American reacts to German vs USA Economy

Thank you for watching me, a humble American, react to How Does German Economy Compare to United States Economy?
Original video: • How Does German Econom...
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[@MrMastrix]

I heard that joke/rumor many times, but I think it fits: The average village in Germany consists of a church, a town hall and a world-leading factory of one random engineer product

[@darlastrange]

Aaaaccurate.

[@xYonowaaru]

Well, I'm German and no matter where I lived there had been at least been one world-leading factory in their field.

[@gecgoodpasi1654]

its actually sooooo true 🤣we visited alot of them while in school and i was always confused when we suddenly arrived at the craziest factory for giant machines in the middle of nowhere apparently they were the guys that made machines that build machines 🥴some of them were as big as whole buildings.

[@annegunther7025]

that is so true :D in my town its zeiss. we have a population of 7000 people in my city BUT more than 10000 flood the city daily to work here so during the day it increases to over 17000 people.

[@DrWade-ny2he]

It was years ago, but now these factories are more and more owned by chinese companies! So sad...

[@DJone4one]

8.84 euros minimum wage per hour? Since October 2022, we have a nationwide minimum wage of 12 euros per hour. Especially since we also have much higher social security contributions and pay high taxes. I earn 19.44 euros an hour. Depending on the month, that's up to 3,500 euros gross. Net, that's about 2200 euros. Two thirds are social security contributions (health insurance, nursing care insurance, unemployment insurance and pension insurance). One third is taxes, such as income tax, church tax and, for some, the solidarity tax.

[@denzzlinga]

Didn´t it say in the video that it is from 2017?

[@crashoverride6413]

@@denzzlinga later he did, that the video is 5 years old (2018, not 2017). so, some of the facts ther had changes more drasticually from then to now...

[@MellonVegan]

We don't pay high taxes. We have a lot of mandatory insurances that aren't counted in the statistics of other countries but our income tax rate is below the Western European average. But obviously, the US has very low taxes, so yeah, they're comparatively higher in Germany.

[@felicityblack3555]

Well I congrat you on your hourly wage. I earned 12 € working at a bakery and they were really angry, that they have to pay even that. I quit in november 2022. They told us, that this was the highest they would go.

[@DJone4one]

@@felicityblack3555 Thank you. But it's not a matter of course. My former boss from the temporary employment agency asked around among colleagues in southern Germany, and no employee there would pay €9.35. come close to the 19.44 for the customers. It depends on the company and the sector. I work as a logistician for a well-known frozen food brand. Fish fingers. I started as a temporary worker with 9.35 euros (for other companies, also in logistics). Then I earned 11 euros until the end of 2020. Then I applied for a job at another temporary employment agency and earned 12.50 euros. And now, since 16 January, I have been a permanent employee at the client company. It took a total of 2 years until I was asked by them. I had even applied to them before, but they turned me down. I had registered on a job portal during short-time work and received an enquiry from a temporary employment agency that was looking for a company in Bremen. (I knew during this time that I was allowed to continue working, so I only listened to the offer). When the woman asked me what I would earn at equal pay in 2023, I said: "I'll get €18.12 then". She replied: "You earn like a pop star. Of course we can't serve you with that.

[@TheSniperStriker]

The minimum wage has risen to 12 euro per hour

[@KekTekDe]

̶S̶t̶a̶r̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶A̶p̶r̶i̶l̶ ̶i̶t̶'̶l̶l̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶1̶3̶€̶ Edit: 13€ for painters

[@TheSniperStriker]

@@KekTekDe that i did not know...well i will ve happy to get an extra euro thaha

[@KekTekDe]

@@TheSniperStriker Oh sorry, i mixed something up there. the raise in april only affects Painters :/

[@denzzlinga]

@@KekTekDe but then it´s not the minimum wage. Since this is one fixed ammount set by the government.

[@h1tm4n96]

Yes it Was 10.45€ and now its 12€

[@PrueferAuge]

9:50 that guy just doesnt want to pay taxes and be a part of society. forget him

[@kerim.s8801]

Or he doesn't want to get ripped off by a country with one of the highest taxes and garbage services from the government. Well the society is stupid anyway. You can see that by looking at the amount of votes to the left wing parties.

[@thesebi]

yeah i remember the video with that guy... if i remember correctly he also went abroad to evade taxes... His opinion is not something to rely on ...

[@Wolftatze]

When "entrepreneurs" and such talk about opportunities, they mostly mean the opportunity to make it big and become rich, not the opportunity to start a business. The chance for starting is about the same everywhere, but if you want to strike it big and make money fast, you go to America, because it is less regulated.

[@petrophaga8523]

exactly. There are many hurds in Germany you have to take, but on the other hand: If you manage them your company is way more consitent and healthier. The risk of losing everything is very low in Germany. Also, Germans love to complain. Most don't even understand how good they do. They compare their lives against the super rich as seen on TV...

[@crazyo7560]

@@petrophaga8523 yeah, I agree. But I know how good it's down here in Germany, I feel like we germans just like it to complain XD Like 'yeah, over all it's good but there ist this thing and this and our politicians..' 🙄😤😂😂👌

[@steemlenn8797]

If your aim is to be a billionaire, yes. if you aim is to be "merely" a successfull business owner and get moderately wealthy, go for Northern Europe. "Dishwasher to millionaire" is far more likely there than in the US. I think the US was the last place in social mobility out of all 1st World countries.

[@joajojohalt]

@@crazyo7560 well to always complain haves the benefit that we more or less solve problems when they evolve not because we want to solve them but because we want to complain about them.

