Translation by yours truly. Original article [A] by Danisch
Bürgergeld is the government paying for unemployed people, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bürgergeld
What's happening in social media.
There are a few calculations according to which working in Germany is no longer worth it. In the lower wage brackets, you can't compete against Bürgergeld anymore. In the upper wage brackets, taxes and other deductions are too complicated.
And it is obvious that fewer and fewer people go to work because it's just no longer worth it, instead they go on Bürgergeld and let themselves be kept up by the taxes paid by others.
Even a few years ago, when it was still called "Hartz IV", somebody from the package delivery industry told me that, for a few years, they were unable to find any drivers and other employees. The Germans only came by to confirm their job application to keep receiving Hartz IV without any deductions. A few even actually started working, but didn't return after one, two days: "What, this is 'work? No, that's not for me!"
After all, just like the minimum wage, it is just a big program to destroy the labor market and the working country of Germany. The minimum wage ensures that someone who's performance is so low that he can't earn the minimum wage, he will never be forced to work because he is guaranteed to never find employment. The higher the minimum wage, the higher the share of people who never work and always have to live at the cost of others.
There is no concept whatsoever for people who don't manage to earn the minimum wage. You just say it's inhumane to work below minimum wage, and *bam* the others have to work for that person. At the same time, we keep importing more goods from low wage countries like China and Bangladesh.
And this got worse with Bürgergeld. Many people are now seeing it as a big mistake, even in the SPD, and it's becoming a hot topic for election campaigns.
I am noticing - subjectively, I didn't keep count - that there is more and more propaganda surrounding Bürgergeld. Something like this, the radical leftist shameless extreme propagandist Pfaff, for whom nothing is too stupid, too cheap, too dishonest:
Do you notice anything?
The rent is missing. Example for a single: They assume a gross cold rent of 380 euros and a heating bill of 75 euros, to artificially lowball the rent expenses that are being paid for through Bürgergeld and make the income look smaller. But where can you live on 380 euros? You don't even get a student hostel for that. In fact, the rents are much higher, thus also the subsidy for the Bürgergeld, and the gap between working and Bürgergeld shrinks a lot.
What is completely missing in there:
The additional expenses of work. If you work, you need to drive to work, wear clean and proper clothes, educate yourself, buy a book or something occasionally, so you need a bicycle, public transport, or a car, need to bring food or buy lunch in the canteen, etc. They are just pretending that the minimum wage comes from nothing. Also you need to live where you got work, that is much more expensive. But if you live somewhere where there is no work because you don't work in the first place, life there is much cheaper.
On top of that, Bürgergeld recipients get many discounts and save money with entry fees and other things.
The calculation is fake, the gap is much lower, and even negative after some calculations.
But what does not appear there whatsoever:
The Bürgergeld recipient can sleep in and spend the day doing whatever he wants to do.
So even if you take the numbers the way they present them: They assume an 38 hour work week. So let's add three hours per day for commute to, commute from, lunch break, doing laundry, buying clothes etc., we get to 38/5+3 = roughly 10.5 hours of daily effort. And without factoring in that somebody who spent the day doing work is tired in the evening and can only make limited use of their time, so you would also need to factor in longer relaxation phases.
Because a normal month has 22 business days, we can assume, rough calculation, 22*10.5, so roughly 220 to 230 hours that "going to work" costs per month, relaxation, doctor visits etc. not included. In many jobs, that is significantly more, because you also need to be available after the shift is over.
Not factoring in night and weekend shifts which completely mess up your sleep cycle and life schedule and, for instance, prevents you from using special offers because you're too late or you're unavailable, like lower entry fees at swimming pools in the morning.
According to the table, if you go to work, you earn between 539 and 834 euros more than someone who doesn't. Which is equivalent to an effective wage of 2.34 to 3.62 euros per hour - not factoring in costs like commutes, clothes, food.
So they are grandstanding about a minimum wage of 12 euros, but in fact, the gap to being unemployed is significantly less than 2 euros, and if you factor in all costs, it's just a few cents or even negative. Even factoring in their highball numbers. In reality, the gap is much lower because you can't live for 380 euros in the cities anymore.
