting carried away... Your content is great and your voice no less. Cheers, Daniel

Grüsse aus den Bananensümpfen 😉 France is 10 minutes away but there's not much difference, even in fuel prices these days. Luxembourg is way better if you can be bothered, but generally life's too short.... Also, food prices have started to edge down - zB Litre milk 1,15 a week ago, now 99c (pre Ukraine 89c) but you can still eat cheaper overall in the UK if you try and don't mind chinese rubbish from Iceland - you'll just pay twice the rent and three times the car insurance for the pleasure. Oh, and "Council Tax"

"The price of cocaine has almost doubled" that caught me off guard 😅🤣😂

I really want to move to Germany. Are there many opportunities for young people still?

I really liked the dead pan way you said the price of cocaine has doubled - that shows you are still a brit.

Food has nearly doubled throughout Europe mate. The CPI data is manipulated, they select the products they want to base the data on.

Interesting ! As a German who left Germany more than 5 years ago, I'm even surprised ;-)

"The price of cocaine almost doubled." Nothing I would notice on a daily basis but thanks for the info anyway. 😆😆😅🤣😂😋

Schufa is a big joke. A bad one. If you don‘t have any debts, no creditcard, pay in cash most of the time - you get a bad rating.

Als jemand der in den end 60er Jahren und Anfang 70 er Jahren in GB gelebt hat ,ist es faszinierend heutzutage die Änderungen, wie aus einer anderen Welt zu erleben

It’s the same in the UK. Very interesting hearing you say that as lots of people blame the problems here on Brexit, which according to you, isn’t the case. You have a clear Australian twang to your speech! - maybe the German influence on your accent?!

I assume the demand must be going pretty strong to allow for a doubling of the price 😄

Thanks for the very interesting "rant" I live in Germany but still work in the UK, a decision make post brext vote but before leave. I think that the cost of living increase is much much worst in the UK than in Germany. Our energy costs have fallen because we have been lucky enough to improve the insulation on our house and other bonuses for reducing energy usage. However I must disagree with you on digitisation. Yes you can pay by card in most places now but this is more often by bank card rather than credit card. You still have to go in person to register your new address even though a digital system was introduce during COVID but rescinded at "the end of COVID". Where I see the greatest difference is in, my world of work, construction. In the UK all construction sites (above a few house developments) have digital entry & exit controls. logging everyone on and off the site. Without the correct work permissions you won't get on site. A recent German news report was of a man who died on site on a Friday afternoon from something like a heart attack, who was not discovered until Monday morning. A local site to me, building 78 apartments, has no secure fence and no way of knowing who is onsite. Perhaps more importantly the site operation seems to still be driven by paperwork. Most UK site will control how and what is built by a digital model, recording who put what in when with a full construction audit and health & safety audit. I was gobsmacked to see 5 men (and it is only men in German) discussing the progress of my local site, standing out in the rain holding a large paper drawing under a couple of umbrellas. Germany still has a long long way to go in digitsation, which will cost the country dearly.

There's one problem, there's almost not healthy food in the UK...

OK, I have turned on subtitles because I thought there is something wrong with my hearing at 0:57, but the subtitles agree with my hearing. Does he really say "the price of cocaine is almost doubled?"

I was heavily encouraged to move to Germany some years ago. Although I had been working, living and studying abroad for many years, I was (and, unfortunately, still am) a German citizen and could speak German fluently. My skill set was desperately in need in Germany. Once I got there, it was an ongoing nightmare. After six months of dealing with a never-ending bureaucratic nightmare, I took a job offer in China and just left. Years later, I was promised that Germany had grown more flexible, that people were more relaxed than they had been so I gave it another go. It was another disaster with the same frustrations and stress. I ended up moving back to England. Germany is a country that has a lot of good sides and a lot of good parts, but the way it's put together is simply dysfunctional. Even people who grew up in Germany and who are educated in Germany, but cannot toe the line or fit into neat boxes, often end up feeling the pressure to leave.

Germany has always been overloaded with rules and restrictions, Germans seem to love them.

Danka dear. Still no proper bacon,no pie's. But if the gherkin is tipple you are catered for like king it's bigger than our biscuit isle in the UK . Arbiter Deutschland 13 years . No probs finding work in Germany if you're specialist engineering. There systems can seem a little intrusive and old fashioned however it has improved. Returned to the UK now.

I am remembering yet before cca 2-3 years situation in german supermarket in smaller town... I am croat and then our currency was still croatian kuna (now it's EUR)... After putting my mastercard in POS device I was asked do I want to charge my account in EUR or in croatian kunas (you must choose an option)... When I tried to type the answer using POS device keyboard cashier was total upset why am I touching and trying to type something on POS device and she called her boss... It was so silly situation 😀 p.s. on the end she was totaly amazed with bill printed by her POS in croatian kunas when i choose option charge my account in kunas 😀😀

Digitization of life. I thought you were going to talk about issues such as digital IDs and other digitization that is aimed to track and control the population. Knowing the current EU and worldwide agenda I wouldn't say further digitalization and online identification is necessarily a good thing.

So summing up what I just heard, it's very close to a Totaltarian society with government involved in practically every aspect of your life.

This is everywhere (the U.K. gets a bad rap but I think the EU is under reporting inflation as I noticed big rises in Spain which didn’t chime with a lower inflation rate)

Been living in Germany for over 30 years (ex squadie). Since 1989 when the wall came down, Germany has drastically changed. How long did the ID card take ? from interview to possesion?

I'm a German living in the UK since the late '90s, so your views of living in 2020's Germany are really very interesting! I certainly find the job market much easier for "Quereinsteiger" in the UK. I wish Germany was more flexible in that respect. Not sure I'd ever manage to come back and get a good job in Germany as things stand... (I have the German Abitur but studied and worked only in the UK.)

Paying with card in Germany: as a Dutchman, my experience is opposite. A lot of restaurants find it to expensive to maintain/pay a digital system, and require to pay cash, or you need to pay cash beneath about 10 euro's.

Germany: my electricity bill increased in April 2023 by 67%........... not 5% ........ and prices of food went up by 33% ... that is reality and not bogus statistics

Price of veggies has tripled in Belgium