[@timogregorius7385]

Also it is way harder to move up in a company. normally u stay in the job you are and are not moving up into a leading position or something compareable

[@cayreet5992]

As to why we have a lot more small and medium companies in Germany: we serve niche markets, as mentioned in the video. A lot of the stuff we export is highly specialised machinery and that is usually made by smaller companies. There's a lot of small but sometimes very old businesses in Germany which are specialised on only a few machines which are used world-wide. For instance, the majority of products made in China which are made with machines are produced using machines from Germany.

[@thesebi]

Mittelstand ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[@JayBee911]

Kmu

[@c.w.8200]

Same in Austria, everything is full of these small and mid sized businesses but there's still this charm of living in small rural communities, just there's a company that produces parts that go in 70% of all planes or machines sold as far as Australia or China.

[@itskyansaro]

That video you saw from the german guy saying, there are no ''opportunities'' in Germany. That guy is saying that, because his business model rests on Tax evasion, and germany persecutes tax evaders, so yeah, if tax fraud is a business, there aren't a lot of opportunities in germany.

[@steemlenn8797]

Where did you get the idea that Germany persecutes tax evaders? Germany is well known for being a tax haven.

[@itskyansaro]

@@steemlenn8797 there are a lot of people leaving germany for Monaco, Dubai and other small nations to evade our 42% income tax. Idk where you get that from, but germany is not a tax haven.

[@steemlenn8797]

@@itskyansaro Sorry, tax EVASION heaven. and btw. if you pay 42% you are already quite rich and should have no qualms with paying that, you already have more than you can reasonably use for yourself. And Denmark and Norway, who have even higher taxes, have one of the lowest tax evasion rate. High taxes are not an explanation (though an often used excuse I guess).

[@robertroberto7659]

​@@steemlenn8797 You can hit the 42% tax mark with only making 60k income a year (before taxes and social insurances). That's not enough to buy any property in a city and be done paying for it the next 40 years. I wouldn't say you are quite rich in this situation, you are just not poor anymore.

[@steemlenn8797]

@@robertroberto7659 Then for heavens sake don't try to buy a big house in the most expensive area of the country where you have to compete with tax evading sheihks and speculants! m( As a single with 60K you are definitely rich. For a pair(!) the border to the top 10% is 64K netto. And of course you don't even pay that 42% because of deductions. And if we are going from wealth, ~600K safed (including a house) is rich for someone at the end of the working life. With 60K income you can do that in 20 years, even in most parts of Munich with 2 children. If you are not wasteful, of course.

[@JustForFun2801]

It may be more effort to make a company big in Germany. But it is also less risk for both the entrepreneur and the employees

[@demonmurasame733]

If I recall correctly how my History teacher explained to us how "Made in Germany" became a label for quality, it was because it started out as "Made in UK" as a marketing strategy by the UK economy, which then backfired as Germany adapted the labeling and produced better version of similar products. So basically, we got boosted by an agenda that was targeted against us... sooo.... thanks UK, I guess?

[@bigmikenbr]

It was startet in the UK, but as a warning, so people could avoid products from Germany, the enemy easily. But yes it backfired pretty quickly.

[@demonmurasame733]

@@bigmikenbr You could be right. I could not recall it with certainty (it has been a while). I had a feeling it might have been because of the ongoing war and not as a result of a concluded war.

[@crashoverride6413]

@@demonmurasame733 yes, i even remember it that it was in the first place after WWII that it was either a sign of "don't use that, it's bad". but the bad thing was, even if the alliaces took all our old facilities, and we were allowed to build new ones, we got better ones - and that let the "backfire" get started. i mean, it's even said years before about china - the quality wasn't that good, but ater it became better and better - and they build own designs instead of just copiying others...

[@kleinweichkleinweich]

back in 1887 the English started to put this warning on cheap sh!t from Germany backfired great time en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_Germany

[@Steppenkater]

After WW2 Germany was known for that what is China known now for: They made simple, low quality products and the reason for this was that most of the factories were destroyed. To warn people in the UK from buying cheap and simple products from Germany they invented the label "Made in Germany" which was the equivalent of what "Made in China" is today. But Germany was always good in engineering so the simple products rapidly became high quality products and nowadays it is that what this label stands for.

[@bommel2718]

"I didn't know you guys make computers" is funny if you know that the first computer was build in germany 😂 Its the Zuse Z2 completed in 1939

[@tobyk.4911]

yes, but that (computer production in 1939 and the 1940s) doesn't say anything about computer production (and exports) in 2016. more relevant is probably the fact that the category in the video was not "computers" , but rather "machinery, including computers" ... and surely nobody will doubt that Germany exports a lot of "machinery".

[@JHenry-wv1xv]

Germany's strength is its mechanical engineering. Germany, for example, does not manufacture microchips, but builds the machines that make them. The U.S. is striving for independence from high-end microchips from Taiwan and is building factories at an impressive pace - the machines come from Germany, just like those in Taiwan.

[@miwove]

What company do you mean? ASML is dutch and i don't know a single german producer of photolithography machines.

[@cooljo5881]

@@miwove as far as I know Zeiss is unmatched and plays a huge role in michrochips. Don't know too much about the company so I might be wrong

[@jonath613]

@@miwove This video explains why the mirrors, which are only produced by Zeiss, are important for the creation of microchips: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3nJgn-gqbF9mrs

[@tobyk.4911]

I think that the highend microchip lithography machines are built by ASML in the Netherlands, which use optics (lenses and mirrors) from Zeiss in Germany. So you need both. Zeiss doesn't build those big lithography machines, but components for these machines.

