I'm leaving Germany | Brutally Honest Review — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:00I'm leaving Germany. In fact, I have
- 0:02already left and I'm not coming back
- 0:05ever. I mean,
- 0:06I will come back to visit but not for
- 0:09living. That time is over. Over the
- 0:11years a lot of people have come up to me
- 0:12and said, "Hey, I watched your videos
- 0:14about Germany and they convinced me to
- 0:17move to Germany." And now I have to say,
- 0:19I'm sorry guys, things have changed.
- 0:22I've been living in Germany for the
- 0:23better part of my life. I grew up in the
- 0:25south of Germany, lived for 30 years
- 0:28plus in Germany. The last eight of which
- 0:31were in Berlin. But with every year that
- 0:33passes, things are getting kind of worse
- 0:35and worse every year a little bit.
- 0:37Quality of life in Germany is degrading
- 0:39to a point where I don't see a future in
- 0:42this country anymore. So, I'm moving
- 0:45away. And in this video, I just want to
- 0:47share my honest opinion about the state
- 0:49of affair in Germany, give my two cents
- 0:51about it, and tell you what led me to
- 0:53this decision. Especially if you are
- 0:54considering moving to Germany, building
- 0:56a life there,
- 0:58you should watch this video. It all
- 0:59comes down to politics in the end. The
- 1:01decisions your leaders make for your
- 1:03country affect everybody in a good or in
- 1:05a bad way. For 20 years, I've been
- 1:08watching the government make one bad
- 1:10decision after another. And I just can't
- 1:13take it anymore. I I can't. Watching
- 1:16politics in Germany is like watching a
- 1:18prequel to the movie Idiocracy. If you
- 1:20haven't watched that movie, you
- 1:22definitely should. It's basically what's
- 1:23happening in most of the world. Germany
- 1:26is not an exception. I'd love to help
- 1:27fixing it, you know, but then you would
- 1:30have to go into politics and then you
- 1:31have to deal with all the people that
- 1:33are already there, which will drive you
- 1:35mad for the rest of your life. So, the
- 1:37only option you have left is to leave.
- 1:39In the end, it all comes down to quality
- 1:41of life and quality of life in Germany
- 1:43is degrading every year more and the
- 1:46pace seems to be accelerating.
- 1:48So, I don't think that country will be a
- 1:51good place to live in the foreseeable
- 1:53future, maybe in the far future again.
- 1:56It's not all bad, of course, but if you
- 1:58can choose where you live, there's far
- 2:00better places to do that. I have made
- 2:01hundreds of videos about Germany and you
- 2:03know all the good stuff already. So,
- 2:05this video isn't going to be about pros
- 2:07and cons. This video is about like the
- 2:09decisions that made me leave. Why is
- 2:13Germany not the best place to live
- 2:14anymore?
- 2:16First, the economy. Germany has been
- 2:19stagnant or even in a recession for the
- 2:21last few years and the last year
- 2:23especially has been very brutal. There's
- 2:25job cuts in all sectors, obviously
- 2:28because of the decisions politicians
- 2:30made,
- 2:31one of which is the energy. As you all
- 2:34know, Germany is an industrial
- 2:36powerhouse. We We don't have many
- 2:38resources, but we have a lot of like
- 2:40industry, you know, that produces
- 2:42things. For those industries, you need a
- 2:44lot of energy. But Germany managed over
- 2:46the last decade to become the most
- 2:49expensive country in the world when it
- 2:51comes to electricity. No other countries
- 2:54in the world, maybe UK also, pays as
- 2:57much for a kilowatt. It's ridiculous how
- 3:01expensive electricity is here. You know,
- 3:03Germany had this awesome plan to become
- 3:06100% renewable energy, which is a good
- 3:08thing. I believe in renewable energy,
- 3:10sustainable, but the way it was
- 3:12implemented was just the most stupid
- 3:14thing I've ever seen in my life. Not the
- 3:16most stupid things, but it's one of
- 3:17them. So, basically we got rid of all
- 3:20our nuclear power plants before we had
- 3:23other power plants up and running to
- 3:25replace that energy, which leads to this
- 3:28kind of pretty long decade-long
- 3:30transition to have high electricity
- 3:32costs. Also, you have to import
- 3:34electricity from other countries. I
- 3:36don't want to get into the details. This
- 3:37is just one fact that makes Germany an
- 3:41unattractive place to do business for
- 3:43businesses because it's so expensive, so
- 3:45they they move to other places abroad
- 3:48where it's cheaper. But of course, the
- 3:49effect of that is less jobs available,
- 3:52more unemployment, etc. You just have to
- 3:54look at the news. All the major big
- 3:56companies in Germany having mass layoffs
- 4:00each month 2025, 10,000 here, 15,000
- 4:04there, literally every month news like
- 4:06that coming out. So, if you are looking
- 4:08for a job, if you want to come to
- 4:10Germany to work,
- 4:12it's not a good time anymore. It was
- 4:14five years ago,
- 4:15but things have changed and it's not
- 4:17only the electricity prices, it's also
- 4:19AIs competing with human jobs. It all
- 4:22comes together, which makes Germany not
- 4:25a good place to look for a job anymore.
