47 Comments

1. 

   @aaronjones8905

   February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

   The economics of the debt brake are not going to be a problem for infrastructure improvements unless the German public are refusing to accept raised taxes. The debt brake is the thing that stops politicians from making big spending promises and ignoring the downstream consequences.

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2. 

   @teckyify

   February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

   That happens when you confuse micro and macroeconomics. The state doesn't work like a private household. They never really understood what they wrote into the constitution. They could only keep its fiction alive for two reasons: 1. Since Germans export so many goods, other countries made a deficit for them to import their goods. 2. Gemany is comparatively run down country. They did not invest in anything for decades now and cut down their state. That's why their trains are always late and the "burocracy" so slow.

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3. 

   @Punckmuckl

   February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

   3:22 the AfD did not exist in 2009

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4. 

   @faceluckcell9484

   February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

   Interesting argumentation for being a debt wir schaffen das nickh,, gEr ' money,

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5. 

   @Roel93

   February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

   OMG they really wanted to burn 60 BILLION of hard earned German taxes on the climate gods??? They are f*cking INSANE!

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6. 

   @Roel93

   February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

   Wait what? Germany has an anti-German government with the Greens yet in the other video you said they were getting stricter on immigration?

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7. 

   @srikanthshastry4546

   February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

   So the Germans have the money!
   They have the ability to service depth at -ve rates!
   Are in need of funds in almost all domains!
   Yet lack the political intent!
   HOW IRONIC!

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8. 

   @napoleonibonaparte7198

   February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

   US Republicans would fail if this was a constitutional amendment.

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9. 

   @drscopeify4582

   February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

   Schwartze Null symbol is a bit disconcerting because Hitler had his crazy re-creation of German occult with the Black Sun and that looks a bit like that symbol, not great…. That is where the Swastika logo came form too…. Yikes.

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10. 

    @qqchan

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    60% debt to GDP is alot compared to Sweden. Last time we had that high a ratio was late 1990s.

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11. 

    @lcb4449

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    Ordered❤ Thanks from Italy !

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12. 

    @brunoheggli2888

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    There is no crisis!

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13. 

    @valeriusconstantinius2844

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    Great video! But the logo of the Constitutional Cort is wrong in your Video, you used the logo of another court from Germnay. Just a small mistake, nothing horrible.

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14. 

    @diegoyuiop

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    God bless the constitutional court

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15. 

    @supa3ek

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    Of all the western governments, germany has the best government. Don't compare it to USA, japan, UK who all are spiraling down the debt drain. Debt is NOT a good thing to be postponing forever (or increasing forever) like these countries seem to be doing. There comes a time when the bubble will burst for them !!!!

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16. 

    @ironrod819

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    Ireland have been running a surplus recently: 2022-€10 billion and 2023 expected €16 billion

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17. 

    @tokajileo5928

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    A strong German economy based on cheap Russian raw materials scares the hell out the USA and is not US interest. That is why Nord Stream 2 was blown up and that is why sanctions only benefit US and China. So pin the Ukrainian flag onto your shirt and enjoy the western style of living while it lasts.

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18. 

    @garrettstryker5685

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    Stay the course,9;9-9 Berlin resident since before the wall came down

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19. 

    @iielysiumx5811

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    “1 in 3 trains arrived late”

    British train companies: those are rookie numbers!

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20. 

    @margitm2080

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    Thank you. I got it now. I am German 😂

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21. 

    @JOKBO1

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    Someone needs to color grade these videos.

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22. 

    @MrCosinuus

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    4:50 mentiones the "constitutional court" but shows symbol of the administrative court few seconds later. Well, their names in German are so similar, even many Germans confuse them:
    -Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal constitutional court)
    -Bundesverwaltungsgericht (Federal administrative court)

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23. 

    @Cleeves358

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    Crucially, there isn't enough talk about A) how to limit spending without hurting (rise in poverty: one in four German children is poor and doesn't have enough to eat, climate transformation urgency: without investment our industry looses global competition, infrastructure collapse, unnecessary fiscal privileges for the rich like supporting kerosene or diesel or company cars for managers and so on), B) raising taxes for the rich and prosecuting tax evasion. The FDP is getting all its way but keeps forgetting that they have an obligation to society

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24. 

    @jaschadopp699

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    The constitutional court in Germany is the "Bundesverfassungsgericht" and not the "Bundesverwaltungsgericht" (federal administrative court) whose logo is used at 1:02, 5:00…

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25. 

    @danielgorz7594

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    I am a religious conservative republican in America. And I have a rare view in my party. The climate is in an emergency state! We are killing Gods Creations!

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26. 

    @Bheem161

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    Additionally to the 60B its quite possible that another 160B or more cant be used because other fonds will be ruled unconstitutional as well. That would be about half of the current government budget. If we dont want to increase taxes (FDP dont want this) and dont want to change the debt brake (2/3 majority needed, not going to happen), we could just shut down the ministries for education, health, food, family and housing (still woudnt be enough) or cut the pension by 20%. Thats how bad it is. The solution probably will be a mix of cuttings in the social system, maybe higher taxes and some (hoefully more legal) bypasses of the debt brake.

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27. 

