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German Federal Elections 2017 |OT| Electing the new leader of the free world

Randam

Member
Guys, you heard Xando.
Zeitarbeit isn't as bad as people make it out to be and working 40 to 50 hours a week isn't a problem either..


Dude!! Come on..
 

Xando

Member
Guys, you heard Xando.
Zeitarbeit isn't as bad as people make it out to be and working 40 to 50 hours a week isn't a problem either..


Dude!! Come on..

Until last month i never had a unlimited contract and i still work 40 to 50 hours a week. Can it be tough? Sure but it's nothing out of the ordinary.

Just ask the Japanese.

Not sure what kind of utopia you're living in but the days of 35h weeks are long over.
 

ElTorro

I wanted to dominate the living room. Then I took an ESRAM in the knee.
In addition the FDP has learned nothing from the Euro crisis. They pound on contracts and want nations like Greece and Spain to reduce their expenses even more. As an economist I can only wonder about this opinion. You have to invest and increase demand, not stifle purchasing power. Other European nations will suffer if the FDP becomes part of the next government.

The issue isn't just about short-term solutions to the individual problems of countries like Greece. There is a larger picture. It's also about not setting a precedent. Violating EU contracts would mean that all EU contracts are actually negotiable beyond the terms that were presented to the public when the contracts were signed. There is no better way to undermine the image of the EU in the eyes of those who feel that they are being dragged into an ever-growing economic interweavement that they never voted for. This is the reason why Merkel was so resolute during the Greece situation in 2015. Let's not forget the reason the AfD was founded in the first place.

Let alone the fact that the EZB's current fiscal policies are extreme and out of control. Just a few examples:

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtscha...lockerer-geldpolitik-aussteigen-14913960.html
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtscha...uf-mehr-als-800-milliarden-euro-14913439.html
http://www.handelsblatt.com/my/fina...-droht-das-grosse-bankensterben/19825552.html

You have to wonder who really hasn't learned from the crisis, given the crazy stuff Junker said last week:

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtscha...infuehrung-in-allen-eu-laendern-15196158.html
 
Guys, you heard Xando.
Zeitarbeit isn't as bad as people make it out to be and working 40 to 50 hours a week isn't a problem either..
Dude!! Come on..

Last time I checked we elect people to represent our very own interests. Although I work more than 50h a week on a regular basis and my wife's a nurse, I see now reason to vote for a party which addresses someone else's interest.

So, I'm very, very sorry that I'm a selfish brick who's going to vote for a party which I deem is more in line with my very own interests than yours.

But at the very least I'm not running around calling other people out because they have a different opinion.
 
Until last month i never had a unlimited contract and i still work 40 to 50 hours a week. Can it be tough? Sure but it's nothing out of the ordinary.

Just ask the Japanese.

Not sure what kind of utopia you're living in but the days of 35h weeks are long over.

That isn't the problem, and saying the Japanese have it worse says absolutely nothing.

40-48 hours a week is normal. I know. But letting you work 12 hours one day and call you back in 6 hours later for another 12 is nothing current law allows. 8 is max and 10 is under circumstances.

They also want to scrap the part of it that say that between two work days you need at least a break of 10 hours.

It's easy to say "I like to work/ like to work whenever I want". That's not what work laws are about. You need to think about the extreme situations.

This would make it worse for quite a few, partly in industries like gastronomy where it's skimming the illegal now and then already.

Last time I checked we elect people to represent our very own interests. Although I work more than 50h a week on a regular basis and my wife's a nurse, I see now reason to vote for a party which addresses someone else's interest.

So, I'm very, very sorry that I'm a selfish brick who's going to vote for a party which I deem is more in line with my very own interests than yours.

But at the very least I'm not running around calling other people out because they have a different opinion.

So electing a government to legislate is about trying to put your own interests over everyone elses? Following that logic you can justify about anything. Including making it intentionally worse for the poor or even minorities as long as you benefit, in theory. Following that Republicans over in America are doing everything right in gutting healthcare or not touching it at all so their constituents who don't want to pay taxes for healthcare can continue doing so at the cost of people who need it.

I'm sorry, but if you think that's what a democracy or even a society is, then we disagree completely.
 

Haunted

Member
Last time I checked we elect people to represent our very own interests. Although I work more than 50h a week on a regular basis and my wife's a nurse, I see now reason to vote for a party which addresses someone else's interest.

