Monday, the Dutch PM said something that (very) many people (probably) believe as well: migrant integration has failed (eg, Volkskrant). In my view, not only in the Netherlands but also in Europe and in USA. Blaming Angela Merkel’s 2015 comment (“Wir schaffen das”) is relevant though too simple. The context of the PM’s remark is relevant: the Amsterdam soccer riots....
An American expert at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies claims that voting by "anti-democratic young generations" is a reason for Trump's 2024 victory. See his recent comment on Dutch BNR Newsradio. In my view, "anti-democratic young voters" is a rather silly and even a contradicting concept. As a child (1960), my parents once explained that it was common that...
"Ignorance is bliss", according to an 18th-century poem by Thomas Gray. Listening to ignorance can be quite funny, unlike arrogance. Hence, I wonder if the ignorance of the conservative-right has beaten the arrogance of the liberal-left on November 5. To some extent, the same is happening in Europe. The arrogance of the liberal-left manifests itself in topics like...
The average Dutch house in 2024 Q2 has a price of Euro 468,000 (NOS), while the average annual Dutch salary is "only" Euro 44,500 (Manpower). Hence, an average house will cost you about 10.5x of your average annual salary. That 2024 multiplier of 10.5x was about 5x when I bought my house in 1994. The doubling of that Dutch multiplier - or the home price-to-income...
Last Saturday, a blog title entered my mind: mission accomplished. That feeling resulted from my 3-week trip to Italy, which ended last Friday. Actually, several blog titles have passed my mind during my trip but those only made it to my list of potential topics. This one feels different. On 1 May 2003, the (then) US President made a televised speech on an aircraft...
Op 22 maart plaatste het Financieele Dagblad dit artikel: “Postbezorgers krijgen loonsverhoging van 19% over de komende twee jaar”. Dit artikel maakt een onderwerp actueel dat al behoorlijk lang op mijn lijst stond: gaan we wel van aanbod-gedreven naar een vraag-gedreven inflatie?? Inflatie wordt bijna altijd veroorzaakt door een (sterk) gestegen vraag bij een...
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