On top of that, you have to pay for your own washing machine when it's broken and you don't get a new one from the officials. That's not factored in either.
So who is stupid enough, for a few measly cents an hour - if even that, if you're not paying extra - to be outside of your home for 220 hours a month and get up in the early morning or be on the move at night, to force yourself to work in rancid or puke-filled subways or in molested car traffic or get your bicycle stolen or damaged at night?
Or, in other words: Who is still stupid enough to work?
The question was already raised by the "universal basic income" - but you should at least get that one in addition to a wage, so the wage always gets on top (even if the taxes would then need to be crazy high). But Bürgergeld is even more insidious, you get that instead of a wage, so the wage starts at 0 and not above some basic income.
So you are quite stupid if you still go to work. For those few cents of a difference, I wouldn't rush to work for 220 hours a month to then fight against stupid managers and ruin my back and be exhausted on the evening. I'd much rather get good sleep in and spend my time at the sea and enjoy watching the ducks.
But what doesn't get factored in either: illicit employment and the other tricks. From here and here:
It's been reported recently: The perfect money laundering and tax evasion machine.
If someone, for instance, operates a snack bar, but you don't want to pay taxes, you just sign up your entire extended family for Bürgergeld and hire all of them as "mini jobbers" (even if they never show up in reality). Mom works the joint on Monday, Ali on Tuesday, Mustafa on Wednesday ... or also Mom in January and February, in March ...
The snack bar operator (or every other company) lowers their income by (at least on paper) distributing the money to their relatives which he hires pro forma as mini jobbers, and can thus reduce their taxes, while the relatives don't have to get any deductions. Ten adolescent relatives hired pro forma as mini jobbers - then there are 5200 euros a month gone from the taxed profit, tax-free.
Completely beside the fact that a lot of people are on Bürgergeld and work illicit side jobs.
And that seems to be a big motivation behind the leftist propaganda. It is about building a divided tax system. Germans shall pay ever more, ever higher taxes, and for migrants, they build more and more tax evasion schemes.
Bürgergeld is the government paying for unemployed people, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bürgergeld
"Bürgergeld Propaganda"
What's happening in social media.
There are a few calculations according to which working in Germany is no longer worth it. In the lower wage brackets, you can't compete against Bürgergeld anymore. In the upper wage brackets, taxes and other deductions are too complicated.
And it is obvious that fewer and fewer people go to work because it's just no longer worth it, instead they go on Bürgergeld and let themselves be kept up by the taxes paid by others.
Even a few years ago, when it was still called "Hartz IV", somebody from the package delivery industry told me that, for a few years, they were unable to find any drivers and other employees. The Germans only came by to confirm their job application to keep receiving Hartz IV without any deductions. A few even actually started working, but didn't return after one, two days: "What, this is 'work? No, that's not for me!"
After all, just like the minimum wage, it is just a big program to destroy the labor market and the working country of Germany. The minimum wage ensures that someone who's performance is so low that he can't earn the minimum wage, he will never be forced to work because he is guaranteed to never find employment. The higher the minimum wage, the higher the share of people who never work and always have to live at the cost of others.
There is no concept whatsoever for people who don't manage to earn the minimum wage. You just say it's inhumane to work below minimum wage, and *bam* the others have to work for that person. At the same time, we keep importing more goods from low wage countries like China and Bangladesh.
And this got worse with Bürgergeld. Many people are now seeing it as a big mistake, even in the SPD, and it's becoming a hot topic for election campaigns.
I am noticing - subjectively, I didn't keep count - that there is more and more propaganda surrounding Bürgergeld. Something like this, the radical leftist shameless extreme propagandist Pfaff, for whom nothing is too stupid, too cheap, too dishonest:
If you still believe the fascistoid Bürgergeld propaganda, you are a hopeless victim.
— Tino Pfaff (@TinoPfaff) December 1, 2024
Do you notice anything?
The rent is missing. Example for a single: They assume a gross cold rent of 380 euros and a heating bill of 75 euros, to artificially lowball the rent expenses that are being paid for through Bürgergeld and make the income look smaller. But where can you live on 380 euros? You don't even get a student hostel for that. In fact, the rents are much higher, thus also the subsidy for the Bürgergeld, and the gap between working and Bürgergeld shrinks a lot.
