Last night, my regional public TV network (HR), ran a documentary piece on their Defacto show...."Hartz IV....State Decreed Poverty".
If you go to the link, at least for the next month, you can view the video (all in German).
Basic details? Well....it's a pretty dismal discussion with five or six poverty-stricken Germans....going for about 45 minutes. It is demoralizing to watch the stories unfold, and these people living marginally at a poverty level.
Their monthly 'allowance'? 446 Euro a month (with the new raise figured in).
The system? Hartz IV? Anytime that you get into a discussion with a German about it....it'll be viewed in two or three ways. Some see it as a way to nudge Germans along to work. Some will see it as a safety net, and they don't intend for it to be a 'lot' of free cash. Finally, some see it as a friendly gesture by the government to help the unfortunate.
Prior to 2000, most German analytical folks laid out the problems with the welfare program existing and that serious financial problems were coming if cutbacks were put into effect. So Hartz IV was the developed program which was mostly designed to encourage you....to see work (basically, any kind of work)....to escape poverty.
So I'd encourage a review of the show, but it's a pretty negative story told.
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