[@steemlenn8797]

Looking only at the top 20% doesn't show how skewed it really is. And looking the other side, what have they counted as earning? Don't forget that (nearly) everyone is health insured, including minimum wage earners and unemployed. Depending on your personal situation that might easily mean a thousand dollar you need to earn just to be on the same standard of living.

[@velvet6923]

Amd then you have Arbeitslosengeld 1 and 2, even if you don't work, you will get 500€ and the government pays rent, you can get ap to 1200€ depending on where you live in Germany and how high your rent is

[@makuru.42]

So yeah, there even is a security net for homeless people but because of unending bureaucracy, it's not enough for some people.

[@olgaj.6166]

When are you coming to Germany?

[@ZeroSeeker-mu2er]

its so funny for me as a German to the how interesting you find it

[@BlissLovePeace]

The minimum hourly rate in Germany is actually €12 ($12.86) since Oct 2022 ... so I guess this video is a bit outdated.

[@bl3ckc4t]

it shows in the beginning that the video that hes watching is over 5 years old so it makes sense that it´s not the min hourly rate is that we have atm

[@tobyk.4911]

it seemed to have many numbers from 2016 ... so probably the minimum wage number is also from that time

[@TackerTacker]

9:45 The guy saying that was probably in the entertainment business if you see him in a video, so he probably only sees it from his perspective, and in terms of entertainment industry I would agree with the assessment that opportunities are lower here in Germany in that sector.

[@timonator582]

German small business owner here. I can personally relate the things, the guy said about germany and why he left. There is some truth behind it, even if I think he expressed himself too negatively. The problem is really the people and their inflexible opinions. Almost everyone has already determined their life path either through family or early orientation. For almost everyone, this means focusing on careers in employment. But if you now leave this path, it is simply not accepted. If you want to start a business, you are prevented from doing so from all sides. Teachers advise you against it or declare you immature and childish, which then also indirectly affects the subjective evaluation by the teacher. Parents usually behave in the same way, because this path does not have the same status in their mindset or because you do not belong to an entrepreneurial family. Friends also try to talk you out of it. Founders not only receive very little support and appreciation, but also have to deal with unbelievable bureaucracy. And if you manage to succeed despite all the circumstances, people hate you. They simply don't want to see anyone who is more successful than they are by taking different paths than the traditional ones. That's how conservative people are in germany. On top of that, Germans have a very strong sense of envy. You can give them a car for free, and they would refuse it if their neighbor also got a better one. In summary, this means that only a few go this way at all, because the environment acts like a chain on the leg. And if they do go down this path, they quickly lose motivation, because they are working towards being rejected by their old environment. And this example is only career related. But it concerns all life decisions and also the daily personal behavior.

[@jeffafa3096]

Where Germany is a lot smaller in the workforce than the US, the US is a lot smaller in the workforce than China, with 1,4 billion people living there (or nearly 5x as much inhabitants as the US). It's really no surprise that China's economy is growing so incredibly fast...

[@tobyk.4911]

yes ... but the working-age population of China is slowly shrinking now , while the US population continues to grow ... and in Germany the development of the population depends very much on the development of net immigration numbers.

[@MyvIsLove2]

it is indeed harder to run a business in germany because u have so so so many laws and hoops u need to jump through. i own an online shop and even that is the biggest pain in the butt. also u have a ton of worker laws and if u employ someone, they have to get paid properly and also treated properly. u also cant just fire ppl if u are in a bad mood. oh and yeah, paperwork is the worst lol

[@100Creed]

Hey ich habe gerade angefangen ein Gewerbe anzumelden und online zu verkaufen. Meinst du wir könnten privat schrieben und du erzählst mir ein bisschen von deinen Erfahrungen? Mich würde es sehr freuen. LG

[@MyvIsLove2]

@@100Creed uff also ich kenn mich hier aber nur mit dem etsy Geschäft aus bzw die Art von Produkten die ich verkaufe

[@komivalentine3067]

Omg that's so true. I will never level up my "Kleingewerbe" because the paperwork is so overwhelming. I need to be very careful not to make too much money each year or the paperwork multiples by 1000% And I feel to hire people you need at least to be a lawyer or something. All the trouble is kinda not worth it and that's so sad. And in school you don't learn how to start a business. It was so simple and cheap and if i knew that I would have opened it right when I left school.

[@MyvIsLove2]

@@komivalentine3067 yeah and I would like to add that fellow Germans only scream at you when u ask for help or information and tell u to get a tax person if u don't know what u are doing 🙄

[@bestimmtkeinbot9793]

Man sollte auch keine Leute feuern, nur weil man gerade in schlechter Stimmung ist. 🤣 Das hat so schon seine Richtigkeit.

[@SaRah-21532]

If you want to know a little more about income compared to cost of living in Germany vs the US, there is a pretty comprehensive video by the Black Forest Family (THE BIG DEBATE: American Capitalism vs. German "Socialism" - SALARIES, TAXES, & SOCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS) There's even a part 2 that goes into even more detail

[@dude861]

There is no socialism in Germany!

[@nomaam9077]

7:14 - The vehicles that the USA exports are mostly from German companies that have vehicle plants in the USA. (VW, BMW, Daimler-Benz etc.)

[@Skyl3t0n]

3:39 Yeah the big income difference can't be taken face value. If you take the median income of both countries it's almost the same. The reason it's so much higher for the US in the video is because theres a couple very very rich billionaires in the US that drag the average A LOT. That doesn't represent the average middle class household though.