So, I'm very, very sorry that I'm a selfish brick who's going to vote for a party which I deem is more in line with my very own interests than yours.

But at the very least I'm not running around calling other people out because they have a different opinion.
I think it's 100% ok to vote according to your own financial interests. I also think there's an argument to be made to not only vote for someone to represent your own interests but to vote for the party who you think has the best chance to lead society in a direction you agree with, independent from whether you benefit financially or not.

I think the major problem of the FDP is that their basic tenet of Selbstbestimmung and more freedom doesn't only apply to those Selbständige who could really use that freedom in productive ways, but it also enables fuckers in companies to really pressure and exploit their workforce.

In the end, it's a simple question of who to prioritise.
 

Xando

Member
That isn't the problem, and saying the Japanese have it worse says absolutely nothing.

40-48 hours a week is normal. I know. But letting you work 12 hours one day and call you back in 6 hours later for another 12 is nothing current law allows. 8 is max and 10 is under circumstances.

They also want to scrap the part of it that say that between two work days you need at least a break of 10 hours.

It's easy to say "I like to work/ like to work whenever I want". That's not what work laws are about. You need to think about the extreme situations.

This would make it worse for quite a few, partly in industries like gastronomy where it's skimming the illegal now and then already.

The current working laws are backwards AF.
Legally i'm breaking the law everyday because i check my emails in the evening and in the morning or when i work on sundays. The current laws just aren't compatible anymore. A 48h week wouldn't even change much for people except they'd actually be payed the overtime they make anyway.
So electing a government to legislate is about trying to put your own interests over everyone elses? Following that logic you can justify about anything. Including making it intentionally worse for the poor or even minorities as long as you benefit, in theory. Following that Republicans over in America are doing everything right in gutting healthcare or not touching it at all so their constituents who don't want to pay taxes for healthcare can continue doing so at the cost of people who need it.

I'm sorry, but if you think that's what a democracy or even a society is, then we disagree completely.
Are you saying you're voting without any kind of self interest in benefits for yourself?
If you can save 400€ per year in taxes do you vote for this party or for the party that'll increase your taxes by 400€?
 
Until last month i never had a unlimited contract and i still work 40 to 50 hours a week. Can it be tough? Sure but it's nothing out of the ordinary.

Just ask the Japanese.

Not sure what kind of utopia you're living in but the days of 35h weeks are long over.

They stopped fucking and reproducing.
 
I also think there's an argument to be made to not only vote for someone to represent your own interests but to vote for the party who you think has the best chance to lead society in a direction you agree with, independent from whether you benefit financially or not.

That's actually redundant.
 
So just like the germans?

Not as bad I guess? But an aging population shouldn't be something to strive for.

Also regarding taxes I'd rather work less than what the FDP wants me to do, and pay 400 more in taxes because 400 euros per year is nothing compared to valuable free time.
 
The current working laws are backwards AF.
Legally i'm breaking the law everyday because i check my emails in the evening and in the morning or when i work on sundays. The current laws just aren't compatible anymore. A 48h week wouldn't even change much for people except they'd actually be payed the overtime they make anyway.

So, as I said already, the logic is "It's not adhered to, so let's scrap it" instead of introducing way to make a perfectly sensible law actually adhered to.

Things like exceptions for self-employed and small things like what you describe about emails should be added, sure, but this "it's not being followed, let's throw it away" mentality is nonsense.

Are you saying you're voting without any kind of self interest in benefits for yourself?
If you can save 400€ per year in taxes do you vote for this party or for the party that'll increase your taxes by 400€?

I'm saying that I don't vote for such a party if I know it's going to hurt many others who are worse off than I.

If I get 400€ more because the tax strategy is so good thought out that other people won't be worse off, sure.

If I personally can manage my work times however I want which I couldn't before and is something I badly want to be able to but instead about the entire low payed work sector is getting even more inhumane work time schedules, then yeah, I won't vote for that.
 

Green Yoshi

Member
Not sure what kind of utopia you're living in but the days of 35h weeks are long over.

Isn't it sad that we have to work longer and longer despite the technical progress? I know some people enjoy that and their women raise the children while they are away but that only works because they make a lot of money. What if both parents have to work and school is over on half past tvelve?
 