    @marchlopez9934

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    Germany's debt break, a constitutional law that limits the federal government's structural deficit to 0.35% of GDP per year, has been in place since 2009. It prohibits Germany's 16 federal states from running any deficits at all, except in emergency situations. Germany's fiscally conservative approach to debt has been a source of pride for many Germans, with the famous "Schwarze Null" or black zero symbolizing the country's aversion to borrowing. However, last week, Germany's constitutional court ruled that the government's proposed 60 billion Euro climate fund violated the debt break and was therefore illegal. This has caused an internal feud between the fiscally conservative FDP and their coalition partners over spending levels, and the government has suspended a vote on the budget indefinitely, creating a risk of government shutdown.

    Germany's debt break was created in response to the eurozone crisis and enjoyed cross-party support at the time. Merkel's government suspended the debt break for the first time during the pandemic, authorizing roughly 150 billion EUR of extra spending to help the German economy survive lockdown. However, when Scholz replaced Merkel in late 2021 and the pandemic was receding, he noticed that about 60 billion EUR hadn't been used. He directed this money to a climate and transformation fund to finance the government's energy transition policies, but the Christian Democrats argued that this violated the debt break. The court ruled in favor of the Christian Democrats last week, causing political turmoil in Germany.

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28. 

    @FucklesTheDog

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    I don't know as a canadain seeing the massive damage one government could do that will carry on for decades. A law like the debt brake would have protected us.

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29. 

    @Miamcoline

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    Why are we incapable in the West of overcoming any issues in the face of international disasters, enemies at the gates, and huge national divisions bread by a failure to tackle migration and immigration in a healthy manner.

    Our authoritarian enemies, even with all their rampant corruption, embezzling and broken justice systems, are laughing at how much faster they are able to adapt to their crises than us.

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30. 

    @eliahabib5111

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    The limit is in the constitution to avoid a future majority with different priority or just irresponsible to be able to create a problem future governments need fix.
    It allows the opposition to block the government before it proceeds. Which is actually what happened in this case.

    You can argue that it is bad for Germany, but you should provide some reasons for it. The one in the vidoe seems superficial.
    Having the limit set to 3% or 7% would not mean that more money would go to infostructures. That would require a change in the government spending priority. As such the limit is not why the German government is under spending on infostructures.

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31. 

    @cgt3704

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    Well since this is Germany, we all know how this is gonna end, right ?

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32. 

    @Marre480

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    Better to burn the money then to throwing it in the green transition scam.

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33. 

    @toyotaprius79

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    FDP are sabators

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34. 

    @maxdon2001

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    Great video!

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35. 

    @Croz89

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    I wonder if relaxing the debt brake rather than scrapping it might be more palatable. It's probably a good idea, but it is rather strict and could hinder investment needed for future growth. Maybe double it for now with a sunset clause that states it returns to the baseline after X years, and see how it goes.

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36. 

    @boyan.guitar

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    A few years ago Trump warned German leaders about their energy dependence and flirting with Russia and they laughed at him, now look how the turntables.

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37. 

    @lllluka

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    6:36

    * 5 percentage points, not 5 percent

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38. 

    @mohammadchowdhury6729

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    👍

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39. 

    @1425363878

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    No! Corrupt bastards like Scholz (cum-ex) want to enrich themselves and get away with shit governance by buying themselves out of trouble with debt. We cannot allow that.

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40. 

    @hp8825

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    Great video. Even as german it helps me to understand the roots where this black zero is coming from. And also it helps to get a more neutral view compared you are getting from the political parties in the country. So keep doing what you do. Great work again! ❤

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41. 

    @NeroPiroman

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    In my countrry one in 3 trains isnt late

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42. 

    @t0n0k0

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    Current situation stats?
    Policies are quite amusing.

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43. 

    @XY-uc1tw

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    The debt brake does not mean less spending on infrastructure. If governments want to spend more money on infrastructure, they should do so in the current budget. As some politicians are sad to say, Germany has no income problem but a spending problem. Every year, they waste billions of euros on leftist politics….

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44. 

    @mkb6418

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    They will just cut off all programs funded by these 60b. Some people will go to prison or suspended by their positions for fiscal irresponsibility. It might seem harsh, but that's what fiscal irresponsibility is in real life for billions of people. And sometimes they have to learn the hard way.

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45. 

    @ossi4349

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    the debt brake had only almost cross party support. The left always opposed it

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46. 

    @rainerbrombach5502

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    It should not be forgotten that Germany has doubled its tax revenue since 2009 from €500 billion to €1 trillion in 2025. The costs of refugee policy have exploded to €48 billion per year. That's how much Germany spends on its military. The costs of development aid have also increased dramatically to €30 billion. More than half of German social assistance is paid to foreigners without work, while countless bakeries and restaurants have to close due to a lack of staff and people wait months for appointments from craftsmen. Not to forget that a new Intel chip factory alone is worth €10 billion in subsidies to the German government. Another TSMC factory will receive €8 billion in subsidies.

    All of this is paid for with the highest income taxes in the OECD.

    The problem is therefore not the debt brake in the constitution. The problem is politicians who cannot stop wasting money, even if they were given €2, 3 or 100 trillion instead of €1 trillion.

    The problem was Angela Merkel, the worst chancellor since 1945, who made herself loved all over the world by distributing German tax money all over the world, but didn't care one bit about the well-being of the German economy and German taxpayers. This terrible woman has now been topped by an insane green master race who believes they have to demonstrate to the whole world Germany's superiority in climate protection, without any knowledge of physics. In doing so, they only subsequently fulfill the Nero order of 1945, with which Hitler wanted to completely destroy Germany's livelihood.

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47. 

    @samuelserapion5175

    February 22, 2024 at 4:34 am

    I think it is dumb to create a physical newspaper with a channel called tldr

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