- 4:27And apart from that, it's also not
- 4:29motivating here to work more because if
- 4:31you earn more, not much more, the
- 4:33percentage of what you have to pay in
- 4:35taxes and also social insurances and
- 4:38everything, it goes up so much. If you
- 4:41calculate all the things you have to pay
- 4:43from your income, you can't even keep
- 4:45half. You can keep maybe like 30% of
- 4:48your income after deducting all the
- 4:50taxes and social insurances. Germany is
- 4:53a good country for like middle class
- 4:55earnings because then you don't pay so
- 4:57much tax. And then you have to pay 19%
- 5:00tax again
- 5:02on the things you buy, you as a
- 5:03consumer. People keep forgetting. People
- 5:06keep forgetting and I think that's
- 5:07that's also why the system is designed
- 5:09the way it is with the taxes and
- 5:10everything. You're not only paying your
- 5:12income tax and social insurances, you're
- 5:14also paying VAT, Umsatzsteuer, which is
- 5:1719%. If you put it in perspective,
- 5:20seven out of 10 hours you are working
- 5:23for the state, which in my opinion
- 5:26is too much. You shouldn't work seven
- 5:28out of 10 hours for the state.
- 5:30It's just in our relation. You know,
- 5:32Germany is a country of hard-working
- 5:34people. Germans, they they don't love
- 5:36work, but they work hard. That has its
- 5:39pros and cons because if your
- 5:41politicians are also hard-working people
- 5:43and they are working hard in the wrong
- 5:44direction, they are working very hard to
- 5:47ruin this country. Just imagine how hard
- 5:50you have to work as a politician to ruin
- 5:52a nation with 80 million hard-working
- 5:55people.
- 5:57You've got to work damn hard for that.
- 5:59You don't have to take all the facts
- 6:01from me, you know. I'm just summing it
- 6:02up here. All the economy advisers in
- 6:05Germany, all the big firms, they're
- 6:07saying this to the politicians, but
- 6:09they're not doing anything about it.
- 6:10They just act if you ignore the issue,
- 6:12it's going to go away on their own.
- 6:14But it's not. And things are even worse
- 6:16if you're self-employed. Germany hates
- 6:19entrepreneurs, you know. They've been
- 6:21saying for years they need to make
- 6:22things more attractive for startups, for
- 6:24small businesses, for entrepreneurs to
- 6:26attract them,
- 6:27but they are doing exactly the opposite.
- 6:29They make it every year kind of more
- 6:32unattractive. If you want to do anything
- 6:34in this country, they are going to make
- 6:35it as hard as possible for no reason at
- 6:38all. And if you're self-employed, you
- 6:39have to pay even more than employees for
- 6:42social insurances. You have to pay
- 6:44double the rate for health insurance.
- 6:46Now they even want to make pension
- 6:48insurance obligatory for self-employed
- 6:51people because the pension system is
- 6:53falling apart and they're just
- 6:54scrambling to to get more money in the
- 6:57system, which will lead to more
- 6:58entrepreneurs and freelancers to leave
- 7:01like me cuz I'm not doing that. You know
- 7:03how much pension insurance is in
- 7:05Germany? Guess.
- 7:07No, it's more.
- 7:08More than that. You already have to pay
- 7:10like 18% in health insurance and then
- 7:15you will have to pay another 18.5%
- 7:18for pension insurance, 18.5%.
- 7:22If you earn €100 being self-employed,
- 7:25€18 will go into pension insurance, into
- 7:28a system you will never see anything
- 7:31significant coming back because once we
- 7:34are getting old enough to get pension,
- 7:36inflation will have eaten most of it and
- 7:38purchasing power of the money paid in
- 7:41will be nothing because Germany has a
- 7:42very bad pension
- 7:44system, not like in the USA where you
- 7:46can like invest it in different things.
- 7:49Germany, you just pay it in and the
- 7:51government puts it into who knows what,
- 7:54but it's not growing, you know. It's
- 7:56just like 2%, I think, a year it it
- 7:59increases in value, which inflation is
- 8:01already eating up. So, you're not going
- 8:03to get a good pension in Germany.
- 8:06So, it's not worth paying into it.
- 8:07Employed people have to pay for it
- 8:10already. For self-employed people, it
- 8:12was not obligatory. For me, this would
- 8:15be reason enough to leave Germany. To
- 8:17pay 18% extra on
- 8:19your income, it's mad. And it's not just
- 8:22me, you know. You just have to look at
- 8:23the surveys. There's plenty of surveys
- 8:25out there that ask young people or
- 8:27entrepreneurs or freelancers if they
- 8:29want to stay in Germany, if they're
- 8:30thinking about moving abroad, working
- 8:32somewhere else, living somewhere else.