Xando

Member
Not as bad I guess? But an aging population shouldn't be something to strive for.
Germanys demographic time bomb has been ticking for some time and it will fuck over everyone without private pension investments when it goes off.

Also regarding taxes I'd rather work less than what the FDP wants me to do, and pay 400 more in taxes because 400 euros per year is nothing compared to valuable free time.
So you’re voting in your self interest. That’s exactly my point
 
I missed clarifying financial interest in the final edit of my post, my bad.

I don't think anyone's interests are limited to financial ones. A lot of things are grinding my head right now - yes, including taxes and other costs for example, but frankly Zeitarbeit, rents or low wages in general aren't one of them.
 
Well financially it would probably make more sense for me to vote FDP, but looking beyond my own financial interested I cannot vote for them. I will gladly pay higher taxes or whatever is necessary to ensure a fairer society overall.

you're still voting for a party who you think represents your very own interests at most, all things considered. The fact that some of your motives are altruistic doesn't change that.
 
you're still voting for a party who you think represents your very own interests at most, all things considered. The fact that some of your motives are altruistic doesn't change that.

Altruism is literally concern for the interests of others.

At this point we're going into semantics.

You're saying that since acting in the interests of others is what I want, it's in my interest and thus I'm doing it solely in my interest.

That's a pretty roundabout way of saying I'm not acting in my interest at all.
 
Altruism is literally concern for the interests of others.

At this point we're going into semantics.

You're saying that since acting in the interests of others is what I want, it's in my interest and thus I'm doing it solely in my interest.

That's a pretty roundabout way of saying I'm not acting in my interests at all.

You and your family are part of the society. If it's in your interest to develop society in a specific way - and you vote accordingly - you're still following one of your very own interests, even if others profit more from it than yourself.
 

Randam

Member
Until last month i never had a unlimited contract and i still work 40 to 50 hours a week. Can it be tough? Sure but it's nothing out of the ordinary.

Just ask the Japanese.

Not sure what kind of utopia you're living in but the days of 35h weeks are long over.
Christian, is that you?


No, seriously it is OK if you never had a problem with not having an unlimited contract and that it didn't bother you not to know if you would have a job after your contract reached it end date or that you like working up to 50 hours a week, but now you want that for everyone?

That is not the way it should be. And it kinda scares me that people think like this.
 

Ladekabel

Member
The current working laws are backwards AF.
Legally i'm breaking the law everyday because i check my emails in the evening and in the morning or when i work on sundays. The current laws just aren't compatible anymore. A 48h week wouldn't even change much for people except they'd actually be payed the overtime they make anyway.

One could argue that backwards working laws is a good thing because in a world where you’re pretty much connected 24/7, laws that prevents employers from exploiting this.

I‘d be interested where your „48 hour weeks wouldn’t change much for people“ comes from. Personal experience and anecdotal or a look at statistics? I’m not that knowledgeable in this area.

Isn't it sad that we have to work longer and longer despite the technical progress? I know some people enjoy that and their women raise the children while they are away but that only works because they make a lot of money. What if both parents have to work and school is over on half past tvelve?

Answer; Let them have nannies!
 

GAMEPROFF

Banned
The current working laws are backwards AF.
Legally i'm breaking the law everyday because i check my emails in the evening and in the morning or when i work on sundays. The current laws just aren't compatible anymore.

I hate when people want to ruin things for everyone because they are stupid enough to do more then they have to do.
Also with the generel ban on sunday work. Yeah, your loss that you cant have another day for buying shit at store. Much bigger loss for everyone working in retail if this is introduced.

Also, the only one who breaks the law is your company.

A 48h week wouldn't even change much for people except they'd actually be payed the overtime they make anyway.
Yeah, no. Thats not going to happen.
 

Ladekabel

Member
Anyone remember them tax breaks between 2009-2013?

I currently don’t have the numbers and the whole SPD program in front of me and in mind but don’t they want to give people a relief through more social support from the state? Or do I mix something up?
 

Dr.Phibes

Member
Anyone remember them tax breaks between 2009-2013?

I currently don’t have the numbers and the whole SPD program in front of me and in mind but don’t they want to give people a relief through more social support from the state? Or do I mix something up?
The only good thing about 09-13 was the FDP missing the 5% hurdle in 13.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
Looking at who will be included in the new Spitzensteuersatz and other tax ranges when Linke or SPD would get their wish, that would actually negatively impact me financially.

