Anti-rentner rant

[HerrDinksbumps 134]

So I went to the Gewandhaus in Leipzig yesterday evening to see Beethoven's 9th - was fantastic, as always.. I however had not bought a ticket at the Kasse - I never do: they're too expensive. But every year the wife and I go half and hour early and hang out out front and wait for some old lady to come up and say her husband is sick or dead or something, and sell us her tickets for cheap. Worked again yesterday. Anyway, as we were standing there, I watched all these big black Mercedes pull up, and rich well-atired OLD FOGIES get out and saunter in.., with an overpowering air of entitlement about them. Just their gait made it clear: "this is THEIR country".

 

Then, this morning I read an article in the FAZ that the boss of the Rentensystem wants to force freelancers to pay into the public pension system(which of course will force many into bankruptcy and unemployment.. - yet another anti-entrepreneurial pillar of the German system..)

 

I currently am in the middle of the process of trying to find private health insurance, and for those of you who haven't had to deal with it, it's just freakin' nuts how expensive - and exlusionary(preexisting condition? Forget it..) it can be.

 

OK, the concert thing is not so important.. But the pension system - full of old folks living long comfortable retired lives, frankly at the current generation's expense. And then there's the health system - or as many old fogies see it, their social life..

 

And meanwhile both of these issues are coming very close to forcing people like me into unemployment. I don't want to focus on my individual case, but to extrapolate out to what this means for Germany. And as I see it, everything seems overly fogey-centric. Sure, I guess they are the ones in power, making the laws and the system. But how can it be good for Germany to so suck young people dry? Forget about me.. What about 30-year old Germans working full-time paying huge sums into the demographically imbalanced health and pension systems? THEY should - and eventually will be - calling for a revolution.. Or, on a more serious note, at least a significant reoorientation of national cultural-generational priorities..

 

Me.., I say send all the Rentners to Lausitz, and fill up the Wohnblocks in towns like Hoyerswerda, make some nice resort type places for them to play bingo and shuffelboard, have lots of doctors and nurses, etc.. I.e. consolidiate.

 

And give Germany back to the young people, so it can have a future again.

[Allershausen 6,413]

Those old folks gave Germany a future.

[HerrDinksbumps 134]

Their future is now, and their now is depriving the rest of Germany of a future.

 

Just because they were lucky enough to be born at a certain demographically and industrially advantageous point in history is no justification to run the country into the ground. It is of course a bit simplistic, but there are young people who can barely get by, while millions of Rentners drive their Mercedes and jet off around the world twice a year - and that, thanks to modern medicine, for decades..

 

I think this is a growing and underappreciated issue in most of the Western world. You can read everywhere about younger people having to move back in with their parents, or just look at the unemployment situation in Spain to name another random example of generational imbalance. The world needs young people more than it needs old people.

[perdido 6,083]

So why aren't you back statside then? I mean come on man there is a plane leaving by the hour. You seem logical but you are being very unlogical. A trait often used by "Zee Germans".

[Keydeck 9,248]

 

The world needs young people more than it needs old people.

"NO! Don't go in there! You don't have to die! No one has to die at 30! You could live! LIVE! Live, and grow old! I've seen it! She's seen it!"

 

[Chocky 1,222]

I can see your point, in a way - but it sounds like you don't really intend on staying in Germany in to your old age, if the system here is not working out for you, try to change your situation. IIRC, you are living behind the rusty iron curtain, which does not exactly have a booming job market. If you are committed to teaching, when was the last time you looked for a full time, contract based teaching position?

[HerrDinksbumps 134]

 

So why aren't you back statside then? I mean come on man there is a plane leaving by the hour. You seem logical but you are being very unlogical. A trait often used by "Zee Germans".

 

You mean "illogical". But anyway.. I live here, and am staying. And as such, I observe the country I live in, and the generational Rentner-centric imbalance is an issue that seems to be affecting Germany more and more. Do you even live here?

 

From what I hear and read too, it doesn't sound like the US is doing much better re health insurance and retirement(well, maybe retirement.. Social Security is at least something, even if your 401K isn't..) The demographic issue isn't as bad there, so there's less cause for pessimism I suppose - at least for these two particular topics.

