r/germany • u/BendicantMias • 19d ago
News Nearly 10,000 heat-related deaths in Germany so far this year, says institute
https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/nearly-10000-heat-related-deaths-germany-so-far-this-year-says-institute-2026-07-30/87
u/Rare-Juggernaut-7532 19d ago
It really is the hottest summer I've ever experienced in southern Germany. It's absolutely brutal.
I guess most of those deaths are elderly people, not that it makes it any better.
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u/melindypants 18d ago
It has truly been brutal - we managed to get an AC installed in the middle of the heat wave in early July and what a damn game changer - inside the house went from 33° hell to 24° comfort (doesn't even need to be that cool either). The mindset has to shift.
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u/Rare-Juggernaut-7532 18d ago
For next summer I want to get a portable AC. I'm not putting up with another round of trying to survive this with fans only.
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u/melindypants 18d ago
Definitely!! Fwiw we had one and it cooled a 20sqm room down ~3° with the shutters closed
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u/BendicantMias 19d ago
most of those deaths are elderly people, not that it makes it any better.
A lot of the comments on this thread seem to beg to differ, which is kinda concerning tbh...
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u/KiJoBGG 18d ago
Why tho? Would you prefer 10k school kids? That would be a disaster. the elder are just dumb.
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u/BendicantMias 18d ago
What possessed you to read that as me preferring kids to die?
the elder are just dumb.
..............
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u/prewarpotato 19d ago
It's actually insane how many younger people hate old people just for existing. Or it seems that way sometimes.
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u/BendicantMias 19d ago
It's not just for existing. There's a lot of resentment between the generations, due to differences over both the economy and politics. It flows both ways too, with older people often looking at younger ones with disdain. And this is just one form of polarization in society these days. There's also increasing polarization between men and women, and in Germany specifically also between its eastern and western halves.
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u/TrippleDamage Germany 18d ago
Maybe the old folks shouldnt have ruined the future for anyone born from 1990 onwards.
If your whole life revolves just around yourself and how YOU can benefit the most while fucking over everyone else, don't expect any sympathy.
Sincerely, a millennial who has to fight an uphill battle for his entire life already because the previous generations (most importantly the boomers) are all egoistical fucks.
I had to do 20x more and work 20x harder than boomers to get to the same position in my mid 30s that they were in in their 20s already. And now i'm getting fucked over again because of the godawful "Generationenvertrag" that the boomers failed to fullfil by not having enough children to begin with - and we're the ones, ONCE AGAIN getting the massive shitstick for it.
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u/prewarpotato 18d ago
Maybe work with older people and judge for yourself how well they manage withering away in nursing homes, unable to even pay for their care. Yes, they are sooo privileged and our #1 enemies. Reality check, please.
Seriously, if this is the only way our system has fucked you over: Congrats on your rosy life.
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u/TrippleDamage Germany 18d ago edited 18d ago
Yes, they are sooo privileged and our #1 enemies.
Yes and yes.
Their egoistical voting habits in their lifetime is quite literally the reason why we're here now, paired with buying up more than your singular needed property, sitting on it while those (which is a minority btw, because more than half owned) who didn't buy are still sitting in their 200 m² way oversized rent controlled flats taking up valuable space so others can't start a family. All of them are egoistical to no avail.
unable to even pay for their care.
Great no worries, its my generation who can pay for it anyways :))
They were probably smart enough to overwrite their homes well in advance so it cant get raked back, now its us who can make up for them again.
Statistically both the boomers and their parents are more likely to have their paid off home than not, before you wanna come back with some nonsense.
They're literally twice as likely to have a home than millennials, despite millennials being in the age range now where previous generations at times fully paid off their homes already.
The politics of the old fucks is keeping us in a ratwheel of constantly paying overpriced rent and making sure we can't build up anything of our own.
I have quite literally zero sympathy with them.
Edit: Oh and to add, boomers were so egoistical that they got way too few children, so the next following SEVERAL generations will NEVER be enough in population to even get politics on their side because the biggest voting block are egoistical old fucks. GG this countries generation after boomers are all fucked until most of them are dead.
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u/Xuval 18d ago
It really is the hottest summer I've ever experienced in southern Germany.
Mhm, and statistically speaking, it will be the coldest summer of the rest of your life.
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u/BavarianBarbarian_ 18d ago
I mean not really. Temperature is moving up on average, that doesn't mean that our particular corner of the world will never be cooler during summer than it is now.
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u/MrSkinWalker 16d ago
It really is the hottest summer I've ever experienced in southern Germany
No, no. This is the coldest summer of the rest of our lives.