[@MichaEl-rh1kv]

Like others the German economy did take quite a hit by first Covid and then the Ukraine war: rising energy prices driving inflation, also losing some (minor) markets and so on. The expected growth rate for 2023 is now only 0.2% (which is even below the forecast for the EU average of 0.9%). The split between the top 20% and bottom 20% grew the last 3 decades or so; before the "4 times" difference was rather between the top 10% and the bottom 10%. The minimum wage was recently raised to 12 Euro per hour. At the time as the video was made Germany was one of the leading exporters for computer controlled production machines and industrial robotics. China is very interested in taking over the leading companies, however (and did a few years ago in some cases succeed in doing so). It is more difficult for big companies to get rid of workers in Germany: longer legal period of notice, sometimes severance payments (either by law or by the bargaining power of trade unions), rules for mass layoffs (have to be registered with the job center, rules about who can be dismissed depending on age, duration of employment, family background and so on, registering of a social compensation plan and so on). Not a penalty in the narrower sense, but incentives to think twice. SMEs are responsible for most (real) market and product innovations. 11:00 Despite a slowed down growth many branches and companies in Germany are still hiring, because in many sectors the slow-down is partly caused by a too small workforce. Economists say Germany needs the immigration of about 400,000 young people per year to replace older people retiring and to allow for a steady path of economic growth.

[@michaelkutschke6533]

There is also, still ongoing, a supply chain crisis in several industries.

[@Attirbful]

Ryan, you ought to check out the Black Forest Family for well-researched and presented comparisons US-Germany…

[@sebovhrd]

Hay Ryan, my wive and I anjoy your videos a lot. I am from Germany and she from Thailand, your videos help me a lot wich explaning German culture to her. So thank you a lot. One more thing the german youtuber "Malternativ" recently uploaded a video called "Stimmt DAS? - Was das Ausland über Amerikaner denkt" where he talks about what europeans think about america. He also used some of your clips. A few month ago he did the same wich germany and also used your clips. That was accualy how I got to your channel. Maybe you can react to him? The problem is he only talks german (very fast and no english sub). Best regards from Germany PS.: Fun fact: my sister had brithday recently and I wanted to say "happy brithday" to her at 0:01 but my clock was wrong so she complained that i say it 2min too early 😅that is sooo german

[@WardancerHB]

I just checked it out. It's actually quite funny and he uses clips from your videos more or less as a punchline - but in a good way. :-) You're becoming a minor Internet celebrity in Germany it seems...

[@henrikbienstein]

Always the American perspective that the refugee 'crisis' was or will be bad for Germany or its economy, when its actually quite the opposite.

[@JonathanMandrake]

3:00 No, that would be around 0.01 mi^2 or 25900 m^2

[@vomm]

ALT GR + 2 = ²

[@DaxRaider]

since 2022 the minimum wage in germany is 12€ (around 13$) but the inflation just now makes all these videos out of touch rly fast as all costs explodes the growth stopped and ALOT of our exports went to russia which now is harshly reduced and alot of our gas etc came from russia which skyrocket the prices ... overall teh ukraine war rly hurts germany economicly alot

[@BlueFlash215]

Our cost of living is still lower compared to the USA. Every nation has problems and even though an individual might experience it suddenly, doesn't mean it's all over. Unemployment right now is at 5.X% compared to 10.X% in 2006. 2020 was the only year with a falling GDP compared to the year before. Even 2022 and 2023 experienced a positive GDP 2 years with a high inflation are actively being battled by helping households with paying gas and elictricity bills. A war on global scale comes with inflation. Keep in mind that this level of inflation is also present in the USA.

[@S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-Strelok]

The data for Germany's minimum wage was very outdated. It has been 12€ as of October 1st of last year. It is at 12,43€ now and will presumably be at 13€ by December.

[@tobiaswilhelmi4819]

"per square mile, you guys are beating us". Sorry to inform you, but we don't have square miles over here. 😉

[@kortanioslastofhisname]

Re computers, Germany has some of the biggest and most important specialty chip manufacturers (e.g. Bosch), but is lagging in general-purpose chips (the types Intel and TSMC make). It's also a key location for chip manufacturing machinery (you may have heard of ASML in the Netherlands, just 2 German companies produce 40% of any ASML-made chip manufacturing machine by component value - i.e. the only mirrors on the planet that can be used to make single digit nanometre CMOS chips are made by Zeiss). Mittelstand (what is special about German medium-sized businesses) and SMEs are not interchangeable terms. Mittelstand companies are typically very specialised SMEs that are family-owned (in many cases in the so-and-so-manyth generation) that stand out for focussing on making a market leader in a very niche product or component, investing heavily in workforce skills and retention, innovation and optimisation, and are very much willing to live with slow, sustainable growth in exchange. Also, re China's growth, Luis R. Martinez (a professor at the university of Chicago) did analysis on likely actual GDP growth based on increases in light pollution in industrialising countries (a very good measure for industry-heavy economies like China), and based on his results most authoritarian regimes likely lie significantly about economic growth, and China is one of the worst perpetrators, with its real GDP likely only 40-60% of what China claims it to be. The original research article is "How Much Should We Trust the Dictator’s GDP Growth Estimates?" Journal of Political Economy, Volume 130, Number 10, October 2022 (DOI 10.1086/720458)

[@siliconvalley577]

325,000,000 people 3,531,837 mi^2 ~100 people/mi^2 ~0.01 mi^2/person Ryan: „Where’s my 10,000 square miles?“

[@felicityblack3555]

Nowadays the minimum wage in Germany is 12 € and there are a lot of companies and other employers, who complain about that. For them, it is still too high. I worked at a bakery and they were constantly saying, that they are paying the 12 € very reluctantly and that they would NOT get any higher in the next couple of years.

