The Essen Story

Days ago, I wrote an essay describing the charity foundation group in Essen, Germany....who'd made the decision about their grocery-give-away situation....that you had to be a German citizen to use it.  The emphasis of this story is that the trend over the past ten years had led to more and more Germans (particularly the older folks) where they really needed the free grocery situation in order to survive.  But there was this second trend that the foundation group had followed.....more and more of their customers were non-German (recent immigrants).  They were taking up more of the food.  So the leadership of the foundation had made a rule to say their operation was for Germans only.

Naturally, this raised a big stink, and a bunch of folks labeled the charity in a critical way.  I'll avoid using the N-word.

Well, over the past couple of days....even the Chancellor (Merkel) got around to mildly criticizing the organization's decision and saying that you really can't deny the 'foreign poor'.

This has basically led the chairman of the group....Jorg Sartor....to consider resigning.  He doesn't need the hassle or stress.  But he's found hundreds, if not thousands, of Germans....approving of his handling of the program.

The problem I see is that a fair number of the recent immigrant group, and even those who came before this 2013 era....have discovered that it's tough in Germany and economically challenging. Even if you are on Hartz IV or some immigrant program....you as the foreigner, are probably just making enough to survive. 

These charity operations have been pushed to limit to open up each week and provide what they can.  There's simply a limit to what they can provide to their 'customers'. 

All of this....quietly....leads back to Berlin, the lousy state of the pension program, a lot of immigrants with no real hope for the future, prioritization over spending, and marginal leadership.  If the welfare crowd were paid enough, they wouldn't need to visit the free-food charity operations.  If jobs were plentiful, they'd make enough to pay for their needs..