Well, sure. They’re very frugal and disciplined, but they also give up a lot of freedom. No one mentions that not everyone can get into the “free” university system. Germans will decide that FOR each other at the age of 12. Either you’re college material or your’e not — and once you miss that boat, you can’t get back on. By age 12, you’d better have it all together or your’e doomed to working as a machinist at the BMW factory.
They can also thank Americans for providing their defense for the past 50 years. That saves a LOT of dough for them!
We lived in Germany for six years. Yes, they are very disciplined, and we can learn a lot from them. But a lot of their lifestyle really sort of depressed me. They sit around in the dark a lot, and the reason the wife can only work part time is that there are not a lot of conveniences. She’s got to get up at 8 a.m. and fight her battles at the stores because they’ll be closed by noon. There’s not a lot of fun in that lifestyle. I don’t know. It has its charms, but after three years, I was always SCREAMING ready to get back to the good old USA.
I only did one tour of 3 years in the FRG (1978-81) but I can totally identify with this statement. My wife only lasted 18 months before she was ready for a trip back to the land of the round door knobs. I was TDY so she flew back to the states for Thanksgiving and Christmas 1979 with her family. Our son was born over there in October 1980...draw your own conclusions :-).
I'd love to go back for a visit.