[@RagingGoblin]

The video's points about challenges in the future are kind of weird. Brexit probably improved many continental European companies' economic outlook (because many British businesses fled there). Germany also desperately needs more workers, no matter how political the entire debate about refugees is. I'm not saying all refugees are workers either or that integration is working as it should. I'm just saying that it needs more workers and the birthing rates don't keep up.

[@aspiringm]

That video simplified in various places. „Penalties for firing employees“??? Nope. There are certain laws and regulations in place to provide employees with a certain safety and that an employer needs good/sensible reasons to fire you. Warnings and chances to improve/change have to be issued before firing someone. If a company breaks those laws there can be penalties, but isn’t/shouldn’t there if someone breaks the law? If I drive over a red traffic light I get punished because I broke a law (and endangered) others. Strange that someone would think that it’s great to have the power to fire anyone at any time without any reason and that this would be the only motivation for an employee to do good work…

[@nicostreeck8394]

The video is really old though. I can really recommend a channel called something like the blackforestfamily. Their videos are in English and very well researched. (Plus they are recent)

[@tommyhilton9249]

10:20 because only about 2% and less of all companies earn more than one billion sales, creating size in Germany is not easy. Many companies are also considering emigrating from Germany in the current situation and through upcoming laws, many companies are already leaving Germany, here are the most destinations countries USA, France, Switzerland and England.

[@cjane_world]

Kyiv as an example for growth (at the end of the video)... how different the world was back then

[@AaAa-si7mo]

99% being small and medium businesses makes sense when you think of it this way: a family owned restaurant is one small business. mcdonalds is one big business. of course there is going to be way way more small businesses overall in the country, compared to big businesses (even if mcdonalds has 10000 restaurants, that still 1 big business)

[@Falk4J]

The graph you've been looking at by the end of the video was GDP by country whereas the guy in the video was showing a graph from 2016 called, GDP GROWTH by country.

[@ArmandoBellagio]

Not for nothing that Germany for a long time has been labelled "world export champion". Yeah the economy overall is smaller than the larger US, but Germany still exports more in comparison. "Made in Germany" is still a kind of label.

[@ThorDyrden]

One benefit German labour-system offers e.g. is "short-time work"... (simplified) Every German full-time worker is insured against loosing his job - meaning for some months after being fired, the state would cover most of his income, while the worker is searching for a new job - even supporting him/her with some training etc. if valuable. But - as there are always ups and downs in business there is this middle-thing "short-time work", where the business says - sorry - currently we don't have enough work to keep you busy and pay you... but we expect to go up again in few months. In that case - instead of laying off workforce - they contact the government-agency and can reduce the work of the person by 50% or even up to 100%, but keep him, while the job-insurance - instead of paying the full unemployment-rate covers part (up to 80%) of the employees income... so employer and labour-insurance split the costs - employee works less and gets most of his full income for a limited amount of time (few months). Now - when the economic situation improves again and business have enough work again, they can simply ramp-up the employees to full-time jobs ... have trained, relaxed workers back again day one they need them... That's one reason Germany recovers faster from a temporal downturn in economy.

[@MellonVegan]

10:10 Opening a business in Germany is a very long, arduous and terribly bureaucratic process.

[@David-lm2ht]

"I didn't know you guys made computers" Dear Ryan, the computer was invented in germany. The inventors name was 'Konrad Zuse' and he was born in the City of Hünfeld (also the city in which i went to school).

[@Silas-123]

I work at a McDonalds in Germany and I earn 12,3 € an hour (Age 16)

[@Humpelstilzchen]

To clarify since october 1st. 2022 the minimum wage in Germany is 12€/h

[@steffenbaden-baden1274]

Didn’t you find an older video? 😂

[@arieshausdorff3396]

Opening a SME in Germany might include more bureaucracy than in the USA. Also, with a smaller, and more homogenuous area, it is more difficult to find a place where you can set up shop and have your customers ready. You find almost every kind of company and service in less than half an hours drive, usually even more like 15 minutes distance. So setting up shop faces not only bureaucratic hurdles, but also stiff competition. As a result, you really need to be imaginative and that means doing something new. Like, really new. And when you come up with a crazy new scheme nobody ever did before... You may guess that this raises additional hurdles. Business plan based on a never-tried-before idea? Can you PROOVE it'll work? Thus, getting additional funding for a radical new business idea is harder, same as setting up the 15th clothing store in a row is not going to make the banks eager to give you a loan. Thus the statement that it's hard to start a new business in Germany as compared to starting a business in the USA. There, you usually just need to look at a map and check where the nearest comparable business is sufficiently far away and you're golden. And, yes, I know it's a lot more than that. It's just that is how people in Germany look at it and the reason so many germans complain about it being hard starting a new business in Germany as compared to the USA. That it's actualyl not that much different, all other things concerned... Who cares? Complaining is a German pastime! =)

[@MrHodoAstartes]

"small and medium-sized companies" doesn't mean someone's 1-guy plumbing business. It's 50-1000 employee ventures. Which in Germany would be high tech manufacturing of specialty goods. Stuff like Otto Bock, who make super advanced prosthetics. Heard of the C-Leg, which allows you to walk normally even when you lost both legs at the knee? That's them. My father works for a tiny company that produces rubber seals for car windows. They can apply the hot rubber directly onto the glass and make rubber do a lot of other difficult things. Each and every mold they use has been purpose-made by another small specialty company that precision-machines industrial molds. It's a tightly inter-woven net of highly specialized companies producing top shelf goods for each other with car manufacturers on top putting end products together. Which is why like a quarter of the German economy is tied up in cars in one way or another. And what isn't linked to car production and engineering still serves the industrial workforce in one way or another.

[@stevanjakovljevic8390]

That was 5 years a go .

