[davidcalloway]

So many assumptions here that it's hard to know where to start. The fact that I prefer a mindset which prioritizes time with friends and family is extrapolated into a caricature of me as a freeloader. It's a bit of a stretch.

On that note, you seem to be saying that immigration is a form of freeloading in general. But the expense of my upbringing all happened in America, and I basically arrived ready to contribute right away in Germany. And I've paid plenty of taxes along the way.

At the end you make wild assumptions about my political support for which you have no evidence. I'm aware that Germany faces serious issues surrounding immigration, but I didn't think rhetoric which paints the current picture as a catastrophe and inevitable decline into chaos is very helpful.

There are so many other points... It's hard to know what set you off by my mere remark that the author is largely correct in his observations and I prefer living in a country that values free time as well as work!

[mnky9800n]

Perhaps they just feel like arguing

[hoseyor]

I’m a bit disappointed that you resorted to deflection. You’re being defensive. It implies to me that you really know what I’m talking about and your subconscious is trying to ward it off.

Reality simply is that freeloading is a condition, not something you need to take personal. If you are equally benefiting from things you did not contribute to at the same total cost as those previously invested, then you are freeloading.

Should you be able to buy Bitcoin today at the original offering price? Should you have equal control as heirs of a company you did not build?

I fail to see why you and seemingly a few other people find that challenging to understand. If you pay the same price to, e.g., ride the “cheap and effective” public transportation in Europe that Europeans have been taxed hundreds of millions in capital costs over several decades to build up, how is that not freeloading?

Sure, you can’t even not freeload if you wanted to by paying higher prices and the real issue are the abusive and toxic governments in Europe in my example, but explain to me how a little old lady that gets €1000/month in pension after a life of turning Europe into what it was until recently, being taxed 40% all get life should pay the same price for a rail ticket as an American making double the European salary and paying around 25% taxes?

These are not challenging concepts. It’s a bit disheartening that presumably technical/dev type people do not understand basic systems.