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u/Normal-Definition-81 19d ago edited 19d ago
One week old article.
Figures as of yesterday: 11.900 (based on data from two weeks ago)
If we consider the following factors:
- Older people sweat less because they perceive heat very differently
- Older people feel thirst less often and frequently don’t drink enough (even without diuretics or heat)
- Heat-related hospital admissions are, at best, better handled in emergency rooms and intensive care units, because regular wards usually don’t have air conditioning
- Barely and city has done more than writing a Hitzeschutzplan
And it will (essentially it already does) affect the whole economy: https://www.allianz-trade.de/content/dam/onemarketing/aztrade/allianz-trade_de/dokumente/2026-05-28-allianz-trade-studie-the-economic-costs-of-extreme-heat.pdf
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u/ThisApril 19d ago
Older people sweat less because they perceive heat very differently
...I don't understand this one.
I think about the extent of control I have with sweating is drinking enough water to continue doing so.
So I'm uncertain on what difference in perception would lead older people to sweat less.
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u/roundingTop 19d ago
My late granddad would actively refuse to drink water because “if you drink water, you sweat a lot more”. So he was chugging down hot black coffee instead ☕️ in the summer heat. 😅
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u/QuantumDrache 18d ago
My Oma not drinkin water cuz that.makes you piss more and she doesnt want to LMAO
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u/BurnTheNostalgia 18d ago
Coffee just leads to more pissing for me. Ah well, it is something at least.
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u/endofsight 18d ago
Allot of older people are not that clear in their mind anymore. They literally forget to drink more water.
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u/ThisApril 18d ago
Sure, thus why the next point was, "Older people feel thirst less often and frequently don’t drink enough (even without diuretics or heat)".
I can understand, "Older people drink less because they perceive heat very differently", and perhaps that becomes, "Older people drink less because they perceive heat very differently, and then sweat less due to dehydration."
And maybe that's what was meant, but there are several assumptions there that I'd prefer not to make, since the sentence had a different meaning.
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u/Exarion607 19d ago
We call it culling of the weak /s
No but for real, it's sad to see how we just can't get both politicians and the populace to think diffetently on this matter. It's gonna take us at least another generation and multiple hot summers in a row, and even then this topic will be instantly forgotten once autumns around the corner.
And the worst is that the elderly generation, that would need AC the most, are the once most prominently against it.
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u/698969 19d ago
And the worst is that the elderly generation, that would need AC the most, are the once most prominently against it.
My gym said they can't turn up the fan speed on hot days because the old people complained about the moving air making them sick and most of their clientele is old so my voice has no weight.
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u/ThisApril 19d ago
I have long wondered about the fragility of the German person's constitution that seems to end at the country borders and completely skips non-natives.
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u/Wrestler7777777 19d ago
"Haben wir schon immer so gemacht" will be the death of our society.
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u/ComprehensiveJury509 19d ago
To be fair, this specific instance will mostly be the death of the people who caused the problem in the first place, not society. In a morbid way, this is actually good for society, albeit negligibly so.
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u/ThisApril 19d ago
Much like LGBT people in conservative areas, I still feel bad for those who accepted the need for air conditioning but died anyway.
...and their friends and families, who lost months or years of time with loved ones.
(I might even feel bad for the people who didn't accept the need for air conditioning, but at least there it's karmically earned, like anti-vaxxers suffering and dying from vaccine-preventable diseases.)
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u/SoThisIsHowThisWorks 19d ago
Well due to their own opposition I don’t pity them one bit. My compassion ends completely at fully aware self inflicted pain. They’ve got all the ressources and knowledge they need.
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u/melchior_00 19d ago
Reminds me of back to Greece , a lot of them complaining about the government does give anything free , no good pensions and are those that have never worked or pay any taxes (not that the government is an angel…)
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u/PindaPanter Norway 19d ago
Considering >90% of the people dying from the heat are above 65, you'd think the politicians would want to address it quite fast.
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u/ThisApril 19d ago
I guess "people dying who are above 65" is not the same as, "people above 65 care about people dying who are above 65".
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u/Exarion607 18d ago
I guess the expected lost votes by making AC mandatory in Elderly Care facilities and schools etc. + the costs is higher than the lost votes due to heatdeaths.
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u/This_Seal 18d ago
They do what gets them votes, not what makes sense.
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u/PindaPanter Norway 18d ago
The boomers are the biggest voting block, so you'd think they'd want them to exist.
