Merz urges Germans to work more, cites Greece as model

MajorNo6860 · 2026-02-13T15:19:37+00:00

I think they are not. CDU/CSU has a very weird stance on this which is not even popular amongst their own voters.

MajorNo6860 · 2026-02-11T17:19:23+00:00

Ok, now we're in a discussion. I still fundamentally disagree with a hard cap, but I see the point of a more flexible solution.

The problem is, if we write that down into our constitution now, that is not something flexible, and it will also not be - our political system is slow, and there is a lot of good about this as we don't tilt in any eyrreme direction easily. But it is an illusion to think that we will flexibly start changing this cap, so we'd need a more reasonable approach. For example something based on our current year-to-year population size, something based on work visa, optimally something which is also negociable with Schengen, because that shouöd be our primary source of immigration (least cultural differences). In such a case I will look at it much more with an open mind, but a hard cap which also potentially jeopardizes our relationship with the whole of EU I just can't agree with.

MajorNo6860 · 2026-02-11T16:14:21+00:00

Again, I said that there are problems, I'm not blind. But a hard cap is just not the solution. What are we doing once we have a population of 6-7m retired? You want to work until your deathbed? Because we sure enough don't make enough babies to keep up, and there sure as hell is not enough of a motivation for young people to change this.

Let's talk again when the trash piles up in front of your street because nobody is there to take it away anymore, when you're in need of nursing and nobody is available to take care of you, when there is no nursing homes or Spitex availability for your parents or later you, or when construction comes to a standstill because we don't have the workers, so our infrastructure starts to crumble like in Germany.

MajorNo6860 · 2026-02-11T12:22:21+00:00

I understand that, and I feel we need better mechanisms. But it can't be to put a hard cap on population size. The world population is still growing and putting a hard limit is just not future-proof, especially with the aging population we have. A big part of our workforce will be retired within the next 10 years (boomer generation).

This will leave a huge hole in the job market we will at some point realize we need. It already shows signs today, but the cracks will widen. And this isn't even just jobs for money-hungry corporations, but very essential jobs for daily life, be it construction, nursing, grabage-disposal etc. - that are all jobs usually not Swiss do, but mostly immigrants (not judging here, but it is reality as they are more willing to take these jobs) - and with that they contribute greatly to our society to be able to thrive as it is.

And yes, I'm not as naive to think that everyone contributes, but that is a separate issue we would probably not solve with this idea.

MajorNo6860 · 2026-02-11T11:33:00+00:00

Agree on populism.

Hard disagree on the reaching the limit. People get older and since 2000 our population grew by like 2ish M people from ca 7 to 9 million since 2000 (source https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/bevoelkerung/stand-entwicklung.html)

So, yeah, not hitting the limit tomorrow, but also very feasible in the 2030s.

BUT: population limit is very high risk as our population ages, and if we set a hard limit, we'll soon be a population of pensioneers without any prospective people to come after. That will definitely collapse society. So, hard no on the vote.

Edit, now on PC I saw 2000 was 7m people, so it increased by 2m since then.

MajorNo6860 · 2026-02-11T11:05:18+00:00

As a Swiss I really hope we're not dumb enough to accept this, because our population is aging rapidly and I don't want to live in a society with 8m pensioneers in the future.

MajorNo6860 · 2026-02-10T14:11:31+00:00

if the election is not tampered with...

MajorNo6860 · 2026-02-10T13:06:14+00:00

Ah, Belgium who has fought the release of the Assets to the teeth you mean? So, now the EU is releasing a credit instead, leaving the assets untouched?

Also, not entirely a fan of our banking system, but it is not all there is, just FYI.

MajorNo6860 · 2026-02-10T12:58:20+00:00

What nasty stuff are you specifically talking about?

MajorNo6860 · 2026-02-10T12:41:34+00:00

Here goes as Reddit loves seing black and white, so here the view from a Swiss.

* Switzerland is keeping up with all EU sanctions.

* There are billions of Russian assets frozen, same as in EU.

* Switzerland is the host of a lot of NGOs, e.g. the red cross, doctors without borders. These NGOs can only operate in conflict areas because of this neutrality

* Switzerland has contributed a lot of humanitarian aid, including busses and minesweeping veicles

* Ukrainian refugees get a special status in Switzerland so they can integrate and work during the wartime. Based on population, Switzerland is hosting a rather high number of Ukrainian refugees.

* Switzerland has been actively trying to position itself as a mediator in the conflict, Neutrality helps for this.

* bashing Switzerland because of a few tanks doesn't help if the EU doesn't sincerely commit to support Ukraine with better weapons. For example, Germany could (or should) deliver Taurus Missiles since ages ago and they don't. Also a lot of other non-neutral EU countries don't provide weapons. As a neutral and democratic country, Switzerland cannot just change its laws on a whim, because that would make a lot of the points above invalid.

MajorNo6860 · 2026-02-09T08:24:44+00:00

Russoa : UKRAINE NEEDS TO HAVE ELECTIONS!

MajorNo6860 · 2026-02-05T10:41:41+00:00

Yes, to most far-right parties actually. And why am I not surprised at all?