[@theodorebagwell141]

If you compare the income of employees from two different definable areas, it is advisable to choose the median as a reference source rather than the average. This is especially true in countries like the USA, where the gap between rich and poor is very high and some of the super-rich are shifting the statistics significantly. The median income of full-time employees in Germany in 2021 was EUR 3,650 for men, while women earned a median of EUR 3,276. On average, the median is EUR 3,516 ($3,721) gross income per month. In comparison, the average (i.e. not median) income was EUR 4,100 ($4,339). So the average income is a bit higher, about 600 EUR, due to some super rich. No comparison to the States: The median income for the States in 2021 was $3,885 per month. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any information on how this is divided between the sexes. The large range between rich and poor is then also reflected in the clear difference between the median and the average income, which is $5,869 per month - around $2,000 more than the median. However, one should not always allow oneself to be dazzled by numbers, because as already mentioned in the video, taxes and the cost of living have a considerable influence on individual prosperity.

[@robfriedrich2822]

As far I know, in the USA they recorded TV shows for another use by filming a video monitor. In Germany they never made this. The TV stations were equipped with Ampex video machines. But East Germany recorded West German TV on film and West Germany the same with East German TV, so some 1960's shows exists on film, but only because the tape wasn't stored, maybe re used. It took in Germany about 10 years to establish color TV, in USA much longer, when we take the first transmissions as start point.

[@m.h.6470]

2:40: 10000 mi² per 1 MILLION inhabitants, not per inhabitant... So in fact it is ~0.01 mi² per inhabitant, or 278784 ft², which is still a lot, but includes forests and farms and rivers...

[@lonewolf_dx]

One big german fact only around 40 million of our Population work wich is half of our Population the other are workles kids or old persons

[@EddieReischl]

I was amused by the comment section. The sheer number of Germans that updated and corrected the German minimum wage tells you everything you need to know about how the German mind works.

[@speku87]

The "thing" you see at 14:00 is called a child, if your really try looking for one in your own house u might find one :)

[@Benman2785]

6:35 - read about "Silicon Saxony" - its the biggest area of european microelectronics

[@Hastemal89]

You have to do a Video about Carneval in Germany. in many Regions it is a big thing and part of the culture

[@zitronenwasser]

3:00 math is hard :) 3,531,837 divided by 325,000,000 ~= 0.01mi² you forgot the units

[@nonsensicalnonsense1035]

0.01, not 0.1

[@zitronenwasser]

@@nonsensicalnonsense1035 thanks, corrected, i can't calculate either it seems

[@nonsensicalnonsense1035]

Yeah it took me way too long to do the math in my head and I still double checked with a calculator xD

[@joergkirchberger3979]

less corruption, good concept of school and professional education. Anyone who has completed vocational training in a trade can now choose their employer. Social peace is the most important. We don't drop anyone who has lost their job. Even those who never go to work receive support that is sufficient for a simple life including an apartment. I did my first professional training in 1979, started my second professional training in 1983 and completed it in 1986. I've never been unemployed.

[@himmel-erdeundzuruck5682]

It might be useful if the USA had a third major political party. They could no longer block each other.

[@jancleve9635]

11:41 They just print it, I´ve heard you got a great deal on green ink.😉

[@melchiorvonsternberg844]

How these war costs have added up can hardly be recorded with these astronomical figures. So, I'd like to convert that into some more tangible numbers. The Vietnam War cost well over $200 billion up until 1973. the 2nd US-Iraq war, costing $1 billion a week, or more than $140 million a day. For such a sum, an old woman has to knit for a while...

[@johnp8131]

It's quite simple, one of these countries makes quality products, that don't fall to pieces and people worldwide want? The other products are American!

[@smoritz84]

The Hello Wip-IN is iconic, nobody does it like that

[@Arsenic71]

The question isn't where the money is coming from, it's where it's going. Let me give you just one example: EVERY SINGLE DAY the US spend over 2 billion US$ on the military. Over 2 BILLION PER DAY.

[@tobiasmu8598]

minimum wage is 12€/12.72USD since October 2022

[@hannahtavana]

Wow! 4 trillion dollars? People don’t understand how much that could’ve change their quality of life or they would’ve protested it all the way for the last 20 years.

[@dexhp5649]

Update: our Minimum wage in Germany ist since last year up to 12€ per hour. In the next few month our Gouvernement will rise the Minimum wage up to 12,50€ per hour

[@TheyCalledMeT]

not anymore, now where energy supply increased severely in cost .. it will flatten any growth

[@karlineschlenkerbein131]

I own a business with 2 owners and zero employees and most of my customers have less than 10 employees. And that is very typical of German businesses. 💰

[@himmel-erdeundzuruck5682]

I don't think that the ranking is ok. I deeply realize, that the whole thing depends on USD, and USD is indeed much overrated. If I compare by what you can buy, one USD should be about 0.8 Euro. But as for forex trading it's nearly 50% more. Then,you are right, it's about per capita (per person), not per Nation's name. Then, with the average income - in the USA there are several of the richest people of the world. Who are severely lifting up the average. Count the ten richest people out - what would be the average income of the rest of the population? with rating the USD to its purchasing power, not to forex trade? I don't think that our average lifestyle is below yours. Not when I watch all these culture comparing videos.