 

Health insurance and retirement are major issues in Germany, and frankly heavy ones for young people..(and borderline crushing for freelancers..) And IDK.., if you think about these issues, where do you end up locating the cause? There are others, but this Renter-centrism and their borderline arrogant sense of entitlement makes it even more galling.

 

If I should change anything about my situation, OK, I should maybe stop reading the news..(what kicked me off though was just a short report on Klassik Radio..)

[Keydeck 9,248]

 

You mean "illogical".

I think he meant what he said, unlogical. Anti-matter is not just the absence of matter. Unlogic fills a similar position.

[sarabyrd 18,767]

 

And give Germany back to the young people, so it can have a future again.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs5bnVoZK4Q

[HerrDinksbumps 134]

 

Those old folks gave Germany a future.

 

Furthermore, that is too simplistic in other ways. The US itself was a big contributor to rebuilding Germany after the war. That Germany became the front line in the Cold War and therefore actually benefitted from US support is another signficant factor that also contributed to the future all these Rentners now find themselves in.

 

This great modern Germany we live in(and I do like it btw..) was not built soley on the backs of all these Rentners driving their Mercedes around (below the speed limit..) This German version of their "great generation" is also a bit mythical..

[Guest]

What do you suggest as a solution? Should they sell their Mercedes and give the money to the taxpayers, or should we just give them assisted suicide and be done with them?

[Noel Furlong 3,307]

It is of course a myth that all pensioners here are living the high life in a Mercedes. In my old apartment there were two single old ladies who both lived very frugally: €400 a month rent in a barely heated, tiny Altbau apartment, Aldi for all food, no car, worn-looking clothes etc. Have you never noticed the many pensioners out there collecting pfand-bottles in the depths of winter? I doubt they are doing it as an alternative to polishing the Mercedes in the garage. There are a minority of retired people here who live very comfortably because they worked hard, saved lots and invested wisely. That demographics is likely to reduce the standard of living for most people here is not their fault. They had a good birth rate in their day. It is our "fault" (the 30-somethings) for putting lifestyle above life and choosing not to have kids.

[Jeanie 2,598]

One point to consider re the big car. I know one couple who retired a few years ago (not early, they're both in their late sixties) - at that time the husband used a big chunk of their savings to buy a mercedes because, as he put it, "We knew it was going to be our last car and we needed to be sure we bought something that would definitely last for 10-15 years because we weren't ever going to have the kind of income again that would allow us to buy a car."

 

I also read a story in the Mieterverein magazine a few weeks ago about a women in Stuttgart (or somewhere near there) who protested further rent increases as she is on a pension and does not have an increasing income. She got a letter from an official (can't remember the details now but it was a federal government department, I think) which essentially said, "Tough shit, move somewhere cheaper, you can't expect to live in a fancy area if you can't afford it." There does seem to me to be something unfair about shipping people away from an area they've probably lived in for forty or fifty years, just because they're getting older.

[Chocky 1,222]

 

Furthermore, that is too simplistic in other ways. The US itself was a big contributor to rebuilding Germany after the war.

 

The United States actively encouraged the Germans to rebuild their own economy, that is where a lot of people, (Americans mostly) get the false impression that Uncle Sam's dollars alone were responsible for the economic miracle. Britain on the other hand wanted to keep the Gerries subservient and force them to rely on aid, this is the main reason rationing existed in the UK until the 50s.

[HerrDinksbumps 134]

Well, kidding aside, it would be nice to just see a shift in the conversation and awareness of the imbalance.. This jackass pension system boss in this interview in the FAZ though just annoyed me, basically off-the-cuff saying, "oh, make the freelancers have to pay more.."

 

There was recently an article posted in the "Is the American Dream Over?" thread, from some US source, about the imbalance among generations in the US - basically that since the WWII generation each succeeding one is less well-off.. My grandfather used to be a real hard-ass, very callous towards anybody who didn't pull himself up by the bootstraps like he did.. But over the years he has softened, and I think because he realizes precisely that- the game has just changed. My sister has to pay $1500 bucks in a not-too-violent suburb of NOVA for a tiny flat, whereas he lives in a huge house he bought for 40K 40 years ago but which is now worth hundreds and hundreds of thousands or whatever..