And I am not filthy rich by any stretch of the imagination, let me tell you that. I think they're taking from the wrong people by taxing the Mittelstand (Selbstständige in particular) too highly.

Keep in mind that being affected by the higher top tax rate does not necessarily mean you need to pay more taxes, because there are counter measures for the lower part of the income. According to a computation from FU Berlin, you will have to pay less taxes following the SPD concept, up to a yearly income of 102,000€. Going beyond 100k €/year and to complain about taxing "the wrong people" is quite a thing. Average yearly income in Germany is 44,436€, so you pay less taxes, as long as you are below 2.3 times the average income. Who do you think should be taxed more? If you earn significantly more than 102,000€ per year, it is not exactly a stretch of imagination to say you are rich.
 

kingkaiser

Member
It's basically this all over again, heh?

bdgZa.jpg


Look at all them poor "middleclass" simply being Entgeignet just like that.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
A single parent with 260,000$ yearly income? That must be one of the rarest things on earth.
 
It's basically this all over again, heh?

bdgZa.jpg


Look at all them poor "middleclass" simply being Entgeignet just like that.

Seems like it. Someone with that income would never ever be middleclass in Germany.

Well maybe it's middle class if you are Christian Lindner. He probably thinks "I gotta help those lower class poor people" when he sees someting like that.
 

ElTorro

I wanted to dominate the living room. Then I took an ESRAM in the knee.
Surprisingly with the plans of Die Linke even people with a yearly income of €120,000 will get a huge tax break. Between €150,000 and €200,000 it switches to a tax increase.

❓❓❓

giphy.gif


https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/linkspartei-137.html

Um untere und mittlere Einkommen zu entlasten (was übrigens auch die SPD angekündigt hat), will die Linke etwa den Grundfreibetrag auf 12.600 Euro anheben. Dafür sollen Großverdiener und Vermögende stärker besteuert werden. Der Spitzensteuersatz soll von heute 45 auf 53 Prozent steigen. Er soll ab einem zu versteuerndem Jahreseinkommen ab 70.000 Euro gelten, das entspricht etwa einem Bruttoverdienst von 81.000 bei einem Alleinstehenden ohne Kinder.

Danach greift eine zweistufige Reichensteuer: Ab Jahreseinkommen von 260.000 Euro werden 60 Prozent fällig, ab einem zu versteuerndem Einkommen von einer Million Euro 75 Prozent. Dazu kommt eine Vermögenssteuer von fünf Prozent auf alle Vermögen oberhalb einer Million Euro.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt

What does this text have to do with his claim? There are quite a few computation steps needed from the information on the tagesschau website to obtain the threshold from which higher overall taxes need to be payed. The much larger amount of tax-free income has a significant influence, also the change in progression steps does as well. I do not know if his numbers are correct, because it is not easy to compute this, but just becaue the top tax rate is bigger starting from a yearly income of 81k€ (twice the average income in Germany), it certainly does not mean that you need to pay more taxes overall from this point onwards. You need to earn significantly more to have higher overall taxes.
 

ElTorro

I wanted to dominate the living room. Then I took an ESRAM in the knee.
What does this text have to do with his claim? There are quite a few computation steps needed from the information on the tagesschau website to obtain the threshold from which higher overall taxes need to be payed. The much larger amount of tax-free income has a significant influence, also the change in progression steps does as well. I do not know if his numbers are correct, because it is not easy to compute this, but just becaue the top tax rate is bigger starting from a yearly income of 81k€ (twice the average income in Germany), it certainly does not mean that you need to pay more taxes overall from this point onwards. You need to earn significantly more to have higher overall taxes.

The numbers already include the threshold for tax-free income. Even the Linke's own program refers to the number I cited:

XdI6UOi.jpg


I strongly doubt that their explicitly stated "rule of thumb" is inaccurate...

The entire progression can be seen here and also contradicts your numbers:
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtscha...ei-spart-der-waehler-am-meisten-15187706.html
 

KHlover

Banned
I work in a company financed entirely by the gubment and we're not producing anything, they'd never allow us to drastically increase working hours, since that would just smash the budget to pieces :p
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
The numbers already include the threshold for tax-free income. Even the Linke's own program refers to the number I cited:

XdI6UOi.jpg


I strongly doubt that their explicitly stated "rule of thumb" is inaccurate...