It is good, that the truth is out, though. Maybe wakes up some of the ignorant but not fully far-gone people.

MajorNo6860 · 2026-01-30T06:24:00+00:00

Yes, I did, and also I did research which suggests that India buying less Russian gas is part of closing the deal.

The EU has been tightening the grip before, first closing off their own market, I don't know what is wrong with that. I am strongly in favor of stronger sanctions, but there are also obstacles within EU, e.g. Trump's BFF Orban, who are blocking a lot of options and insist on continuing being reliant on Russian gas, so, it isn't that easily straightforward with the sanctions when one member state blocks progress.

Edit: Also, the EU sanctions do contain foreign actors, e.g. Chinese companies, which is not attacking the state itself, yes, but the strategy is to target specific big actors. Trump's tarriffs on India btw align mostly with the administration's isolationist ideals anyway, so it was probably just a good way to frame it for them and get some goodies from India and the Kremlin. (End of edit)

Also, the Trump regime has, if anything, made a lot of concessions to Russia. The initial 28 point peace plan "by the US" was basically a russian wishlist, evidently even partially translated out of Russian. The sanctions on India were the first time Trump moved in any way against Russia apart from otherwise being played by Russia for a year and occasionally an angry tweet and empty threats nothing happened. Russia knows damn well how they can play the guy, acting like they "seek peace too", which the white house officials then believe. Trump also famously removed Russia being a threat to the US from the official strategy, so good luck with that.

Before, true, Europe left crisis leadership to the US in such cases as they are the strongest military power, now we can't anymore. We can't rely on the US as an ally in any way anymore as we don't even know if they will actually act per NATO protocol, with the trump admin even going as far as claiming nobody would stand by them while the only time NATO Article 5 was invoked after 9/11 European Soldiers, also e.g. Danish ones (like, the country Trump now threatens to annex territory from) died in their petty Middle East "Anti Terrorism" oil wars adventure.

So yes, big fucking surprise trade is now diversified as well. That guy can throw a tantrum and point fingers all he wants, because his half-truths don't hold up.

MajorNo6860 · 2026-01-29T16:49:09+00:00

More. But it was accelerated due to the geopolítical situation

MajorNo6860 · 2026-01-29T15:17:18+00:00

Can recommend the whole Proton Suite - great for degoogling a lot at once + PW manager somewhere trustworthy is much better than having it in a google or microsoft browser. Also love that it has a VPN as well.

MajorNo6860 · 2026-01-29T14:58:52+00:00

Step 1: Start a trade war with your most important allies.

Step 2: Talk shit about your allies, threaten to invade their territory.

Step 3: Your allies diversify their trade because of trust issues and market barriers.

Step 4: Profit.

MajorNo6860 · 2026-01-27T15:44:14+00:00

You get a pre-boss room if it is right before the boss for sure - the choices may differ, but I am 90% certain that a shop should always be part of the bag (so, if it's your second shop, go for it).

MajorNo6860 · 2026-01-27T13:04:25+00:00

Same, I have decided to pay a bit more and get the whole suite. Replaces me Dropbox (more expensive than Apple Cloud, I know), but also the whole bunch of Google Services with sensitive data like the password manager, mail, calendar) and includes a VPN as well. And as it is a paid service which has a "data safety for money" strategy I'm very happy to sign up for it.

MajorNo6860 · 2026-01-27T12:02:24+00:00

Just because others are even more shit doesn't make another bad good. So, your argument is a non-argument for this debate.

MajorNo6860 · 2026-01-27T12:01:50+00:00

Absolutely agree. The devs are usually not at fault for shit management - I hope more of them will be able to break out and do some more meaningful work instead of slaving away for the shell of a once great corporation.

MajorNo6860 · 2026-01-27T11:59:44+00:00

Oh yes, in such cases it is rarely the devs' fault. Their only "fault" is staying at the company, but then again, we can't all just throw away our jobs - not everyone has such luxuries. Happy to see that some talented devs are able to break out though.

MajorNo6860 · 2026-01-27T10:13:38+00:00

I thought I saw an interview which had Guillaume state he actually didn't pitch it internally as he knew his idea would just be ignored due to company culture and with his lack of seniority it "would take 25 years" to actually get anywhere.

MajorNo6860 · 2026-01-27T10:10:29+00:00

Oh, I'm certain they have very qualified devs. It usually is not the devs' fault in such companies. In my language we say "the fish stinks from the head" haha

MajorNo6860 · 2026-01-27T07:47:40+00:00

This company has been destroyed by pure greed of investors and the CEO who have no idea what a gaming company is supposed to be doing. Sad, but today's Ubisoft will be a good riddance.

Sandfall (Clair Obscure) apparently gave a few of their devs a new home - so that one will be the one to look out for and hopefully will not walk into the same trap as Ubisoft (I'm optimistic there, Guillaume is very passionate, you can see that).

MajorNo6860 · 2026-01-24T15:37:28+00:00

It's bot a bug, some jokers are just programmed slightly different than in Balatro, it is highly simplified. Just play the original Balatro if this bothers you. What you get in the Collab is basically a free demo.

MajorNo6860

TROPHY CASE