[@Techj3052]

Germany used to be the export nation no 1 (nowadays it's China of course)

[@Magicians1313]

2016 its quite long ago, but I like that you Ryan stumbled over the size comparison ... and where you stopped the video, on that map Alaska was not visible 😉

[@SjaakLulMaarRaak]

First of all, it's not GWP, but GDP. GWP is the GDP of all countries together. This is about two specific countries. The US and Germany. At first glance, with a working population of 158 million people, generating a combined $18 trillion, it seems like you generate more per capita than 45 million people generating $3.4 trillion. But there is more. Most Germans have somewhere between 20 and 30 paid holidays a year. Added to this are religious holidays such as Good Friday, Easter, Pentecost, Ascension, Christmas and Labour Day and the unification of Germany. This means, a German spends much less time at work than an American. So if a German worked as long as an American, things might be different. Besides, the GDP is a number in which everything is discounted. Ultimately, it is about what a state brings in in taxes to ensure good governance.

[@k.schmidt2740]

Doing better now - but that can change more easily than in the US, as the tax base of the US is at the very least three times as large as that of Germany. Fluctuation hits smaller countries faster in general.

[@khaledabodeeb1799]

te numbers you look at , at the end of the video they are also old germay gdp hit 4 tr as well and japan have alot of economical problems structural problems that they are not healing from anytime soon in fact they more likely to have disaster than groth so germany becomeing number 3 is mater of time i give it less than 10 years

[@himmel-erdeundzuruck5682]

opening a small business in Germany means a lot of paperwork and to meet a lot of requirements. Take a carpenter. To open up a carpentry in Germany, you need to have a master's degree in carpentry. Ok, it is not made in university, because it is a medieval perception of training. After 3 years of apprenticeship (in medieval days even 7 years), you become a "Geselle" (sort of bacchelor). But to run a business, you need to prove additional skills, absolve additional training, to become a master of your profession. You might also just employ a master. Same with a hairdresser. With a tailor. And so on. By such requirements to open up a business, we ensure the quality of our products. Where there is a simple job like opening up a small pub, there are lot of requirement to hygienic conditions to the kitchen. Sounds like cleaning, but it is about the conditions of the whole room and all stoves and furniture and stuff. You can't start a cafeteria just with Grandma's kitchen, no matter how clean she was. If you want to start out of nothing and without any master's degree, that really might be easier in the USA. For one of my teenage sons, I looked for the conditions to building computers like Steve Jobs did. You might do it in your garage, ok. You don't need a masters, ok. But - the requirements to ensure the safety of electrical products are very high. You'd to prove the electric security with every single model you create, every little change being a new model, and you need expensive certificates to prove that you are able and allowed to prove that electric security. I guess, with our conditions, Steve Jobs would have looked out for another job.

[@DJ1573]

Medieval perception? Bullshit, it is worth far more than a shitty bachelor or Masters degree. University is massively overrated for such professions. And you are talking about Bill Gates

[@himmel-erdeundzuruck5682]

@@DJ1573 Unsere Ausbildungsordnung stammt von den Zünften her - und ja, ich halte sie auch sehr hoch, bzw. gerade für alles handwerkliche ideal. Aber mir geht das Englisch aus, wenn ich versuche, das Zunftwesen oder den Unterschied von Meister und Master zu erklären. Ersteres schon deshalb, weil es in England keine Zünfte gibt, und zweiteres, weil im Englischen beides dasselbe ist. Es war schon schwer genug, das Grundkonzept zu erklären. Master ist ja ein Titel den sich in den USA kaum einer leisten kann, d.h. ein Master gilt dort mehr als bei uns, verdient Respekt und Anerkennung. Eigentlich habe ich versucht zu erklären, dass der Meister so weit über einem Gesellen ist wie der Master über dem Bacchelor. Und die Lehre, die es in den USA gibt, habe ich mit dem Bacchelor im Rang verglichen. Ich denke für einen Amerikaner müsste damit zumindest klar sein, dass wir an Firmengründer deutlich höhere Ansprüche haben als die USA. Um die Qualität zu sichern. Theoretisch kann in den USA jeder eine Schneiderei oder Zimmerei eröffnen, der das Geld dazu hat. Die Frage war ja: wie kann es sein,dass es in Deutschland schwieriger ist,sich selbständig zu machen. Eben weil wir Wert auf Qualifikation legen, während es den USA egal zu sein scheint.

[@himmel-erdeundzuruck5682]

@@DJ1573 Und nein, ich habe über Steve Jobs gesprochen. Bill Gates hat meines Wissens programmiert und nicht in seiner Garage Computer gebastelt, wie der Gründer von Apple. Kann natürlich sein, dass ich mit Bill Gates falsch liege, aber mit Steve Jobs habe ich sicherheitshalber gegoogelt. Trotzdem beides geniale Firmengründer aus dem Nichts heraus. Ich habe mir Steve Jobs rausgesucht, weil Programmierer (wie Gates) sich ohne Abschluss und Auflagen verselbständigen können, Computerbauer aber nicht. Mein Sohn hat sowas als Berufstraum, und er müsste erstens technisch zeichnen lernen und zweitens für 2600 Euro einen Kurs beim TÜV machen und drittens entweder volljährig sein oder eine Ausbildung vorweisen wie z.B. Fachinformatik -was bedeutet, er müsste mit 14 die Mittlere Reife haben, um vor 18 Computer zum Verkauf herstellen zu dürfen. Solche Auflagen hatte Steve Jobs nicht, der hat sich einfach in die Garage gesetzt und losgebastelt, und als es was wurde, hat er es verkauft. Bei uns hätte er das nicht gedurft. Es sei denn, Papa wäre Elektrikermeister und dürfte CE-Prüfungen abnehmen und würde die Firma auf seinen Namen laufen lassen. Ja, wir haben Hürden. Dafür kannst du sicher sein, dass dein frisch gekaufter Computer nicht in Flammen aufgeht wie gewisse Mobiltelefone vor ein paar Jahren.

