The rosy side of the NL; and the other side...

Submitted by Charles (Netherlands), Feb 16, 2010 at 08:11

Myth, nice to read your quick summary on the Low Lands. Reading it a few times, one must wonder what the fuss is all about over here! Indeed, some have called this country too rich, and for that reason there could possibly be no reason at all for the Dutch to complain. Shame on them!

Alas! Things are changing fast. Very fast. The economy is breaking down in a hurry. The jobless are increasing by the tens of thousands (figures are not trustworthy, because a lot of statitics are not complete and mention only persons who receive unemployement benefits; around half a million right now, but also growing fast) and just as many are receiving welfare. Also, this country has many hundreds of thousands disabled in one way or another; in total, with all the 'hidden' unemployement there is about 2 million people not actively participating in the Netherland. On a working pop. of about 9 million, that puts these figures in better perspective. And even that is not saying everything there is to say. Up till now this all could be financially managed but the world financial crisis is starting to crush all the magnificent social schemes this country had build since 1945.

But not only the financial crisis is to blame ofcourse. The Netherlands now have to carry to full weight of the mass immigration policies which have run rampant in this country ever since the sixties. Mr Wilders has made a big case of this and confronted the government head on, asking for an investigation on the financial downside on the mass immigration from poor islamic countries (which is by far the biggest contributor in these figures). The government refused to look into it. They really did. They refused to make calculations. They found it..... an 'indecent' proposal, or words to that effect. So others started looking into this and for the moment discoverd that the balance is appalling to say the least: about 200 Billion euro's have been spend over a period of 40 years. These are net costs btw. In other words, mass immigration has been an enormous burden for the Dutch economy. And for Dutch society ofcourse.

So, all hurrahs and whooptedoos aside, forget the rosy side in the Netherlands. This country is going to meet its biggest financial head-on slam-bam-crash since, well, probably since the thirties actually. Maybe not as desastrous, but certainly as far-reaching, especially for the hundreds of thousands poor, of which there are many indeed (but up till now mostly gone unnoticed because of all the social schemes this country had build up over the years).

There is another side to the Netherlands. A side most have not seen before yet. And I know what I am talking about. I see these people regularly.

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