- 8:34And from all the people I know, and I
- 8:35know a lot of freelancers and people who
- 8:37have like small businesses, none of them
- 8:40want to stay in Germany. They either
- 8:41have already left, are about to leave,
- 8:44or are planning to leave. I am here
- 8:47right now in Cyprus. I went to some
- 8:49meetups here like full of German
- 8:51entrepreneurs. They they all left and
- 8:53they're all leaving to not just here,
- 8:55you know. There's tens of thousands
- 8:57entrepreneurs living here with
- 8:58businesses. They just can't take it
- 9:00anymore, the system in Germany. They
- 9:01come here, they go to Spain, they go to
- 9:03other places, you know, anywhere but
- 9:05Germany to do business. A lot of people
- 9:07think businesses should pay higher
- 9:09taxes,
- 9:10wealthy individuals should pay higher
- 9:12taxes, that more money will be in the
- 9:14system, but it's quite the opposite
- 9:16because if you think like that, you're
- 9:19not living in reality. People and
- 9:21businesses can just move to another
- 9:22country. And you've seen this in other
- 9:24countries where they raised the taxes
- 9:25for rich people, they raised the tax for
- 9:27businesses. They just move abroad to
- 9:29friendlier places for them. And in the
- 9:31end, you have less tax money in the
- 9:32system and you have less people who
- 9:35contribute to the society you want to
- 9:37build because they left, because they're
- 9:39pissed off. Just to have it said, I
- 9:41don't have a thing against taxes. If I
- 9:43would see that the tax money I pay is in
- 9:46good hands, you know, they they do
- 9:47something good with it, but the amount
- 9:49you see being wasted on the most stupid
- 9:52things, it's just
- 9:55it's unbelievable. So much money is
- 9:57going into war, is going into social
- 9:59welfare for lazy people. I'm not against
- 10:01taxes at all, you know, taxes are good
- 10:04thing, contributing something to
- 10:05society, state can do something with
- 10:08that money to make the quality of life
- 10:10for everyone better, but in Germany, I I
- 10:13don't see that happening anymore. Like
- 10:15what I see is that the majority of taxes
- 10:18is being wasted. Penalties are so high
- 10:21if you are wait taxes in Germany, it's
- 10:24it's worse than murder, right? So,
- 10:26but there's no laws keeping politicians
- 10:29accountable for wasting taxes.
- 10:32And it should they should be accountable
- 10:34because
- 10:35you work, as I said earlier, seven out
- 10:38of 10 hours for the state, right?
- 10:40And then they waste this money. There's
- 10:42even a book coming out in Germany or
- 10:44like a magazine that shows the biggest
- 10:47tax wastes of the country each year. If
- 10:50you look at it, you think like how on
- 10:53earth is this possible? Who approved
- 10:56those projects wasting billions of
- 10:59taxpayer money? And taxpayer money is
- 11:01literally human life. You worked for it.
- 11:04You paid this money with your time that
- 11:07you worked, and they're just wasting it.
- 11:10I'd be glad to pay 70% of taxes
- 11:14if
- 11:15quality of life would go
- 11:17to the moon, you know, but it's it's
- 11:19going down.
- 11:21No logic. But you know who Germany is
- 11:24really good country for?
- 11:26Lazy people.
- 11:28Germany has one of the best social
- 11:30welfare systems in the world. And I
- 11:33mean, it's so good, it's almost not
- 11:35worth working a low-income job because
- 11:38if you work for minimum wage full-time,
- 11:41you barely make more than you would get
- 11:44from social welfare. And by earning a
- 11:46little bit more, I mean getting like a
- 11:48few hundred euros more uh per month for
- 11:51working full-time instead of going for
- 11:53the social welfare system. And there's
- 11:55going to be people in the comments, "Oh,
- 11:56you just get 550 euro a month for social
- 11:59welfare." And that's not true. You get
- 12:01500 euro cash, and then they pay your
- 12:04flat, where depends where you live, how
- 12:06much it costs, you know. There's limits,
- 12:08of course, but in a city like Munich,
- 12:10for example, they will also pay for a
- 12:13flat that costs 1,000 euro a month, and
- 12:15then you have health insurance, which
- 12:16would cost 300 euro a month if you would
- 12:19pay
- 12:20for it on your own. Also, you don't have
- 12:22to pay for Betragservice, which is 18
- 12:25euro a month, right? If you calculate
- 12:27all those things together, you have like
- 12:29a few hundred euro less
- 12:31being on social welfare than working a
- 12:33full-time job 40 hours a week on minimum
- 12:37wage. The only logical option for a
- 12:40person being in this situation is to go
- 12:43for social welfare. You have 40 hours a
- 12:45week for yourself. You can work on side
- 12:48project. You can play video games all
- 12:50day. You can get drunk all day. It
- 12:52doesn't matter what you do. The only
- 12:53thing you have to do is show up at the
- 12:55job center once in a while and say,
- 12:57"Yeah, yeah, I'm looking for a job."
- 12:59That's it. And you get this for the rest
- 13:00of your life. And what also a lot of
- 13:03people don't know or don't want to know
- 13:06is that
- 13:07if you have children and you are
- 13:09unemployed and get social welfare, your
- 13:11children also will get Bürgergeld. They
- 13:14will get social welfare. Especially for
- 13:16unemployed people with children, it
- 13:18doesn't make any sense to work at all.
- 13:20They can spend time with their children.
- 13:22The children also get like 500 euro a
- 13:24month in Bürgergeld extra on top of what
- 13:26the parent is getting. So, Germany is a
- 13:28great place for lazy people who don't
- 13:30want to work, have a lot of children,
- 13:32get paid from the state. They give you a
- 13:34big flat, a big house
- 13:35for doing nothing. And that's great for
- 13:37them, but it's not great for society as
- 13:40a whole. And some people say that, "Ah,
- 13:43these are just exceptions. Most people
- 13:45they need
- 13:46the benefits because they're they're
- 13:48they can't work, they can't find a job."