[@kleinshui9082]

This video is outdated! Since Oktober 2022 minimum wage in Germany is 12€/h and many low income fields raised that by January 2023 to 12,50€ - 13,50€/h voluntarily! Right know exchange rate should be closely to 1€ : 1$.

[@johncolt3582]

"325.000.000 people with 3.531.837 square miles. That means every person should have 10.000 square miles." Spoken like a true American. Nope, every square mile should have 100 people.

[@pussyriot69]

2:50 actually every us citicen should own about 7 acres or 93 people share 1 square mile but only if every single inch of america was owned by the people so pretty terrible math right there but still great video

[@Atlessa]

2:20 I couldn't help but go and do the math, germany is indeed more effective per square mile than the US, by a factor of 5. Meaning for every square mile of landmass, we make 5 times as much money. ... I didn't expect it to be that much of a difference to be honest.

[@qubla2]

not to forget the good and paid training. Trainees in trade, industry and medium-sized companies are paid reasonable wages during their training. Schools and universities are well funded. In principle, anyone can achieve an excellent level of training here. motivation is everything Grüße aus Salzgitter, Deutschland

[@blondkatze3547]

Unfortunately it is true that corruption in the european parliament had taken place during the corona crisis, which is why the greek minister was dismissed , because she had embezzled money. Normal citizens have also come to court , because they had wrongly received corona money. And that`s right.

[@TheHyperplayer]

about the square miles... you have to take into consideration, that the population is given in millions... so... 3,521,837 / 325,000,000 which means that everyone would get 0.01 mi² to themselves which is a little less than 10000mi²

[@timefliesaway999]

0:39 funny bc that’s how I view the USA, except replace countries with states /nm

[@rosshart9514]

The vid you react to is disqualifying itself with the first sentences. You and we are brave to watch it to the end.

[@rbrendel1302]

What should be said, since the numbers for that were hidden behind generic expressions like "machinery" or "aircraft", for both economies a considerable amount of exports are weapons. So it's not just fast cars or nice planes that are the foundation for the wealth generated by exports - it's essentially war. No matter how peaceloving we germans tend to view ourselves 😉

[@robertheinrich2994]

funny thing: the british forced that every product sold there has a "made in XXX" logo. they wanted to paint german products as inferior and unreliable. this backfired hilariously as "made in germany" soon became a symbol of quality.

[@Ganjor420]

Jeez, I always forget how expensive those wars are for the USA… I get why people have such a big problem with taxes over there. I wouldn’t like to pay for that either.

[@errortrek2290]

A German KZbinr i like too include youre Clips in his Videos, hes called Malternativ. That was Really cool since i also watch you alot

[@hurensohngaming5026]

btw minimum wage has been updated to 12€

[@P8qzxnxfP85xZ2H3wDRV]

Not having the metric system plays a big role in why it's hard for the US to export many products.

[@iron_side5674]

In Germany it´s pretty much zero opportunity but instead hard work, since opening a buisness has quite a few conditions tied to it. At the same time, you can´t just start working somewhere if you don´t have the education or training for it. Seemingly, america is a lot more lax about this, therefore more opportunities. On the other hand, that means, anyone who has bad grades, for whatever reason, get´s left behind real fast. And then Stigmatized by society for receiving government support. There is also still a huge disconnect in classes and hate being stirred especially by classic media, between the middle class and the poor, which a lot of POliticians ignore or straight up deny the existence of. A clear case of, the grass always being greener on the other side, since all the middle class, that works their ass off, sees is the lower class getting money for doing nothing, and the lower class seeing the middle class having so much money, without seeing how hard they gotta work. While both are basically getting ignored, in case of the poor, and fleeced, in case of the middle class, by the government. That was a bit of a deep dive into german society :P

[@Cornu341]

and the richest people are earning their living in their sleep by getting an unfair share of the wealth generated by low and middle class workers. And also the income tax on purely financial incomes (not generated by your work) is capped at 25%. So I see a privileged class here. And they benefit it getting the politicians to divide the other people. So the same shitty deal for the average person as it always was for millenia.

[@max-dy3vs]

Internationally, it's also extremely easy to start a business on Germany, with very few barriers.

[@der_leel]

The current minimum wage is 12€ per hour ($12,72)

[@AGWittmann]

Try to check the ASML Hype, their Chip-"Printer" cant function without a very very important german produce made by Zeiss.

[@joshinils]

2:40 lol, not even close; by those numbers every person in the US gets an equal share of 0.01087 mi² or 302960 ft² or 6.955 acres or (more logically, of course) 0.02815 km² or 28146 m² or 2.815 hectares

[@Kiyuja]

Yes Germany produces microchips and processors since ages...just no high end stuff. But thats gonna change as Intel is building a new produciton facility in Germany to take advantage of local knowlegde and production capabilities. High chances are you are having a gyroscope sensor in your phone right now that was made in Germany. Also a huge amount of machinery used to make all high end hardware in nanometer precision like TSMC in Taiwan are from Germany. Plenty of big factories all over the world love that stuff

[@frizznmckrauser3187]

"That video is five years old"...actually its 7 years old....we are getting old

[@johanneskaiser8188]

After the last few years especially, I really feel for any country that has more corrupt politicians than Germany. I know there are many, just before getting interested in politics I had no frame of reference. Too many here are imo a laughing stock and others should frankly be in prison (looking at you, Andi Scheuer...).

[@steemlenn8797]

It's a strange feeling to be relieved that many of our politicians are so incompetent that they can't even manage to be thoroughly corrupt. 😉

[@johanneskaiser8188]

@@steemlenn8797 That, too. Most politicians are corrupt and most of those who aren't are just too inept even for that. 😁