The entire progression can be seen here and also contradicts your numbers:
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtscha...ei-spart-der-waehler-am-meisten-15187706.html
In their concept they say the top tax should reach 53% at 65,000€ / year already, so this explains the discrepancy. So you pay more taxes starting from 81,500€ / year in the left's concept. But even with the left-most viable partya tax increase starts at almost twice the average wage.
 

ElTorro

I wanted to dominate the living room. Then I took an ESRAM in the knee.
In their concept they say the top tax should reach 53% at 65,000€ / year already, so this explains the discrepancy. So you pay more taxes starting from 81,500€ / year in the left's concept. But even with the left-most viable partya tax increase starts at almost twice the average wage.

Huh? I have no idea what you're trying to say. The maximum tax rate does not start at 65000; it starts at 70000 (of taxable income). I literally just quoted them, so I have no idea where that number is coming from. Nothing about this explains the discrepancy between your Green Yoshi's numbers and reality. Your Green Yoshi's numbers were simply nonsense and off by a factor of more than two.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
That document is from 2011, why are you even quoting it, when their 2017 program has the updated numbers?

Because this is still the only full concept one can easily find. In their current program, they say the top tax rate of 53% should be reached at 70,000€ (adding the 11,000€ that are taxfree, at 81,000€) and the average tax at this level is 30%. According to http://einkommensteuerrechner.com.de/Steuersatz.php/#Einkommensteuerrecher currently the average tax at this level of income is 33.27%, which is more. So at 81,000€ yearly income you would get a tax break if the numbers in the left program are correct. I deem it unlikely that Green Yoshi's 120k / year number is correct, but at 81k / year, you should still have a tax break. Assuming of course the left was making their concept reality which is very unlikely.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
OK, so this should settle it wrt peoiple who earn >120k per year. I still wonder, if people say that the wrong people are taxed more by the left tax concept, who are the right people, because according to the chart you have posted, only the top 10% would have to pay more taxes, everyone else would get a taxbreak.
 

ElTorro

I wanted to dominate the living room. Then I took an ESRAM in the knee.
OK, so this should settle it wrt peoiple who earn >120k per year. I still wonder, if people say that the wrong people are taxed more by the left tax concept, who are the right people, because according to the chart you have posted, only the top 10% would have to pay more taxes, everyone else would get a taxbreak.

Careful. The second chart shows the difference in relative contribution to the state's total amount of tax income (under the specific model), not the absolute tax load per income. Since the top 10% would pay more, the relative contribution of the rest would go down even if they'd pay the same tax in absolute numbers.

To see who would pay more or less money, you just have to look at the first line chart and compare it to the grey line chart, which shows the current tax model.
 

kingkaiser

Member
So, regarding the income tax proposal of the CDU someone with an annual income of 120.000 EUR will get more than double of a break than someone making 30.000 annual.

Now, if that doesn't sound fair...
 
Careful. The second chart shows the difference in relative contribution to the state's total amount of tax income (under the specific model), not the absolute tax load per income. Since the top 10% would pay more, the relative contribution of the rest would go down even if they'd pay the same tax in absolute numbers.

To see who would pay more or less money, you just have to look at the first line chart and compare it to the grey line chart, which shows the current tax model.

Imo the "in Prozent der Gesamtsteuerlast (273,15 Mrd. Euro)" implies that the total sum is supposed to stay ~the same.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
Careful. The second chart shows the difference in relative contribution to the state's total amount of tax income (under the specific model), not the absolute tax load per income. Since the top 10% would pay more, the relative contribution of the rest would go down even if they'd pay the same tax in absolute numbers.

To see who would pay more or less money, you just have to look at the first line chart and compare it to the grey line chart, which shows the current tax model.
Since the overall tax load would be lower under the left model than it is now, it still follows that the tax load of the 9th percentile would be lower. For some people in the upper half of the 9th percentile it might still be true that their tax would end up higher.


@kingkaiser: It is rather extreme with the CDU model, but with the left model you also have for instance 15,000 yearly income -> 914€ less taxes, 45,000 yearly income -> 1,847€ less taxes.
 
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