this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2025
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The German chancellor has called for a welfare reform, putting him on course for a possible clash with the SPD.

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[–] sadTruth@lemmy.hogru.ch 173 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Creating 1500B € out of thin air to build killing machines: Whatever it takes to protect the country!

Spending 50B € to actually protect the people from poverty/malnutrition/starvation: Nooooo we can't afford that.

Humanity at it's best: Limitless effort to create suffering, 0 effort to reduce suffering.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 32 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I suspect there will be many, many 'I didn't think they'd do this to ME' posts coming from German people in the coming months.

[–] BakerBagel@midwest.social 15 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Oh no! Did you "progressive" liberal parties take away all your entitlements to appease their corporate overlords? Don't worry, I'll make sure to blame all of the German people when AfD becomes the dominant party in Germany next election

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[–] gusgalarnyk@lemmy.world 101 points 1 week ago (8 children)

Merz is predictable and a traitor to the German people. He will usher in the fascist power grab through conservative policies - the AFD will grow in popularity as conservatives protect the 1%.

Die Linke's tax plan would have paid for the yearly debt of the government and then some; their secret - tax the wealthy.

We can afford all of our costs, we can improve society, we can provide a thriving economy for all Germans if we simply tax the ultra wealthy out of existence. No one should have a billion euro net worth, nor 100 million nor 50 million. No one need own 3 houses while others go without even a flat.

We have enough wealth in this country, it's just in the hands of the hoarders. Don't look towards conservatives or the right for change, look towards those that address the root problem!

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[–] NochMehrG@feddit.org 72 points 1 week ago (3 children)

And this is how you further damage democracy and strengthen the far right. Because a lot of the people who don’t vote or vote for the far right are people who feel left behind who are of the impression that the system is broken and they don’t benefit from it. Social welfare is a way to directly show everyone what a democratic state is good for. Policies that benefit the poor, the working class and the middle class make a strong society. But Merz and others simply don’t seem to get it or care and stare in wonder at the ever rising numbers of people who want to see the world burn.

[–] slaacaa@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The capitalist elite has less problem with fascism than socialism. Only one of those threatens their wealth

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[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 72 points 1 week ago

... without the rich paying their share.

[–] kibiz0r@midwest.social 57 points 1 week ago (3 children)
  • Print 1bn in welfare
  • Welfare ultimately gets spent into rich folks’ coffers
  • Tax that 1bn back out of the rich
  • Net cost: zero

What’s “unaffordable” here?

[–] fluxion@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago

It's unaffordable to greedy corporations and billionaires who would not afford the working to have a single dime in their pocket if they had it their way.

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[–] toad31@lemmy.cif.su 54 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Sure it can.

Just raise taxes on the wealthy.

[–] itslilith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 1 week ago

Just fucking start collecting the existing taxes on wealth

They are in the law already, they just haven't been collected in over twenty years

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[–] UpperBroccoli@lemmy.blahaj.zone 50 points 1 week ago (1 children)

All this while systematically crippling our tax investigation departments.

If I ever meet Merz or someone like him, I will have choice words to say.

[–] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago

Words alone have never stopped fascists.

[–] langweiligeflunder@feddit.org 49 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Im ashamed for who has become our chancellor. Flying around in his private "middle-class" jet while taxing the poor. Jfc Friedrich, step back

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[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 44 points 1 week ago

So... The Germans are kicking all the wealthy leeches off their generational welfare suckholes, then?

That's the real "welfare state", NGL... 🖕🏽

[–] marsza@lemmy.cafe 44 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Tick tock on the fascism clock.

[–] SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 1 week ago (4 children)

My partner and I almost moved to Germany last year and I am so glad we didn't. If we're going to be in a fascist country, I'd prefer to be a citizen since white fascists tend to frown extra hard on us brown immigrants.

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[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 40 points 1 week ago

Then how about stopping welfare for millionaires?

Or stop subsiding e.g. plane fuel. Better for the environment anyway.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 36 points 1 week ago

... without finally taking the upper ten percent into the taxpaying fold.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 34 points 1 week ago (9 children)

Merz is a conservative. They're all like that.

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[–] RedstoneValley@sh.itjust.works 22 points 1 week ago

Always has been. "We cannot afford x any more" has been their standard argument for dismantling social security and lining up their own pockets for decades now.

[–] Evono@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 1 week ago (2 children)

it could easily , just slim down the government , remove tax waste and more. a city near me just bought 32 benches at the cost of 70k€ EACH yes 70.000 why ? end of quarter they didnt want to get budget cuts the next quarter. some citizens found very similiar benches from another company ( like minimal different same material ) for 3,5k EACH 3500 each or many of the million graves of taxes , we have in my city multiple "Autobahn" which arent used but were built and need maintenance why ?

Our Government makes home owners pay for street repairs in full and more , where does our tax money go?

[–] null@piefed.au 14 points 1 week ago (3 children)

where does our tax money go?

This is a pretty easy question to answer given that you're talking about a public institution.

The only difficulty is that the answer is complex and requires reading and understanding many sets of financial reports and accompanying minutes et cetera.

a city near me just bought 32 benches at the cost of 70k€ EACH

That's a pretty absurd claim, and simply not how budgets in public institutions work.

Sure there might have been some kind of fuckup so installation of one of 32 benches cost $70k, or any number of other plausible explanations, but large public institutions don't just throw $2.25m EUR at the end of a quarter as a budget stuffing exercise.

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[–] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago

For starters, cancel the fucking F-35 order and tell Rheinmetall's lobbyists and investors to shove it.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 week ago

COUNTRY welfare state can no longer be supported

Change COUNTRY for any west European country and this has been said while it CAN be supported but the rich want to get more rich

[–] Eternal192@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 week ago

Friedrich Merz is Germany's Kier Starmer and if you don't understand what i mean go check on UK and how well they are doing under Starmers government and you'll understand.

[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 week ago

The passive voice in that statement is doing a LOT of heavy lifting there, Friedrich.

I typically abhor violence but i understand if somebody would kill Merz due to him being a danger to the general population. A politician has to help the people, not hurt them. If he doesn't fulfill this one basic task, he's unfit to be a politician. He has to understand that or step back immediately. If he doesn't, he's unreasonable and cannot be talked to logically.

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