- 13:50But I can just tell you from my personal
- 13:52experience, I've been living in Berlin 8
- 13:54years. I've been living in Neukölln. 25%
- 13:57of people living in Neukölln get social
- 13:59welfare. One in four people, public
- 14:01statistics, you can look it up. I know
- 14:03people who have been getting social
- 14:04welfare in South Germany, where I come
- 14:07from, for 20 years, 30 years. Doesn't
- 14:10matter. They don't want to work. They
- 14:12take a job once in a while for a year,
- 14:14and then they go back to the system
- 14:15because it's not worth getting a
- 14:17low-income job. But of course, Berlin is
- 14:18the worst city when it comes to this.
- 14:20It's like in some parts of Germany, it's
- 14:23looked down upon getting social welfare,
- 14:26and in in Berlin, it's it's kind of the
- 14:28opposite. If you have a job, you're
- 14:30like, "You're stupid.
- 14:32You're working. Why would you do that?"
- 14:35I'm not making this up. I know
- 14:36personally dozens of people who get
- 14:39social welfare not because they can't
- 14:41work, cuz they don't want to work,
- 14:44right? And I'm I'm one guy. I know
- 14:47dozens of people like that. If I, one
- 14:50guy, know a couple of dozen people who
- 14:53abuse the system,
- 14:54it's not the exception anymore. It's
- 14:57becoming the norm. Berlin alone is
- 15:00losing like hundreds of millions of euro
- 15:03to people who abuse the system. They
- 15:05know this, but they can't do anything
- 15:06about this because it's the law, and you
- 15:09have to follow the law. Congratulations
- 15:11for uh
- 15:13being lazy, I guess,
- 15:15if that's what [snorts] you want to do
- 15:16with your life.
- 15:17You won the lottery in Germany. This is
- 15:19just one more fact about what's going
- 15:21wrong in Germany. I personally don't
- 15:24want to live in a country where laziness
- 15:27is rewarded and hard work is penalized.
- 15:32It's There's no logic in that for me.
- 15:34I'd rather pay my taxes elsewhere.
- 15:36There's another really important thing
- 15:37that has been bugging me a lot about
- 15:40living in Germany,
- 15:41and it's uh how society interacts with
- 15:45one another, like people. I never had to
- 15:47think about those things, but I am at an
- 15:50age where I have to think about where I
- 15:52want to raise children, and Germany and
- 15:55Germans are really hostile against
- 15:59children. They
- 16:02they don't want them. Sounds absurd, but
- 16:04it really is like that. Germany is not a
- 16:06family-friendly country at all. There
- 16:09are some financial incentives in Germany
- 16:11to have children. You get like
- 16:12Kindergeld and parental leave and all
- 16:14that, but when it comes to like the
- 16:17people and how they view children, it's
- 16:20very negative. Just to give you a few
- 16:21examples. If you go to a restaurant with
- 16:23a child,
- 16:25people in the restaurant, Germans, they
- 16:27will look at you, and they make a face
- 16:30like, "Ugh.
- 16:31Are you kidding me? Are you seriously
- 16:33bringing this child into the restaurant
- 16:35to ruin my time here?"
- 16:37Everywhere I've been, Southern Europe,
- 16:39Japan, Southeast Asia, if you enter a
- 16:43restaurant with a child, people will
- 16:45light up, you know, they will, "Ah,
- 16:46hello." They will want to interact with
- 16:49the children. They they're nice. They
- 16:51seem happy that they're there, you know.
- 16:54In Germany, it's the opposite.
- 16:56If If Germans see children in public
- 16:57places, they are annoyed. They don't
- 16:59want to have them there. And that that
- 17:01says a lot of about society, not in a
- 17:03good way. Being annoyed by a children,
- 17:06doesn't matter where you are, then it's
- 17:08not right, you know.
- 17:10Everybody has been a child. Most people
- 17:12have children.
- 17:14They're an integral part of society.
- 17:16They're your future. They're the
- 17:18society's future. You should be happy
- 17:20that they're there. If you wanted to
- 17:22ride a train in Germany with a baby,
- 17:25there is no proper place to to change
- 17:29the diapers. There there isn't. And it
- 17:32doesn't make any sense because you're
- 17:33stuck in the in the train for hours.
- 17:36Even on the expensive train, ICE, there
- 17:38is no proper place to do this. It's
- 17:40humiliating for the child and for the
- 17:42parent to to be riding on a train in
- 17:45Germany. I guess it's out of the box
- 17:47now.
- 17:48I do have children now, and I've been
- 17:50traveling with them a lot, as you've
- 17:52seen in my videos. I haven't seen a more
- 17:54hostile place to children than Germany.
- 17:58And this is a very sad statement. When
- 18:00I've been to Japan with them,
- 18:02you wouldn't believe the facilities they
- 18:04have. You know, there's nursing rooms
- 18:06everywhere. There's like diaper changing
- 18:09stations everywhere, and those
- 18:12facilities are also like something I've
- 18:14never seen in Europe anywhere. You know,
- 18:16you you go in there, there's like sofas
- 18:18for for mothers to uh to breastfeed
- 18:21their children. There's free free
- 18:23diapers. And once you get children, you
- 18:26you also think about where you want to
- 18:28raise them, especially if you have a
- 18:29daughter. I don't think Germany is a
- 18:31good place to raise a daughter anymore
- 18:34because women in general,
- 18:37they don't feel safe anymore walking
- 18:39down the street at night. You don't have
- 18:41to take it from me. There's public
- 18:43petitions in all major German cities.