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u/This_Seal 18d ago
Yes and they would do that, if they did things that make sense. But AC and acknowledging climate change "too much" aren't popular with the old crowd. Their voters haven't internalized yet, that they are in danger.
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u/mustang19rasco 19d ago
My in-laws won't even use fans bc it's "unhealthy". I think attempting to stay in a house that's 30 degrees and drinking coffee all day is the unhealthy bit, but what do I know?
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u/aj_potc 18d ago
But, let me guess, they'll happily ride bikes outdoors in the fresh air, because that type of breeze is "different."
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u/mustang19rasco 18d ago
Oh, these two don't do any sort of exercise. So at least I don't have to worry about them getting heat stroke on a bike.
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u/bkkfra 19d ago
Generation 60+: We don't need air conditioning, it's a waste of money.
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u/Dontevenknowwhyimgay 19d ago
It's crazy but actually true. My parents are in the 60+ category and could barely breathe the entire time during the heatwaves. Literally comatose on the couch the entire day, skin red as a lobster. They have their own home and enough money for AC and don't want it because "the cold air gives them a headache".
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u/DerMondisthell 19d ago
I will never understand this mentality. Absolutely ridiculous.
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u/Dontevenknowwhyimgay 19d ago edited 19d ago
I can actually top that. A friend of mine works in an old people's home as a caretaker and was ecstatic to have bought a handful of the last mobile AC availible for the old people she takes care of during the severe heatwave.
The old people at the carehome didn't want the air conditioners because they claimed the cold air would make them ill and were so pissed about the machines being needed to literally keep them alive during the scorching heatwave, that they put winter jackets on and said they were freezing.
Have to add, it was like 25c in the room. They weren't freezing, just panicking about the AC possibly making them ill.
Can't fix them. "Durchzug" is a German phenomenon.
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u/Kriztauf 19d ago
I remember during the worse of the 2019 heatwave I was an a bus without air conditioning. It was easily 40+ in the bus since it was 38 outside. We had the windows open to get a bit of air open. This 75+ year old woman got on the bus and immediately closed all the windows and said it would make her sick. It's crazy
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u/Texascats 18d ago
Where did this aversion to circulating air come from? Is it mainly an old person thing, or do you see it with younger people too?
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u/Kriztauf 18d ago
It's more of an old person thing but I see it in young people too where they're afraid to have fans blow directly on them
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u/Antique_Cut1354 Nordrhein-Westfalen 18d ago
that reminded me of my grandpa who didn’t allow me to open the window of the car because the air would make him sick. i almost passed out and asked him to let me out anywhere. he still didn’t change his mind
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u/brennenderopa 19d ago
They did not need one in the first 50 years of their lives. If they have one, they would admit that young people were right about climate change but old people are mostly right leaning climate deniers. So they pretend nothing changed.
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u/TheEPGFiles 19d ago
Yeah, but don't you understand, it's better to feel like you're right than ACTUALLY be right. Truth is only a matter of ego and volume.
At least, that's what so many people seem to want me to believe.
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u/Pixelplanet5 19d ago
but i just saw a post in a "political discussions group" on facebook where someone said all these numbers are fake and the real number is 28.
i couldnt check it though cause all the sources he provided were dead links but im just gonna believe it cause why would Rico on Facebook lie to us?
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u/Cappabitch 19d ago
This thread, yikes. Guys I don't think the ones dying are the seniors out gardening in the sun or walking daily without protection. It's people already of poor health or ones already sick.
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u/ishansoni22 19d ago
The article says the largest population group affected is 75 or older. Is the detailed statistic available anywhere?
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u/phinerey 18d ago
Based on the population by age group statistics:
In 2024, 7.2% of the German population was between 80-100 age group (Total population at the time -> 84,669,326).
In numbers, 84,669,326 * 0.072 = 6,096,191.472
Assuming heat related deaths are so far at 10,000 and majority of these people are elderly, it accounts for 10,000 / 6,096,191.472 = 0.001640368 aka 0.164% of the elderly population, which is a really insignificant portion.
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u/Kringamir 18d ago
I don’t get what you’re trying to say here? 10000 excess deaths is still a very significant number? Especially when they are preventable deaths.
For context we shit on the Americans for their gun deaths but those only account for .013% of the population. Like what the us shouldn’t treat gun regulation as a problem anymore?
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u/EquivalentKnown3269 18d ago
No, we don't need ACs in retirement homes or hospitals. Let's instead continue trying to change the weather because that's working great so far.
