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Story time
Not long ago a little German company named Wirecard was founded. They did something with financial transactions. Why did they exist when there's PayPal, Adyen and the other million finance service providers? Probably solely because Germany likes to foster domestic companies with fat subsidies and big stakes by German banks (in this case Deutsche Bank Commerzbank - probably a lot more). Anyway, as you may have seen in the past few days, Wirecard managed to lose 1.9 BILLION Euros. They're simply gone. The CEO pretended that he was the victim of fraud, but then immediately stepped down.
Why should I care you may be asking yourself. After all, aren't all banks corrupt to the core? Aren't all German companies nothing but fraud machines? Siemens, Deutsche Bank come to mind. Huge, state-sponsored fraud. There's nothing else you can call it. Well get this: A few months ago a little newspaper from the UK called FINANCIAL TIMES did some investigative journalism and noticed that there was a lot of fishy BS going on with Wirecard. They wrote about it and what did Wirecard do? Did they address the problems or maybe even try to fix them? No, they (via the new German financial regulator BaFin) sued FT for reporting the truth. They used the entire weight of the German legal system to silence Financial Times. Luckily a few months later and the fraud is so huge that it couldn't be hidden any longer. The company's stock has absolutely tanked and brought down Deutsche and Commerz with it.
Three important tl;dr takeaways:
1. All German companies are corrupt as hell (LOL @ Transparency International upvoting Germany because their whole nonprofit is financed by German companies)
2. German regulators are either corrupt or incompetent as hell. The German regulators act as lapdogs for German industry and will attack anyone who isn't compliant.
3. Investigative journalism in Germany is impossible. Bad whistleblower laws, bad journalism protection laws. If you read any of the normal news outlets here you'll get a perspective that is nothing but 100% supportive of the German government and German industry. There is no dissent.
Oh, and the story about Wirecard didn't even make it above the fold on Germany's most popular news website. Really makes you think.
in my german class it stank. In my other class it stank. In my other class it stank. 3 different buildings. these people weren't german, maybe it was the teacher who smelled up the entire rooms. is there a problem with air circulation in these buildings?? the rooms just stink....
God, I remember when I used to have to ride the S-Bahn to work. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a fully packed train in the late afternoon sun. Easily 35-40 degrees inside the train car. If you're lucky no dour old lady slammed the tiny little windows closed that offer at least a little fresh air. It's amazing more people don't pass out all the time.
I remember when I first arrived in Berlin and didn't have data. I was in a taxi on the way to a sublet that had been arranged for me by a friend's cousin. I was 5 minutes late. The guy yelled via sms that he was leaving, and sorry it didn't work out, he had to leave for the airport (German). I had to get the cab driver to pull over and call him to remind him (I had already told him) that I was on the way there, and all my stuff was in the car, as I was moving in that day. So he left the key with the neighbour. Then he sent me several voice memos, apologizing for being so angry and telling me that if I didn't want the flat, it would be ok, I wouldn't have to pay him. I arrived. The whole place stank like old meat, rotting milk or something, He also didn't change the sheets or do any laundry before I arrived, and there was no washing machine in the flat. I decided to take him up on his offer not to stay there, as he seemed unstable. He had also previously told me that I could party at the flat and drink all his alcohol, even though I told him I don't drink, he told me to bring friends. Anyway whatever, I ended up finding another place to live within 3 days, and I wrote him a text message thanking him for the offer but I wasn't going to stay. Then a week later he writes me a text, accusing me of smoking in the flat, breaking the door to the balcony and leaving it a mess. He tells me that if I don't pay him 500 euro (more than the rent) he would call the police and have me charged. So I just blocked him.
I thought he was just a crazy guy. Little did I know this was a typical German interaction.
I regret spending time in Peter pan’s land but I’m turning 34 this fall and I’m glad I got out when I did.
good for you, that's a good milestone. I moved when I was 31, I didn't realize what the city was like. Im the OP. Glad I only lasted two years. I cannot imagine being 40 in Berlin. Sure I like clubbing but whatever, I had a stable life and a good job and I went to Trash Land.... you live you learn I guess
I guess no offence if you are 40 in Berlin, sorry I don't mean to hurt people on the forum.... Just like, yeah its kind of harder to leave there once you get older I guess, if youre not german….guess it depends what kind of life that you want. I don't like socialism and being a rat so whatever.
I love when my German neighbours steal my packages even tho it is clearly written for the delivery NOT to leave with neighbours in both English and German. I also love how the neighbours don’t leave a note with their number and I’m expected to track them down. I also love when they sign off a random name so I have no idea where my package is and I don’t recieve it. I also love when the package man rings random doorbells when I am home all day and decides to leave with someone else even tho I am on the first floor. I also love having my doorbell rang over and over as if it’s my job to accept packages for my neighbours. I also love when the postman yells at me because I refuse to accept other people’s packages and rings the bell after I closed it
Is anyone on here an artist? What was your take of Berlin?
For me I found it drugged out, unprofessional, and full of kids with rich parents.
OMG, this is priceless, I love it, stupid Dem supporting fake-news CNN caught out :o))))))))))
www.breitbart.com/the-media/2020/06/19/nolte-cnn-and-twitter-panic-over-trump-retweet-of-racist-baby-parody/
Pretty funny hearing Berliners reeeee about Trump being mad over Twitter's "fact checking" when 2 weeks ago the highest German court ruled against "fact checking" that amounts to stating a personal opinion. Correctiv, some weird German nonprofit that wanted to be Germany's fact checker, got their butts handed to them in court. Oh, and I probably don't even need to tell you this, but one of their main funders is... pretty sure I don't even need to write his name.
LOL a world without cis. Have fun with no plumbing, no electricity ans no new buildings. Also, obviously, no welfare state and no pension since negative population growth. You people that write such retarded thoughts are truly the dumbest faggots on earth.
Berlin is full of narcissist, antisocial personality disorder, borderlines and bipolars
German women are all somehow simultaneously frigid and huge sluts.
Give me your talentless, your poorly educated,
Your ambtionless masses yearning to be different
I want to punch every single one of these dumb cuñts with EU hoodies right in the throat.
Everything is unnecessarily hard in this country.
People have no empathy and can't think out of box
There is no negotiation happening. Everything is either black or white
There is no diversity and selection on anything. Buildings, social events, people, cities are all same. There is nothing interesting
I know, I will end up leaving this country in couple years but I am so upset for the years I wasted here
I empathize with you. I think Germany is vile. I pity anyone who has to live there. My advice to anyone would be to leave, the sooner the better. No amount of material or financial gain is worth wrecking one's mental health. I find it comforting that this website exists and that I am not the only one who thinks these people are a bunch of ogres.
They think being an artist on hartz-v is “making it” because you don’t have to work an actual side job to make art. So dumb. I would rather bartend in nyc and make the same amount I would at hartz-v in a few shifts. Even if rent is more expensive at least there are actual working professionals.