- 18:45Women want like vouchers for free taxi
- 18:48rides at night. They in Berlin, they
- 18:50want to have like women-only
- 18:53subway wagons. And the stories you hear
- 18:55in Berlin what women have to endure in
- 18:57public transport, it's up. It's
- 19:00up, to be honest. You all know
- 19:01the reasons why it is like that. I don't
- 19:03have to talk about it. But the fact is,
- 19:06women in Germany don't feel safe anymore
- 19:09for good reason. And deciding to raise a
- 19:11daughter in Germany is just
- 19:15it's not a good thought to have, you
- 19:16know. You want to keep your people safe,
- 19:19children safe, that they they grow up in
- 19:21an friendly environment where they can
- 19:23feel safe any time of day. This is just
- 19:25my opinion, but if a woman can't walk
- 19:29down the street at night and feel safe
- 19:31anymore, you have failed as a society,
- 19:33as a country.
- 19:35That's just my opinion. And it's kind of
- 19:37ridiculous. Every time something happens
- 19:38in Germany, politicians will just say,
- 19:41"Ah, yeah, there we have a knife
- 19:43problem. Knives are killing people.
- 19:44Women are dressed wrong. They should
- 19:46dress differently." And it's not a small
- 19:48thing, but you can also see it in the
- 19:50the things. You can't go to the
- 19:52supermarket anymore without feeling
- 19:54we're living in a crime-polluted
- 19:56society. Like in Prenzlauer Berg, one of
- 19:59the best neighborhoods in in all of
- 20:00Berlin, if you want to go and buy
- 20:02shampoo or a cream, you go in a
- 20:04drugstore, DM, you have to go in many of
- 20:06the drugstores in Berlin to the cashier
- 20:09to get them so they unlock the products
- 20:11because they get stolen so much. Even in
- 20:14the Edeka, in the like a normal
- 20:16supermarket, they're locking up alcohol,
- 20:18they're locking up Red Bulls, things
- 20:19that cost $1.50, they're putting
- 20:22security things on them that need to be
- 20:24unlocked at a cashier. What kind of
- 20:26society is this becoming? Another
- 20:28example is Christmas markets. Last year,
- 20:31there have been a few Christmas markets
- 20:32who got canceled because they can't
- 20:35afford the terror defense anymore
- 20:37because it's too expensive. It costs
- 20:39millions of euros for big Christmas
- 20:41markets to put those barriers, terror
- 20:43defense up. And if Christmas markets,
- 20:46place of joy, but the one thing people
- 20:48look forward to in in December when it's
- 20:50cold and ugly outside,
- 20:52if they get canceled because they can't
- 20:54afford terror defense, many things have
- 20:56gone wrong in this country. And don't
- 20:57get me wrong, I don't want to blame this
- 20:59on migration. Migration isn't a bad
- 21:01thing per se.
- 21:03It's just
- 21:05there's going to be a few people
- 21:07who are doing stupid things and you have
- 21:09to select them out. But Germany is
- 21:12doing a extremely extremely bad job at
- 21:15that. One of the bigger problems
- 21:16regarding that is that even if the
- 21:18people come to Germany to to look for
- 21:21refuge, they get denied.
- 21:23And if they are from certain countries
- 21:26which are considered not safe, uh
- 21:28Germany cannot send them back even if
- 21:30they are not allowed to stay in Germany
- 21:33if they're not granted permission
- 21:36to live,
- 21:37to become a resident, to work here, etc.
- 21:39So, you have this huge group of people
- 21:41from refugees who come to Germany, they
- 21:44their permission to be here got denied,
- 21:46but they can't be uh deported to their
- 21:49home country because it's not safe
- 21:51there. So,
- 21:53they can't work here, they can't do
- 21:54anything here, but they are here because
- 21:57they're kind of in limbo and that
- 21:59creates a lot of problems because they
- 22:00can't be part of society, they can't
- 22:02integrate, and some of them, of course,
- 22:05cause some trouble. It's also
- 22:06understandable that if you are in this
- 22:08limbo, you get a lot of resentment
- 22:10because this country didn't accept you.
- 22:12Another thing that drives people away is
- 22:13the unaffordability of Germany,
- 22:16especially when it comes to housing.
- 22:18Cost of living is rising. Germany has
- 22:20become so unaffordable when it comes to
- 22:22housing that
- 22:24people don't even dream about owning a
- 22:26house, owning a flat anymore.
- 22:28Everybody below the age of 35 has
- 22:30basically given up on ever owning real
- 22:34estate to live in.
- 22:35Yeah? It's become so expensive. We were
- 22:38looking at houses or or apartments in in
- 22:40Berlin and Berlin is by far not the most
- 22:43expensive city in Germany. There's
- 22:45there's many cities more expensive.
- 22:46You'd have to have a million euro to to
- 22:48buy something
- 22:50for a family. Yeah? With like three,
- 22:53four rooms in a in a normal location.