 

So IDK, I just think there are some fairly serious generational imbalances in the system, and I predict they will manifest themselves more and more in the coming years.. Talk of revolution, etc.. is of course just kidding. But I do feel on the receiving end, concretely.., of some of these problems with major headache issues like health insurance and the pension system..

 

And to those who just see me as a complainer - ha ha.. Fair enough. I think it's being a freelancer. Makes you extra sensitive.. When I was a kid at Thanksgiving and X-mas there were always huge rows when my uncle - the captain of a fishing boat - showed up.. He'd get drunk and rant and rave about having to pay the whole shebang to Social Security when everybody else paid half, and their company paid half..(yeah yeah, they paid indirectly.. But the diff is they had income security, which freelancers don't..) So I guess I'm becoming my uncle - or something.. So beware to the young'uns.. Don't go freelance.

 

EDIT - OK, some good points made about not all pensioners living the high life.. Of course I am aware of this, but this is kind of what I wanted, a discussion to better understand the system and more specifically where the problems are.. I mean, there HAVE TO be problems when the system as is can force me to choose unemployment instead of working because health insurance and pension contributions are just unpayable.. If I were more laid back I'd probably just say fxxx it and go unemployed and not worry about it.. Doesn't sit right though..

[HEM 10,983]

 

They had a good birth rate in their day. It is our "fault" (the 30-somethings) for putting lifestyle above life and choosing not to have kids.

 

This argument keeps being unearthed - but it only works if "kids" will be gainfully employed & not on Hartz IV, V or VI when they leave school. Jobs are going to become even more difficult to find.

 

Anyhow - the globe is over populated (& then people wonder why mass farming is needed to feed them).

[camlough 1,859]

Okayyyyyyyyy....try telling that to my Auntie, who lives on the breadline (or used to, now being in a home). She is 87 years old, has lived through the war and, being from a small village, didn't have a whole lot of chances to be a Rocket Scientist.

She worked when she could, but like a good wifey in the 50s and 60s gave it up when she got married. Fast forward some decades and she is a divorced woman with no real pension plan or anything. Is that her fault? Does she life a life of luxury? Does she hell.

 

I have yet to see a pensioner who lives in luxury. If they do, it's most likely because they worked and saved.

 

I can't even begin to understand this post.

[Krieg 14,783]

 

I can't even begin to understand this post.

 

The OP is an entrepreneur who barely can pay his bills, he had to save for one year in order to buy a smartphone, so he is jealous because some people are doing better than him. He likes to generalize, so he saw an old person driving a Mercedes and because of that he thinks all pensioners are living a dream life enjoying themselves living la vida loca.

[BobUK 4,654]

@HerrDinksbumps

 

 

EDIT - OK, some good points made about not all pensioners living the high life.. Of course I am aware of this, but this is kind of what I wanted, a discussion to better understand the system and more specifically where the problems are.. I mean, there HAVE TO be problems when the system as is can force me to choose unemployment instead of working because health insurance and pension contributions are just unpayable.. If I were more laid back I'd probably just say fxxx it and go unemployed and not worry about it.. Doesn't sit right though..

 

The title of your thread is 'Time for an anti-rentner revolution - Old folks sucking Germany dry... bad drivers too.' that hardly constitutes 'a discussion to better understand the system...'

Your opening post is a prime example of why some Europeans dislike arrogant, loud-mouthed Americans...

[HerrDinksbumps 134]

"arrogant, loud-mouthed Americans".. Speaking of generalizations..

 

Na, you all are right. The pension and health insurance systems in Germany are completely in order, and even your poor auntie living for three decades taking from the system and not contributing to it, and millions like her, constitutes no problem for the system in Germany whatsoever. There is no demographic imbalance in Germany, and everything is aligned fairly. What was I thinking?...

 

As for krieg's jackass comment about my being an "entreprenuer", you're goddamned right it bugs me. Because I know there are lots of expats living here NOT paying health insurance, tax, and whatever else is required, and thus my doing so puts me at a drastic disadvantage competing for work. Especially Brits and Irish(EU passport-holders, who don't have to go to the Ausländerbehöde..) btw - who come here to work for a couple years and just assume they don't need German health insurance.., for one.