"Have you extensivly traveled in the Eastern half of Germany?"
But the old Eastern Germany has a much smaller population than the old West Germany. Now true, as of 1991(when I was there), East Germany was in significant contrast to West Germany, horse-drawn carts and cobble-paved roads, did I mention the lack of electrical and phone service? And crossing the border was immediately obvious because of the quality of pavement...
Still, Germany is much more a middle class country than the US. The old East Germany is still economically depressed with repsect to the old West, but even so, the difference between the haves and the have nots is narrower than it is in the US. So your example of Bill Gates is sort of bogus, unified Germany doesn't have that kind of extremes. To be honest, I saw more panhandlers in Germany than I am used to. I don't have a good explanation of that. But, OTOH, I didn't ever see any place I would be reluctant to go into late at night. Given my wife's reaction to many things, petty theft might be more prevalent than what what I am used to, but violent activities are a lot less common. That is a tradeoff I can live with. But, YMMV... |