- 22:56You're going to if you're going to go
- 22:57outside,
- 22:58you can probably find something for like
- 23:00half that,
- 23:01but even half even half a million is
- 23:03like
- 23:05you're not going to earn a million euro
- 23:07in your life in Germany. Not with the
- 23:08taxes and social insurances, you're not
- 23:10going to make it. Even if you work your
- 23:12whole life at normal job, middle class,
- 23:15you will not be able to afford a house
- 23:17in Germany anymore.
- 23:18Not going to happen. All the things you
- 23:20have to pay, social insurances,
- 23:22it's just adding up and making your
- 23:25quality of life go down. You know how
- 23:27much I had to pay health insurance
- 23:30back in Germany the last year? It was a
- 23:32thousand euro a month. A thousand euro a
- 23:34month. That's 12,000 euro a year. If
- 23:37you're self-employed, it's almost like
- 23:3820%. Once you earn like 5,000 euro a
- 23:41month in income, you have to pay 1,000
- 23:44euro of that to the health insurance
- 23:46provider. Now, I got to have
- 23:47international health insurance.
- 23:49I pay less than 130 euro a month for
- 23:52international health insurance. I can go
- 23:54to any doctor in the world. Yeah, cost
- 23:57of living changes your life. So, when
- 23:59you talk to people that in their 20s
- 24:01and ask them if they're saving,
- 24:03investing, they say, "No, what's the
- 24:05point? We just spend it all because
- 24:07there's no point in saving for something
- 24:09you can never afford." And it's not just
- 24:11the housing, you know, the whole
- 24:12infrastructure in Germany is falling
- 24:14apart. You just have to look at trains.
- 24:17You know, Germany
- 24:18has
- 24:20had the reputation to have the best one
- 24:23of the best train systems in the world.
- 24:25It's always on time, etc. But
- 24:28those times have long passed. Now, the
- 24:30German train system aims for a
- 24:33punctuality rate for the trains of 60%.
- 24:36That's what they're aiming for. Aiming,
- 24:38you know? And a train in Germany is only
- 24:41considered late if it's more than 10
- 24:43minutes late. So, if the train is 9
- 24:45minutes late,
- 24:46in the statistics, it's still on time.
- 24:48You would be mad to go with public
- 24:51transport to the airport and not have
- 24:53like a two or three-hour buffer in there
- 24:55because every time you want to go to the
- 24:57airport, one train gets canceled, the
- 24:59next one is one hour delayed, you're
- 25:01going to spend a few extra hours getting
- 25:04to the airport with the train. It's not
- 25:06reliable anymore. I have traveled a lot
- 25:08of countries and I have never
- 25:09encountered such a bad
- 25:12train system anywhere, not even in
- 25:14India. In India, every train I took was
- 25:16on time. Every single one of them. How's
- 25:18that possible? I don't understand. So,
- 25:20yeah, if you can't rely on public
- 25:21transport anymore, that's a huge
- 25:23downstep in in quality of life because
- 25:26you can't reliably get anywhere, which
- 25:28kind of sucks, right? It's kind of
- 25:30ironic that Germany is still spending
- 25:32like hundreds of millions of euro in
- 25:33developing aid to other countries while
- 25:36at the same time it's becoming itself a
- 25:38developing country. Just last year, a
- 25:40major bridge has collapsed in the city
- 25:43of Greyston. So, infrastructure in
- 25:46Germany is falling apart. They don't
- 25:48have enough money, but they're
- 25:49supporting other countries, which is a
- 25:51good thing. If you have the money, you
- 25:53should support other countries to get to
- 25:56your living standards, but if that comes
- 25:58at a cost of your own living standards,
- 26:00not sure if that's a good idea anymore.
- 26:02You should be only financing what you
- 26:05can afford. You shouldn't spend money
- 26:06you don't have. And yet, despite all
- 26:08this,
- 26:09people keep voting for the same two
- 26:11parties over and over again.
- 26:14For decades, two parties have been
- 26:17ruling this country, CDU and SPD. They
- 26:19decided the future of Germany. That's
- 26:22what we got from it. And apparently,
- 26:24people don't want to learn. Especially
- 26:25for those two parties, most people
- 26:27voting for them are over 60, they're
- 26:29retirees, they have voted for those
- 26:31parties their whole lives and they're
- 26:33not going to change it, most of them.
- 26:35And because Germany is such an aging
- 26:37country, the majority of people is
- 26:39actually above 60. They're the biggest
- 26:41voter group. Apart from people voting
- 26:43for the same parties over and over
- 26:44again, Germany itself is not really a
- 26:47democracy anymore. I wouldn't call it
- 26:48that because there's this other party,
- 26:51AfD, and they're the second biggest
- 26:53party right now, but no other party will
- 26:55talk to them, vote with them, or discuss
- 26:57anything with them. They are just
- 26:59pretending they don't exist. They have
- 27:01always done that and they're even trying
- 27:03to ban this other party, which doesn't
- 27:06sound very democratic to me. They're
- 27:07always accusing this other party of
- 27:09being undemocratic, but by not even
- 27:11talking to them, not letting them be
- 27:14part of the conversation, basically,
- 27:16they are being the undemocratic parties.
