Sorry it's not bullshit. Governments in Europe are especially renowned for the any work is better than none approach and therefore even make up fake jobs to keep their unemployed subjects busy. Protestant work ethic withdrawal is evident and drawn out. Having experienced living in numerous countries i can safely say that taxes are often (not always) poorly spent in Europe. The bureaucracy is over bearing and many jobs exist purely for the sake of existing when they could and are done much better by computers in other countries. Im actually quite left leaning which is why when i care when i see public sector inefficiencies on the scale that they exist in Europe. My ideals start to become threatened when the execution is so purposefully ham fisted. We could be using that money and more importantly time to do amazing things that brings all of humanity forward rather than forcing people to do pointless jobs that they hate in any case.
Governments in Europe are especially renowned for the any work is better than none approach
Are they now? It used to be true in the east bloc countries when they were all communist, but it's not remotely true in today's Germany where OP lives.
Having experienced living in numerous countries i can safely say that taxes are often (not always) poorly spent in Europe
People say that, and I hear: Taxes are not spent the way I would spend them, if I were in power.
when i see public sector inefficiencies on the scale that they exist in Europe
Please be specific about which inefficiencies your are referring to.
European countries are doing very well on the list of riches countries in the world as measured in GDP per capita. That would be quite surprising if their large public sector really were so horribly inefficient.
> European countries are doing very well on the list of riches countries in the world as measured in GDP per capita. That would be quite surprising if their large public sector really were so horribly inefficient.
What do GDP and government efficiency have to do with each other?
In the bureaucratic civil service area Singapore is run like a slick SV startup. It's really a pleasure dealing with the government here. *For the benefit of avoiding unnecessary heated discussion I'm aware and don't want to get into how cheap foreign labour is subsidising the public sector.
Regarding social welfare I don't know anywhere that's doing it well enough to be considered a success. We should be able to provide housing and food for 100% of the people 100% of the time. For the edge cases that fall through mental health care should be provided for as long as necessary.
Not to want to seem like a downer on Europe the things I think they do exceptionally well includes investing in education, while they are also OK on the healthcare front (personally I'm a huge fan of the NHS model and would prefer if it was more widely adopted).
Housing is badly managed as is support for cash strapped entrepreneurs. The taxes nearly broke us when we started the last business in Berlin. In Ireland there is (the last time I checked) a possibility of a 2 year tax hiatus for new businesses in certain circumstances. In general these kind of incentives could do wonders for entrepreneurialism and the potential knock-on upward mobility it can bring.