What is completely missing in there:
The additional expenses of work. If you work, you need to drive to work, wear clean and proper clothes, educate yourself, buy a book or something occasionally, so you need a bicycle, public transport, or a car, need to bring food or buy lunch in the canteen, etc. They are just pretending that the minimum wage comes from nothing. Also you need to live where you got work, that is much more expensive. But if you live somewhere where there is no work because you don't work in the first place, life there is much cheaper.
On top of that, Bürgergeld recipients get many discounts and save money with entry fees and other things.
The calculation is fake, the gap is much lower, and even negative after some calculations.
But what does not appear there whatsoever:
The Bürgergeld recipient can sleep in and spend the day doing whatever he wants to do.
So even if you take the numbers the way they present them: They assume an 38 hour work week. So let's add three hours per day for commute to, commute from, lunch break, doing laundry, buying clothes etc., we get to 38/5+3 = roughly 10.5 hours of daily effort. And without factoring in that somebody who spent the day doing work is tired in the evening and can only make limited use of their time, so you would also need to factor in longer relaxation phases.
Because a normal month has 22 business days, we can assume, rough calculation, 22*10.5, so roughly 220 to 230 hours that "going to work" costs per month, relaxation, doctor visits etc. not included. In many jobs, that is significantly more, because you also need to be available after the shift is over.
Not factoring in night and weekend shifts which completely mess up your sleep cycle and life schedule and, for instance, prevents you from using special offers because you're too late or you're unavailable, like lower entry fees at swimming pools in the morning.
According to the table, if you go to work, you earn between 539 and 834 euros more than someone who doesn't. Which is equivalent to an effective wage of 2.34 to 3.62 euros per hour - not factoring in costs like commutes, clothes, food.
So they are grandstanding about a minimum wage of 12 euros, but in fact, the gap to being unemployed is significantly less than 2 euros, and if you factor in all costs, it's just a few cents or even negative. Even factoring in their highball numbers. In reality, the gap is much lower because you can't live for 380 euros in the cities anymore.
On top of that, you have to pay for your own washing machine when it's broken and you don't get a new one from the officials. That's not factored in either.
So who is stupid enough, for a few measly cents an hour - if even that, if you're not paying extra - to be outside of your home for 220 hours a month and get up in the early morning or be on the move at night, to force yourself to work in rancid or puke-filled subways or in molested car traffic or get your bicycle stolen or damaged at night?
Or, in other words: Who is still stupid enough to work?
The question was already raised by the "universal basic income" - but you should at least get that one in addition to a wage, so the wage always gets on top (even if the taxes would then need to be crazy high). But Bürgergeld is even more insidious, you get that instead of a wage, so the wage starts at 0 and not above some basic income.
So you are quite stupid if you still go to work. For those few cents of a difference, I wouldn't rush to work for 220 hours a month to then fight against stupid managers and ruin my back and be exhausted on the evening. I'd much rather get good sleep in and spend my time at the sea and enjoy watching the ducks.
But what doesn't get factored in either: illicit employment and the other tricks. From here and here:
It's been reported recently: The perfect money laundering and tax evasion machine.
If someone, for instance, operates a snack bar, but you don't want to pay taxes, you just sign up your entire extended family for Bürgergeld and hire all of them as "mini jobbers" (even if they never show up in reality). Mom works the joint on Monday, Ali on Tuesday, Mustafa on Wednesday ... or also Mom in January and February, in March ...
The snack bar operator (or every other company) lowers their income by (at least on paper) distributing the money to their relatives which he hires pro forma as mini jobbers, and can thus reduce their taxes, while the relatives don't have to get any deductions. Ten adolescent relatives hired pro forma as mini jobbers - then there are 5200 euros a month gone from the taxed profit, tax-free.
Completely beside the fact that a lot of people are on Bürgergeld and work illicit side jobs.
And that seems to be a big motivation behind the leftist propaganda. It is about building a divided tax system. Germans shall pay ever more, ever higher taxes, and for migrants, they build more and more tax evasion schemes.