- 27:19That's logic. I mean,
- 27:21people must understand this, right? In a
- 27:23democracy, if those parties get a big
- 27:26share of votes, in this case like 20%,
- 27:28that's like 1/5 of all people in
- 27:30Germany, and they can't be represented
- 27:34in a democracy if the other parties
- 27:36don't acknowledge their existence. It
- 27:38doesn't matter what you think about
- 27:40them, it doesn't matter what views they
- 27:41have, there needs to be a discourse. And
- 27:43in Germany, there is no discourse, not
- 27:46between the parties.
- 27:47And if you say anything that stands in
- 27:51the view of what this party represents,
- 27:54people will exclude you from society, or
- 27:57at least they will try to. And this is
- 27:59also a very dangerous situation because
- 28:02it's creating an isolation for different
- 28:05groups of people in a society, and if
- 28:08certain groups of people feel isolated,
- 28:10they become more radicalized in both
- 28:13directions, and that is not good for
- 28:15democracy. So, Germany saying, "Oh,
- 28:18we're the most democratic country in the
- 28:20world"
- 28:22is absolute It's just not
- 28:24true. I think many other European
- 28:26countries are more democratic. You have
- 28:29the same parties in in Austria, in the
- 28:31Netherlands, and they're not being
- 28:32ganged up upon. You know, they are in
- 28:34talks with other parties, and sometimes
- 28:36it works and sometimes it doesn't, but
- 28:38that's that's what a democracy is. So, I
- 28:40would say Germany calls itself a
- 28:42democracy, but it doesn't act like one.
- 28:45That's also the reason why the AfD has
- 28:47become so popular among
- 28:50a fifth or more of German voters because
- 28:53the other old parties, they won't
- 28:55address the issues that have arisen in
- 28:57the last two decades. So, that's that's
- 29:00why the the party was formed, right?
- 29:02Because people are unhappy with
- 29:03politics. It's kind of sad to see in
- 29:05Germany that the political left is
- 29:07encouraging violence against the
- 29:09political right because left and right
- 29:11are just a political spectrum. You can
- 29:13talk about things, or you should be able
- 29:15to talk about things and find a
- 29:16compromise, but in Germany, things are
- 29:19so divided between the people that the
- 29:22left is calling for violence
- 29:24against the right. The most absurd thing
- 29:26about this is that political actors from
- 29:29the left spectrum are encouraging this
- 29:31and saying, "Yeah, this is good this is
- 29:32a good thing." Neither side should
- 29:34choose violence just to silence the
- 29:37opposition. That's stuff from like
- 29:39authoritarian countries. And in general,
- 29:41I don't see Germany heading in a good
- 29:42way when it comes to free speech. People
- 29:45are getting arrested for posting memes
- 29:47on the internet, literally. Five years
- 29:49ago, you could have only imagined this
- 29:52from authoritarian countries in Africa
- 29:55or the Middle East or something like
- 29:56that. That would have been unimaginable
- 29:59in in Europe. But now the UK is mass
- 30:02arresting people, Germany is following
- 30:04suit. Comedy is over, yeah. Memes are
- 30:06over. Critical thinking is not allowed
- 30:09on the internet anymore. Nowadays,
- 30:10people even get arrested for stating
- 30:12facts. It it's kind of ridiculous. It
- 30:14really started to get like this around
- 30:17COVID, you know? Like people weren't
- 30:19allowed to say certain things. Ever
- 30:22since COVID, the the state propaganda in
- 30:24Germany has been rising a lot. You can
- 30:27see it really in the news how the
- 30:29government and the news outlets that are
- 30:31controlled by the government, like
- 30:32public TV, they're trying to paint a
- 30:34certain picture that that is pretty far
- 30:37off of reality, what the people the
- 30:39everyday people experience. So, they're
- 30:41just continuing to ignore the problems.
- 30:44So, Germany is crumbling away slowly.
- 30:46Free speech, quality of life,
- 30:48everything. It's pretty much a downward
- 30:50spiral and I don't see the bottom in yet
- 30:52anytime soon. It has to get much worse
- 30:55before most people will realize that
- 30:58something has to change and
- 31:00at that point, it's going to get very
- 31:02very ugly, in my opinion. But looking at
- 31:04history,
- 31:05all of this is pretty normal. I can
- 31:06recommend you to read the book The
- 31:08Fourth Turning or The Fourth Turning is
- 31:10here, the second release, which
- 31:12basically
- 31:13describes from history the cycles of
- 31:16society that about every 100 years,
- 31:18there is a major crisis that reshapes
- 31:20the whole society and
- 31:23throughout history, this those crisis
- 31:25had to happen every 80 to 100 years. I
- 31:27think in general, the West is going to
- 31:30be a pretty ugly place to live in the
- 31:32next decade. Doesn't matter if it's the
- 31:34USA or Western Europe. The time has come
- 31:37for for change and change
- 31:41in this proportion is never pretty. It's
- 31:44going to be pretty ugly for for a lot of
- 31:46people. So, what to do?
- 31:48Looking to the east.
- 31:51This is actually west.
- 31:53East. What does this mean for the future
- 31:56of Germany?
- 31:57Well,
- 31:58right now, the system is falling apart
- 32:00pretty much. What comes after, we don't
- 32:02know if it's going to be better or
- 32:03worse.
