Febra33

It's also unsurprising to see outlets like The Economist somewhat criticise this, along with fintech corporations, because the government is offering a free and high quality alternative to something that companies would have done exactly the same but for money.

What's wrong with China? They're wonderful in the OSS ecosystem.

And other problems that do not exist.

Do these corporations even have proofreaders?

You can definitely buy beer.

> Does this not support the authors point that he had to work hard to find these places?

Just because a tourist is too ignorant to find these places doesn't mean they don't exist. There are plenty of them. They are mostly old-school and don't have big ads outside. Use google maps. There are plenty.

> Private payment processors (like MasterCard and Visa) can for any and no reason refuse their services. Ridiculing and dismissing the author's concern by pulling out the "big scary globalism" straw man is disingenuous.

If you're pushing for cash-only or card-only other than for tax evasion reasons you're pretty much ideologically tainted.

Otherwise, I'm no longer going to discuss this "journalist outlet" that is just a mouthpiece for alt-right propaganda. Especially one that can't differentiate between germanic and german.

This article seems more like propaganda than actual journalism.

Then he continues to discuss how "fortunately, there seems to be a grassroots pushback against such globalising trends" which I find equally weird. He comments about the existence of burger joints and ramen bars as if these are literally destroying the city's economy. How are german restaurants (which definitely exist in Berlin) and foreign restaurants mutually exclusive?

I also like to mention that many places prefer cash only in Germany for tax evasion reasons, not because of some made-up "grassroots pushback" against the big, scary globalism of.. foreign restaurants. (???)

Another obscure point is that "eager-looking under 18s try to get in [beer breweries], only to be politely turned away without any fracas." which is again, a very stupid point to make, since you are allowed to buy beer at 16 in Germany already.

Then he quotes a person of supposedly Eritrean descent saying “But the people coming now, they don’t learn German and they don’t want to work.” which sounds pretty much like your average alt-right talking point, that has been disproven over and over again.

I'm really sorry, but this person seems to know literally absolutely nothing about Berlin, Germany, or life in Germany in general. This article is mediocre at most and a farce.