There's an interesting commentary by Jan Fleischhauer on Focus today.....which you can see over at this site.
The topic? "Panic in Berlin - Will the Nazis break through in us again if everything gets more expensive?"
My view? There is a certain point where the cost of living becomes a public problem, and the government lessens in terms of stability. Trust and frustration....starts to become a daily issue of concern.
Is the term 'Nazis' worth bringing up? I would suggest that a large segment of this potential crowd aren't Nazi-like or share in the visions of the 1932 crowd. There are simple everyday things....which people are attached to, and expect to be within their financial 'reach'.
About once a month, the wife and I will have a Turkish 'pick-up' for a Friday night....which for the last five years....has been around 13.25 Euro. Back in March, the Turk offered the same dinner combo for 14.00 Euro. Last night, we reached a new level for the same dinner combo......15.00 Euro. Just a humble guess, but by December, I expect the dinner combo to be around 16.50 Euro.
Salaries rising at the same rate as the escalation? No.....that's the harsh part of this reality. I might be lucky on my pension/retirement to get a 2-percent rise a year, and maybe every four years.....my wife sees a salary adjustment of 3 to 4 percent. In a normal financial period....this would all match up. Presently? No....it doesn't match up.
Fleischhauer makes one key point.....each time the government offers a 'gift'.....it's really a paid-for-gift from the taxes in place. So as much as some 9-Euro monthly ticket seems great.....you already paid for the additional costs for the Bahn....from your taxes. Same for the 30-cents per liter discount....that was also covered by additional taxes.
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