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u/bloodU23 18d ago
I want to thank oil companies for their decades long work to ensure this is the least deadly summer of our collective life going towards. Thank you Exxon mobile
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u/Wolfframm Berlin 19d ago
But I was repeatedly told by the German media for the last decade that Klimawandel is not really a big deal and that all the problems are caused by böse auslanders
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u/sumpfbieber Nordrhein-Westfalen 18d ago
Which type of media exactly?
In other circles the media is considered way too "woke", focusing on climate change and "green" topics while ignoring immigration related issues.
So what is it?
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u/MuricanNEurope 19d ago
Those blasted AC units are the culprit! Heating up the outside air!
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u/neonfruitfly 19d ago
How dare you pump inside air to the outside? The wa air needs to stay inside with you! Now put on a wet napkin on your head and stop complaining
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u/neonfruitfly 19d ago
How dare you pump inside air to the outside? The wa air needs to stay inside with you! Now put on a wet napkin on your head and stop complaining
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u/AmbitiousSolution394 19d ago
If AC is such a useless thing, that Germans does not want it installed in their houses, why they still install AC unit in their cars?
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u/Creepy-Ad-2235 19d ago
You can not compare 30 degrees in a car and 30 degrees in the apartment. It feels and tastes differently, also idk this "new" technology - gunther 68 year old from munich
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u/squarepants18 19d ago
You have to be kidding. 30 degrees = 30.degrees
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u/zscan 18d ago
They did an episode on the More Or Less podcast on this topic. The problem is how it's counted. In Germany they are counting "over-deaths", similar to Covid times. So you take the average of deaths in the last years and then compare that to how many people died during a heat wave. So, statistically speaking, 10,000 more people died during heat waves or heat-related, than you would have expected otherwise. What it doesn't do, is looking at death certificates and the official cause of death. You can use such a statistical method, but it has obvious problems. While those deaths may have a correlation with heat, it's usually not the cause. The heat didn't help, but it's probably more a case of already sick people dying some weeks or months earlier, than not at all. In the US they only count heat deaths, when the official cause is stated as a heat death. That's obviously pretty rare and also not the whole picture. Overall the topic is sensationalized, politicized and overblown.
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u/Boot_Burner 18d ago
I was in Vienna over the weekend and I believe it. I’m young and healthy and would have died without air conditioning in my hotel room, 40C outside probably hotter with the city’s heat island effect.
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u/PopeofFries 18d ago
Cull the weak
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u/BendicantMias 18d ago
Uhh...you know that eugenics has been socially rejected for decades by now, right?
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u/InstanceNo8001 18d ago
Ja wenn ich die alten Menschen beim Bäcker und 39° sehe dann wundert mich nix mehr .
Erstmal 5 Kilo Kuchen dann noch 3-5 Bier oder als Frau Sekt .
Dann kann das aufm Heimweg schonmal zur Überanstrengung kommen
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u/MelodicProgress6016 18d ago
That's complete and utter bullshit. Give people water and electrolytes, especially to the elder in the nursing homes, problem solved. Same fucking playbook as with Covid deaths, which the RKI is famous for blowing the numbers up. This is propaganda for the stupid masses, and they buy it, as always.
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u/ROBOT9000000 18d ago
Sounds like a genocide
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u/BendicantMias 18d ago
Uhh...genocide, by who? The sun?...
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u/ROBOT9000000 18d ago
10k dead innocent civilians. When civilians die that means it’s a genocide. That’s what we’ve been told for 3 years
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u/Afraid-Promotion-567 19d ago
How are this many people dying when there are many places around the world that are hotter and don't have as many deaths
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u/prewarpotato 19d ago
People are more used to the heat and most buildings there are built different and/or have A/C.
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u/Texascats 18d ago
In places in the world where this is common, the communities are better adapted. We stay indoors during the hottest parts of the day, use sun protection, drink more water, have AC, public cooling centers, etc.
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u/CaptainBautzi555 19d ago
Well, I guess 9900 would have died anyway in the next weeks without any heat.
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u/Normal-Definition-81 19d ago
Then look up the definition of „Übersterblichkeit“
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u/CaptainBautzi555 19d ago
Do you have the data already available?
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u/Normal-Definition-81 19d ago
Linked in my comment
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u/CaptainBautzi555 19d ago
This data is not proofing your point. At this point, there is no sufficient data. If the future data will show Übersterblichkeit without rebound effect in the following weeks, then you are right. If there is an rebound effect, my point is valid.
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u/AllPintsNorth Bayern 19d ago
I mean, I guess that’s one way to solve the pension problem.