The only 'interesting new phenomenon' [1] here—and it's neither very interesting nor very new—is that American media sites now put "Silicon Valley" in every title they can. This is the dumbest example I've seen yet: it literally conses "Silicon Valley" onto article body just to get away with putting it in the title.<p>Apparently it's one baity supplement that hasn't stopped working yet. Probably we should write some code to penalize such submissions a la 'one weird trick' etc.<p>1. <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html</a>
German here. Whow, what an uninformed and misleading article.<p>The FDP remains irrelevant and its "politicians" are mostly show-offs nowadays (a trend that started with the ineffable Guido Westerwelle) and some were outright criminal or supportive of white-collar crimes (see the Flick affair for details). The times of the old FDP, with old-style liberals - not "liberal" economists like today - such as Gerhart Baum (who still posts constitutional challenges at the age of 85!) is long gone.<p>There are also a number of factual errors. For example, the minimum vacation time guaranteed by law is only four weeks, though the average is quite a bit higher. The situation regarding the selection of students is also far more complex than described (speaking as a CE professor coming from a working-class family, I know what I'm talking about).<p>If you are visiting Germany, try the Ruhr area - e.g., Duisburg-Marxloh, Dortmund-Nordstadt - or any of the small deserted villages in the eastern states and maybe Berlin Kottbusser Tor for some glimpses of a different German reality - poverty, crime, drugs and xenophobia. Munich has the highest cost of living of all German cities, though far cheaper than SFO and Silicon Valley, and is hardly representative.<p>And don't get me started on these neo-nazi assholes who are in the Bundestag now. Horrible. A well-known saying in some academic circles is "It's a great time to emigrate from Germany - but where to?". That might sum up the current situation here quite well...
I suggest anyone who hasn't already visited add Germany to their future itineraries. Did a 2-week trip there almost exactly a year ago and it was quite eye-opening, everything from being able to bike anywhere in Munich, to seeing how well everything is maintained, to how courteous (and active) the people are, and even visiting a concentration camp to get a sense that even a good people can fall into depravity (which Germans are keenly aware of). (I went to Munich and Berlin and a few other beautiful cities like Heidelberg. All were incredible.) And everyone under the age of about 55 or so speaks fluent English! (but German is kinda fun, if you're inclined to pick up some)<p>Also, having some Leberkäse on a pretzel roll with a bit of mustard and a German beer while outside watching people pass by on the town square on a sunny 72 degree (sorry, "22 Grad") day, is just about the most satisfying lunch I've ever had in my life.
> Sure, they favor high-quality consumer goods—but they deliberate on what to buy for years, and expect their possessions to last for decades.<p>This. The US was similar in this aspect until major retail manufacturers started outsourcing everything to China. I remember reading elsewhere on HN a while back, how Sears Washing Machines, Refridgerators and other house hold appliances would last for decades, then, somewhere along the 70s or 80s, they (and several other major home appliance retailers) switched to manufacturing in China on the cheap and did away with repairing stuff. That just forces you to toss your old appliance and buy a new one every 7 to 10 years when they fall apart.
"are notoriously reclusive—perhaps because extreme wealth is considered tacky."<p>No, Europeans have a great disdain and entrenched negative view of wealth.<p>(Edit: admittedly, most 'nouveau riche' North Americans are fairly tacky in their expenditures. Some spectacularly so. I do actually find it borderline offensive, some of the Instagram rubbish. Being 'showy' with wealth is a sure sign of lack of real nobility)<p>In Europe, people's instincts are 'zero sum game' - someone has wealth because they must have 'taken' it, or one of their ancestors had.<p>In America it's a little more 1+1=3, even though that's often on the case. Particularly in the valley. Bing Gordon had some funny things to say about that - even American East Coast culture (i.e. banking) is very much zero sum.<p>The Valley, despite it's shades of narcissism is also very social in some ways. Think of open source. It's a hugely important concept. And it's very much 1+1=3, I think. And yet, immensely wealthy Google and others still treats 'any non essential staff' with low pay, like a 'lower caste'. (I find sometimes we think our 'free software' contributions are 'noble and virtuous' and then we forget that it's our actual actions in life that matter as well...)<p>I like German culture - and yes, it's communitarian, but also very classist. The state decides who goes to uni and not by the time you're a young teen - and it's kids of well off parents. Uni is 'free' but they send fewer kids there.<p>In Austria - it used to be up until actually quite recently that a CEO who ran his business into the ground could face jail time, not kidding. 'Failure' is something that stuck with your identity forever. 'Failed business' = 'you're finished'. I don't think Germanic culture has yet figured out the art of embracing failure. The 'math' on failure is hard when invariably investors lose money.
Germany is successful because it kept its manufacturing jobs through the collaboration of capital and trade unions: the capitalists kept the factories in Germany, and the unions accepted wage restrictions [1][2] to stay internationally competitive. This is quite unlike SV capitalism, but neither does it look like the opposite, which would be socialism. The best description of it is corporatism.<p>Of course, this also means that the benefits of Germany's roaring performance in international trade have trouble reaching regular Germans.<p>As for happiness, the recent election results do not look like the choice of a population which is content with the current course.<p>[1]: <a href="https://www.socialeurope.eu/was-german-wage-undercutting-deliberate" rel="nofollow">https://www.socialeurope.eu/was-german-wage-undercutting-del...</a><p>[2]: <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/a-share-of-future-profits-german-employees-exchange-wage-cuts-for-equity-a-640304.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/a-share-of-futu...</a>
German here, not happy (overall). /s<p>I think the article misses the main point. Lindner's FDP might have gotten better results than in past elections, but it's not that most other people decry them for their "startup values".<p>The more common thing is this age-old quip of lumping the conservatives (color: black) and the liberals (color: yellow) together (as they reigned when Kohl was Chancellor) - as "Schwarz-Geld" (Which is a pun on Schwarz-Gelb, i.e. black-yellow)<p>So yes, my personal standpoint as a well-off software developer is: I can't in good conscience vote for the FDP until my salary improves by like 50% - then I'd see myself in their voters market. (e.g. tax cuts for buying a house, etc.)<p>There's always been a tiny part of the FDP advocating most of the stuff that the CCC also stands for, i.e. freedom of information, privacy, digital, etc.pp - but it's really miniscule imho.<p>So much for my monthly FDP bashing - because it's the party I'd love to like, but just can't.
They don't mention about one very big drawback of Germany, one that will never allow it to raise the next Silicon Valley: dislike of immigrants and foreigners. It's not visible on surface, and looks pretty meritocratic, especially when CEO lunches with you in common canteen, but once you work a little in upper-middle class with intellectual workers, you will start noticing that inside they don't accept anyone foreign. Also, too much pride for their language adds even more barrier for accent-speakers.<p>In contrast, Silicon Valley is probably the most immigrant-friendly place I've ever seen. There can be no German Sundar Pichai, nor Sergey Brin, nor Satya Nadella, nor Shantanu Narayen. So I'm quite skeptical to those "Berlin is the new SV" posts that pop up on HN every month or so.
Was in Germany & Austria - for the first time, over the summer.<p>Wonderful, and highly recommend Europe to visit. I think I'm permanently done with the Caribbean.
Germany has strong unions and a corporate structure known as codetermination in all large businesses that helps balance the power between capital and labor. Those two qualities, along with a monetary union that they dominate are the causes of their prosperity, not some phony value difference.