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I teach English to unemployed German professionals. What I've noticed over 15 years is people were mid 40s, well educated and able to do the work the job market demanded.

Now a lot of my students are generalists often of a non German background and are just so far away from what the economy demands. Of course they can be trained up but this takes time and miracles are expected of very advanced topics where the previous generation has died off and don't want anything to do with teaching the next gen.

Germany has this odd festish of thinking a migrant who can't read and write will somehow modernise the economy with the latest ground breaking ideas.
you're beginning to sound like a right winger, ...not the footballing variety
 
What is the feeling amongst everyday German society about the war in Ukraine.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has lifted longstanding restrictions on the range of German-delivered missiles and aligns Berlin with some of Kyiv’s other allies, including the UK and France. This is bringing Germany right into the 'nitty gritty' of this war.. How does that effect people's views of the conflict?


And there's a real strategic dilemma for Germany here of which the outcome could be profound.

Firstly the sanctions against Russia have reportedly had significant consequences for Germany. The economy is struggling under the weight of high energy prices, while it seems the pro-Ukrainian course is fueling support for populist fringe parties. The longer the war drags on, the greater the strain on Germany's economic and social stability or so it seems.

I heard an interview on the Jordan Peterson podcast with the AfD MEP Christine Anderson and she spoke of her party's opposition to military aid for Ukraine and concerns over the war’s economic fallout have also played a role. Her party is obviously capitalising on growing public fatigue with the war...

And I think it is not only the AfD that owes its rise in part to the government's Ukraine policy. The two left-wing populist parties, the BSW and the Left Party are also playing on these concerns over energy prices and supply....

There's definitely something in the poltical dynamics in Germany that might change the political establishments hold on power here...
Germany is an occupied nation. Nothing will change as long as the weapons keep flowing. Blackrock Merz will continue to escalate on behalf of his handlers.
 
Fatigue and frustration has set in. Something had to be done but like any extremely expensive thing, analysts and people are annoyed that military money would never have gone to other things had the conflict not happened. Infrastructure and public services are destitute. One big issue is even if they choose to splurge, there isn't anyone to do the work. Tradespeople are missingm

Sounds like Germany is suffering from the same political inertia as France and the UK.

I'm not sure what the answer is. The political establishment in these countries are virtually unmovable and it would take a seismic political earthquake to move them on....

And then what?

Populism?

Part and parcel of populism is that it encourages antagonism, an emotional appeal that addresses a popular grievance, pitting 'the people' against 'the elites,' insisting on an 'us vs. them' view of politics. Casting 'the people, as morally good and 'the elite' as morally evil.

It's amateur hour politics against elitist theorism, careerism and self-interest....
 
Sounds like Germany is suffering from the same political inertia as France and the UK.

I'm not sure what the answer is. The political establishment in these countries sre virtually unmovable and it would take a seismic political earthquake to move them on....

And then what?

Populism?

Part and parcel of populism is that it encourages antagonism, an emotional appeal that addresses a popular grievance, pitting 'the people' against 'the elites,' insisting on an 'us vs. them' view of politics. Casting 'the people, as morally good and 'the elite' as morally evil.

It's amateur hour politics against elitist theorism, careerism and self-interest....
Hmmm don't really wanna think about a re-armed Germany dealing with populism ..... Sometimes the devil you know , ISN'T better than the devil you don't.
 
Fun fact: Australia is currently taking in 50% of the number of the migrants that at the USA is currently taking in.
 
you're beginning to sound like a right winger, ...not the footballing variety
It's not right wing when the facts are staring at tor blatantly in the face that people with zero education can't become engineers. That goes for the reskilling ideas of locals too. Some receptionist is supposedly to become a green tech specialist.
 
It's not right wing when the facts are staring at tor blatantly in the face that people with zero education can't become engineers. That goes for the reskilling ideas of locals too. Some receptionist is supposedly to become a green tech specialist.
Germany and the UK are in a very similar situation. Neither country has any kind of in-demand natural resources that they can sell to the world.

All they really have is their brains. For Germany it's their supremacy in engineering, cars, aerospace technology, bio-engineering, chemicals, pharmaceutical products etc.

For the UK it's their supremacy in financial services, law, medical research, education and cultural services and some engineering services such as aerospace, and advanced electronics.

Once you lose your supremacy in providing these types of products and services both countries will struggle to find their way in the world.
 
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Fun fact: Australia is currently taking in 50% of the number of the migrants that at the USA is currently taking in.

images


Good little doggy. Keep posting
 
John makes a good point. Australia has been taking record numbers of migration over the past few years...

Recent increases in this migration, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, have certainly fueled concerns about the capacity of infrastructure, housing, and essential services to cope....

