Yesterday via one of the public networks....one of the CDU guys (Jens Spahn) came up and delivered a hard-hitting statement that the welfare supplement (Hartz IV) and payment.....was more than enough to help people survive. This talk for the last year or two of so many poverty-stricken Germans...in his mind...was not accurate (so says Jens).
Immediately the opposition political folks on this group defended the idea that poverty was everywhere and the Hartz IV payment was worthless.
So, lets pull out the amount.....at least from mid-2017, the amount was 404 Euro for one single adult....across all of Germany.
The partner in the family? They would get 364 Euro.
The kid younger than 6 years old, would get 237 Euro.
The kid between 6 and 13? 270 Euro.
The kid between 14 and 17 years old? 306 Euro.
The older kids, still living at home? 324 Euro.
So you do the math.....a couple on welfare, with two kids? Roughly 1,250 Euro a month. That's around $1,500 a month in US currency. On top of that, is the payment for the rent/utilities.
An older couple? They'd be getting around 770 Euro. In their case, I might suggest that it's close to the marginal point.
The problem is that fair number of Germans shop in a frugal way....looking for discount deals, and hyped up on saving on costs. My German wife, in an average year of grocery shopping....probably saves near 1,200 Euro on discounts....by the time you add up drinks, beverages, beer, meat, etc.....on sale. My wife reviews at least six different grocery listings each Saturday, and comes to some listing, which has 99-percent of the items to be purchased.....on sale.
I expect some political battle to start up shortly and a bunch of folks try to establish the reality over poverty and why people identify themselves in this pattern.
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