Comments by "Christian Baune" (@programaths) on "Hoog" channel.

  1. 5:25 I remember vividly that in the '90, the teacher would remind us many time to not even look through the windows, because we could be photographed then kidnapped...It was in Belgium and pedophilia was really organized. Also, through the years, taxes increased a lot and inflation kicked in, pushing people to buy properties, even if they need to male a loan, because the big interests were still lower than the inflation. So, getting is debts was and is still cheaper than keeping money on an account (or spending it on daily goods). Taxes are huge in Belgium, even forcing celebrities to fly out of the country. That means that even if you get few hundred € more of gross, it can translates into pennies. So, it doesn't incentivize being rich. On the contrary, you want to be at the end of the tax bracket you landed. Ours school, even if we score well on PISA, are in bad condition, lacking means and a lot of teacher defect because they can't endure anymore. We have a "good" score on PISA, because other countries managed to do worse... On top of that, Brussels bureaucracy is 10 times bigger than NY while there are roughly 10 times more people in NY, so a factor of 100 per head! Europe is not really a success either. As for welfare, once you secured a job, the state will do everything to keep you employed even if you are crushing your soul. Workers are what allow to spend money freely for the state. It's anecdotal, but had very hard time at work with some psychological damages that turned physical (tiredness and anxiety). I contacted the employment office, because they have a program for job conversation and with extra help if it's to enter a job in penury. Because I was marked as active, the only reply I got is a list of all "punishment" I can have if I quit my job. (i.e. I didn't qualify for job change). Yet, I already paid the equivalent of many net salaries in social taxes. It's a system which creates social classes and make people captive of them. Another consequence is that people usually don't give to charities and most can't even name a few of them. They are already giving around one quarter of their salary in social taxes, more than what American give to charities. And for each employee, the boss also have to pay social taxes. (When an employer want to hire, he has to have at least 3 times the new hire salary for that to be feasible). So, if you take this into consideration, everything is really expansive, from school to healthcare. It also create great imbalances. As an example, when you are unemployed for a few years, you get the BIM/Omnio status, this means that dental (among other things), is free of charge! When you earn a salary, dental can cost you between 500 and 2k... Thing is that Belgium welfare became an hammock for those who know which string to pull. And in the latest news, Brussels is trying to acquire housings. They asked to be able to preempt houses (So, if you conclude a selling act, Brussels can dismiss the buyer and buy at the same conditions and the seller can't retract) and they also made a program where you can buy houses a bit cheaper, but then it goes back to Brussels once you die. Any clues why they want to own housing so badly ? Because that's how you can get more money from people! Need more income, increase rents! The good side is that the taxes may actually decrease while rent price go up, which will hugely benefit those who were smart enough to buy! It's also possible that Brussels raise property taxes enough that they can repossess houses. That, we can't know, but it's a possibility.
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