Interesting article. There are a few other reasons why the comparison actually favours Europe:

• GDP is usually reported as aggregate, instead of per capita, meaning population growth is an important factor.
• The US is the world’s largest oil producer. A significant chunk of its GDP is simply pulled from the Earth.
• GDP is inflated due to the presence of paper headquarters of multinational corporations. (In Europe, this also skews the numbers for Ireland. For Europe as a whole, it skews the numbers in the US’ favour.)
• GDP (or the article’s rgdpo) still only estimate the market price of the output of goods (possibly corrected for purchasing power). The US spends more on health care, for worse outcomes. That’s part of the reason why quality-of-life metrices have the US tumbling down, typically to below 20th place globally.
• The gap further widens once you start taking into account the cost of climate change as effectively negative production.

So this is the data for those averagely leaving a single parent’s home, I wonder what the overall stats look like?

Some very good suggestions, and not just the already well-known stuff among mainstream audiences from most of the other comments.

I would personally cite Cocteau Twins over This Mortal Coil, not only did they predate them, but Treasure is also the better (and more influential) record in my opinion.

Therion has been quite explicit with its acknowledgment of Celtic Frost as a major influence (even taking the name) - though their records suffer from subpar production, and one could argue Therion was able to fulfill the ambition of Celtic Frost.

One shouldn’t mention no wave without mentioning Swans, who were massively influential to grunge, post-punk, post-rock and heavy music in general. The colossal Soundtracks for the Blind is their magnum opus.

Aside from Kraftwerk, the krautrock scene spawned several more highly influential groups, including Neu! (who invented the remix), CAN (cited as a major influence by Radiohead and many others) and Popul Vuh (pioneers of early ambient, electronic and “new age” music).

A few more suggestions not related to yours: Oddly enough Zappa hasn’t been mentioned yet in the comments (as of writing this comment), probably the most influential pop music artist of the 20th Century, though his music can be challenging at times and not all of his humour has aged very well. We’re Only In It For the Money is probably the best starting point.

Brian Eno - Apollo. Not Eno’s first ambient album, but probably his most accomplished one.

Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden. It’s hard to believe you are listening to what used to be a new wave band only a few years earlier if you play this record. It was so far ahead of its time their label dropped them amidst an acrimonious lawsuit.

Ulver has been cited as a major influence by modern electronic music artists (e.g., Carpenter Brut). Their output is extremely diverse and creatively shifts dramatically from album to album. I would recommend Perdition City as a starting point.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F#A#∞. Not coincidentally released shortly after Soundtracks for the Blind, a massive creative leap nonetheless and one of the defining post-rock records of the 1990s.

So is the AfD lawmaker.

That trust is lost in big parts.

…due to a barrage of malicious propaganda.

If people suffer

The standard of living in Germany is close to the highest it’s ever been.

Truthful education would have prevented the current situation.

How? An extremely tiny minority of the population has any semblance of education, it’s not realistic to expect to be able to educate the masses up to the standard required to steel oneself against an endless barrage of malicious propaganda.

Balanced is already giving an equal share to lies.

No, “balanced” means calling out lies for being lies - but the truth is still nuanced. You can’t hope to compete with simple propaganda slogans and oneliners through nuance and thoughtfulness.

You’re missing the point, and not comparing apples to apples (influencers are only a small segment of the ad market; public broadcasters do much more than report news).

Yes, those €8 billion could be spent more effectively from the perspective of tackling fascism by stooping down to their level and flooding the waves with propaganda against fascism. This is not the situation we should want.

As long as public media remain committed to (trying to) reporting in a balanced way - as they should! - it can never compete with fascist propaganda that is not afraid to willfully lie. It is the fascist propaganda that must be tackled at its root.

The “funding” comes from advertisement on social media, which is the dominant way people, especially those most likely to fall victim to propaganda, consume news. Sure, public media still exist, but they are far less relevant.

This isn’t about “alternatives,” it’s about a failure to adequately regulate. Imagine if Der Spiegel posts an anonymous article - without verifying the identity of the author - alleging that Jews are coming to enslave your children. Yet this situation is exactly what social media are currently like, and the kind of content that spreads on there like a cancer.

It’s tempting to find the good in other people, and if they vote for obvious racists, there must be something to it other than racism. And while people are not innately evil, the vast majority can be easily manipulated by the forces of evil weaponizing people’s lowest instincts. It is those forces that should be tackled at the root, instead of letting them run rampant and ineffectively trying to quench the fires they start.

Surely you can’t believe the current economic situation in Germany is worse than in the 1990s - especially in East Germany?

The reasons people vote for racist parties is well-understood, and it has nothing to do with “economic” issues. The big difference between the 1990s and today is that the media are nowadays flooded with racist propaganda, whereas back then the media landscape was still dominated by public media and intellectuals. People are not any more racist than they were back then, but people didn’t usually vote according to racist beliefs (aside from a handful of NPD voters) since public debate was dominated by non-racist issues. So it is precisely the opposite - economic issues have become less important to voters.

The way to defeat this surge of fascism is to start adequately regulating (social) media, for example by banning astroturfing and medical misinformation and holding those who host such content accountable.

In my experience, they work as engineers, engineers or engineers.

Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. Not a “nice” or “beautiful” tourist experience, obviously, but an extremely impressive one. I’m not a very emotional person, and have no personal link to the Holocaust, but one of the few times of my adult life I cried was when I visited the memorial site.

Sending it to “poor countries” (outside the EU) is more expensive than sending it to a local charity or just putting it on sale.

Productivity in any case craters after about 30 hours per week, but people like Merz don’t realize that since they haven’t actually worked in their lives.

I have a contract that allows for up to 50% work from home. I use 0%. I live 10 minutes from work, so the commute isn’t significant (and it gives me a reason for some light exercise). It’s easier to work with colleagues if you’re talking face-to-face, and I like to mentally separate being in a working mindset and a relaxation mindset, which is more difficult if my home is a workplace.

Depending on where you intend to retire and your intended expenses during retirement, anywhere from 0 to billions.

Everyone but Americans gets investigated. The US simply does not have the standards of accountability and governance of the likes of Norway, the UK, and Slovakia.

Sweden has the most unequal society of all Nordic countries. It’s not at the levels of France, Germany or the UK yet, but it has been trending in the wrong direction, and allowing brownshirts near the reins of power hasn’t helped either.

PhD in physics. Worked in academia for a while after that, but getting permanent positions is hard so I sold out and am now chilling in an engineering job.

Avoiding branded products should get you a long way, it’s mostly those that are regularly discounted.

Well, the difference is not that big. Actually, I’d probably save money in the Netherlands since I spend about €100 per month buying lunches at work and I’d probably take my lunch from home if I’d live there again.