- 32:04Only time will tell. It's not that I
- 32:06hate Germany. There's just too many
- 32:08things that are going wrong. I mean,
- 32:10it's all fun and games until you have
- 32:11children and then you have to think
- 32:13about their futures.
- 32:14To make sure that you have a good
- 32:17quality of life for yourself and for
- 32:19your children, you go away, right?
- 32:21That's also why so many people come to
- 32:23Germany because they hope to have a
- 32:24better future there for the children.
- 32:27And it's understandable. If you're
- 32:29coming from the Middle East, from from
- 32:30Africa, things in Germany are probably
- 32:32still much better than in those
- 32:33countries they're coming from. That's
- 32:35why they're they're coming, right? But
- 32:37if you are a German and you're you're
- 32:40used to a certain standard and you just
- 32:43see it going down, then you you start
- 32:46thinking about how things could be
- 32:48different or were different even, you
- 32:49know?
- 32:50Because you have experienced them. So,
- 32:54I'm happy to be part of a different
- 32:56society that appreciates people, that
- 32:58appreciates the work they do, that
- 33:00appreciates
- 33:02community. And in Germany, I don't see
- 33:06any community left. It's just a divided
- 33:08people
- 33:09that can't agree on anything. Germany is
- 33:11a sinking ship
- 33:13and I'm not going to stay on it to
- 33:15drown. The only thing that could turn
- 33:17Germany around would be a radical
- 33:20reform, radical changes, but German
- 33:22politicians have been saying ever since
- 33:24I I can't remember, like for 20 years,
- 33:27they have been saying Germany needs to
- 33:28be less bureaucratic, there needs to be
- 33:31less regulation, need to be more
- 33:33attractive for entrepreneurs, for
- 33:35businesses. They have been saying that
- 33:37and they know that. But then, the next
- 33:40year, they do more bureaucracy, they do
- 33:42more regulation. They know all of this.
- 33:44And they they say it, but they they also
- 33:47say they want to change it, but they
- 33:48then they don't. You know, they do the
- 33:50opposite. It's it's mad. It's mental.
- 33:53Maybe when the system is on the on the
- 33:55floor, I'm going to come back to
- 33:56Germany. I'm going to run for
- 33:58chancellor.
- 33:59I'll fix all this mess. But where is my
- 34:02journey going, you ask now? Hm? I gave
- 34:04you all the reasons not to stay or move
- 34:06to Germany. For me, the best country in
- 34:08the world right now to live in is Japan.
- 34:10So, that's where I'm going to spend the
- 34:12majority of my time now. Things work
- 34:14there, it's orderly. I can't really say
- 34:16anything negative about Japan. The only
- 34:19negative thing is the working culture,
- 34:21but since I'm self-employed, I'm not
- 34:23going to be part of the working culture
- 34:25there. I think nowadays, it's all about
- 34:27values. Which values do you share and
- 34:30which values are you willing to be part
- 34:33of? And Germany has lost a lot of its
- 34:36values that make life in a society worth
- 34:40living. And I can see those values very
- 34:43much in Japan still. There are values
- 34:46that are better than others. For
- 34:48everyone, that's different, but you have
- 34:50to choose your values and then you have
- 34:52to to act on them and then if you're
- 34:55lucky, you can choose to live with
- 34:57those. And I I really love the values
- 35:00Japan has. You can leave your wallet in
- 35:02a subway and you're going to see it
- 35:04again. 99% chance you're going to see
- 35:06your wallet with all the money in there.
- 35:07Small children, they can
- 35:09commute to to kindergarten
- 35:12to elementary school. Five years old,
- 35:14they take the subway, 30 minutes, no
- 35:16problem. Other Japanese people are going
- 35:18to watch out for them. Nothing's going
- 35:20to happen to them.
- 35:21Unimaginable
- 35:23in Germany. It's not going to happen.
- 35:25You would be mad to send your child with
- 35:27public transport in Berlin
- 35:28to go to to kindergarten or elementary
- 35:31school. It would be extremely
- 35:33irresponsible. But in Japan, it's
- 35:36normal.
- 35:37And I love that. Just being in Japan,
- 35:41seeing how people are to each other, it
- 35:43kind of makes me want to be a better
- 35:45person because I feel like the the
- 35:47uncivilized person there
- 35:49coming from Europe, which is kind of
- 35:51kind of funny and absurd. So, much to
- 35:54learn. Finally, the barbarians are going
- 35:56to become civilized. But of course, as
- 35:59long as children don't have to go to
- 36:00school, I'm going to be traveling a lot,
- 36:02so you're still going to see a lot of
- 36:04videos of me on the road. I really enjoy
- 36:07being in Southern Europe. People are
- 36:08nice, the food is good. I'm going to
- 36:10visit Germany once in a while. My
- 36:12parents still live there, so I have to
- 36:15go back there once in a while and then
- 36:16I'm going to make some videos there as
- 36:18well. But the majority of the year, I'm
- 36:21going to be not there and I'm very
- 36:23grateful that I am able to choose this.
- 36:26That's also in part because of you, all
- 36:28of you who subscribed and watch my
- 36:30videos. Thank you for
- 36:33enabling me to choose my life
- 36:37and be free.
- 36:39I don't think there's anything
- 36:42more valuable than being free.
- 36:49Good luck to you
- 36:51and see on the other side.
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