Australia has long claimed to be the world’s most successful multicultural country and the hugely powerful ways in which Australia is economically and culturally enriched by it's migrant history is not in doubt.

But it seems to me that Australia’s enthusiasm for immigration is being tested like never before.

FWIW it's worth I'm probably more pro mass-migration, than anti mass-migration, And I'm not one to point fingers when problems start to arise but the issue is dividing Australians more than ever....

The housing, particularly the rental market right now is currently utterly fucked, medicare is teetering on the brink, there's issues with low wage growth and a myriad of other problems. Of course these short term problems aren't just the fault of mass immigration but it's become easy for some to attribute these difficulties and strains on services to mass-immigration....

And we have to take into consideration that the reasons CEOs, politicians, public servants, lobbyists, humanities academics, consultants and journalists,,what I call the professional classes and the protected knowledge workers are so fond of promoting mass migration particularly economic mass-migration, is because they do not experience the negative short term effects of it...

Your farm workers, factory hands, drivers, cleaners, hospitality workers and unskilled construction workers on the other hand who struggle to get affordable housing, can't afford private health insurance, are affected by the cost of living and then have to compete for low paid employment with new migrants.

Australia has not yet had the populist backlashes that have led to crises in other liberal democracies, but this could well start to develop if the opportunities for upward mobility are stunted even further.
 
John makes a good point. Australia has been taking record numbers of migration over the past few years...

Recent increases in this migration, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, have certainly fueled concerns about the capacity of infrastructure, housing, and essential services to cope....

Australia has long claimed to be the world’s most successful multicultural country and the hugely powerful ways in which Australia is economically and culturally enriched by it's migrant history is not in doubt.

But it seems to me that Australia’s enthusiasm for immigration is being tested like never before.

FWIW it's worth I'm probably more pro mass-migration, than anti mass-migration, And I'm not one to point fingers when problems start to arise but the issue is dividing Australians more than ever....

The housing, particularly the rental market right now is currently utterly fucked, medicare is teetering on the brink, there's issues with low wage growth and a myriad of other problems. Of course these short term problems aren't just the fault of mass immigration but it's become easy for some to attribute these difficulties and strains on services to mass-immigration....

And we have to take into consideration that the reasons CEOs, politicians, public servants, lobbyists, humanities academics, consultants and journalists,,what I call the professional classes and the protected knowledge workers are so fond of promoting mass migration particularly economic mass-migration, is because they do not experience the negative short term effects of it...

Your farm workers, factory hands, drivers, cleaners, hospitality workers and unskilled construction workers on the other hand who struggle to get affordable housing, can't afford private health insurance, are affected by the cost of living and then have to compete for low paid employment with new migrants.

Australia has not yet had the populist backlashes that have led to crises in other liberal democracies, but this could well start to develop if the opportunities for upward mobility are stunted even further.
Careful mate.
You are looking at a 6 week ban...
 
There's some people that say you;d have to be pretty insecure with no much going on in your life to give a fark if soneone who cant even speak the language properly, has no support network and doesn't even have local qualifications can make you feel uneasy

There's also some people that say many Aussies are lazy and don't even want to work.

There's also some people that say we need more Latina's to stimulate the ecoomy and stimulate other things.
 
Careful mate.
You are looking at a 6 week ban...

I thought that my post was quite a considerate analysis of the situation...

Immigration might seem like a political hot button topic but I'm not so sure. Typically, right-wing economic market liberalists and left-wing cosmopolitan-humanitarian streams are thought to be pro-immigration....

While right-wing cultural conservatives and left-wing economic protectionists are expected to adopt more restrictive policy positions.

So we can thus expect that party positions on immigration to be systemically incoherent....

It's probably more of a socio-economic class thing.


Regardless of political affiliation, the educated middle classes are usually pro-immigration and the blue collar working class tend to be against it somewhat.
 
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And we have to take into consideration that the reasons CEOs, politicians, public servants, lobbyists, humanities academics, consultants and journalists,,what I call the professional classes and the protected knowledge workers are so fond of promoting mass migration particularly economic mass-migration, is because they do not experience the negative short term effects of it...

As discussed on this or the other thread, I can't remember, our (and most) economies are based on endless growth. As our birth rate is below the replacement level there is no alternative but to have mass immigration. Without it the economy would collapse, we'd go into a protracted recession and have endless deflation.

Think that's theoretical? Have a look at what's happened to Japan over the last 30 years.

So yeah, curb immigration but you better have a good back up plan because there's a HUGE shitstorm coming when developing countries, that provide the vast majority of migrants, reach economic parity and their birth rates decline as they have in the western world.

I'm looking forward to hearing from the first serious economist to propose a circular, self-sustaining, neutral growth economy model.
 
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