Welt, the German newspaper, wrote up a suggestive commentary today called 'Dysfunctional State' (by Susanne Gaschke). If you can find today's Welt....might be worth a read.
The focus here? Things don't function at the rate of expectations. It's not just a physical thing.....it goes off into education, medicine, public safety, politics and even the Bahn (train services).
Adding to this frustration....when politicians talk about resolutions or repairs....you get the impression that it's mostly BS, and whatever they attempt.....generally just makes into a totally new and different problem.
So as Gaschke suggests.....this has "bad consequences" for the country.
My gut-feeling, as an outsider?
When I arrived for my original 'tour' in 1978.....I was pretty impressed with landscape of Germany. Trains ran on time and were safe. You could walk around various areas of Hamburg or Frankfurt and feel safe. Watever services you used....worked.
But as each decade passed, you tended to notice that they added to the formula. Things are complicated and where you had a limited number of failures to expect in 1985.....you can triple those potential failures here in 2022.
Trains of today? The windows don't open, so the air conditioning capability is a 'must-work'. You get a hot day with 37-degrees C? About a quarter of all trains have marginal cooling capability and you might be able to handle 30 minute max in a train-car where it's 40 C or above.....before you have to get off for relief.
Stabbing worries? In and around the Frankfurt station, you pay attention to your surroundings, and the idiots who seem hinged. You don't linger.....you go direct from tram to train, and get the hell out of the station.
There's probably a list of a thousand things that I would tell you are more complicated today (in Germany) than it was in 1999.
The older Germans? They recognize this odd change in society and will openly discuss it. As complicated as things have become......people have this belief they ought to perform/work....at the 100-percent point (they can't do that any longer).
Politics? It's funny. You can get minute-by-minute coverage via public TV now (something you couldn't get in 1978). Each evening now, you probably get 20 minutes of public political news, and scratch your head over various arguments....that lead onto more arguments.....that lead onto more promises.
Any of this getting better? No, that's the one thing you can depend upon.
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