[atoav]

The issues you see now in Germany are the direct consequence of the Merkel era conservative government and its austerity policy. They really wanted to get the deficit down at all cost. And all cost included any sort of needed maintenance on public infrastructure.

[talon8635]

I have zero knowledge on German politics. But I do wonder, if these same problems are plagues many (most) big cities (and even countries) in the west, including very liberal and high spending governments, how can we safely conclude it’s a conservative problem (or a liberal one)?

[throwaway27448]

How balanced the budget is isn't really a conservative vs liberal problem—that's more of an administration detail than an ideological distinction.

[atoav]

Well in this case it is a documented trail of defering needed maintenance with the argument of needing to safe money.

I did not argue that this is a outcome that can only happen to conservative governments. In fact I am convinced it is a fundamental problem of how politics work: you elect politicians to government for a limited period, so they often try to push off costs for which the ultimate prize will be paid to the next period, in which they may not be in government anymore.

But of course conservative governments tend to be more often part of that dynamic since austerity politics and conservatism often (although, not always) go hand in hand. Often the austerity has a smidgen of corruption as well, where government contracts that then need to be made (urgently! since maintenance was deferred!) often go to the politicians private friends. Free market for thee and not for me.

Another classic is to starve some working government/public institutions budget, only to then point at the mess and explain why this needs to privatized (coincidentally you know exactly the right guy to step in, what a surprise).

I am not saying that it is only conservative polticians that do that, but it tends to be a bit harder to do while e.g. demanding democratic socialist policy and strong public institutions.

[talon8635]

My state of California is crumbling from deferred maintenance in pretty much every realm—old houses, busted roads despite the gentlest weather, public schools with lead pipes, painfully loud rickety trains, public spaces converted into public dumping grounds and squatters quarters, empty reservoirs, power lines that fall and spark large fires many times every year, and on and on and on

[criddell]

While Germany and some other Western countries were going along with the IMF and their austerity policies, Japan just kept printing money. Where would you rather live today? (I've been to Japan (Tokyo) but never Germany, so I have no opinion)

It's going to be interesting to see the long term consequences of the choices different nations made along the way.

[mimischi]

Danke Merkel!

/s

[cineticdaffodil]

Wir schaffen das/s!