Since 10 days we are now officially inhabitants of Germany (again) and it is amazing how much time I had to waste because of German paperwork.

Whoever thinks that Germans are tidy and efficient - think again!

Here are the common answers you receive in a good ol’ German office:

“Sorry, this is not my field”
“Did you fill out the application?”
“No the person responsible is in a meeting, please come back tomorrow”
“I don’t understand this, but I cannot find you in our system”
“Ahh Herr Müller…, he is on his lunch break.”

The paperwork is incredible and the state control overwhelming.

By law you are required to register at the place where you live. Once you register, several notifications are send to different branches of the government. For example schools. Home schooling, which is very common in many western countries is forbidden by penalty of prison and forceful education of the children.

Since I left Germany in 1996, the country became very expensive, even more bureaucratic, completely unfriendly towards children (with 1.2 children average per family) and political close to communistic. There are some other issues, but at this stage they have to be unnamed, because it is political incorrect to talk about such things.

“Die Linke” (”the left” political party) is a growing force in Germany and has in some areas 30% of all votes. As a result already 4 ministerial positions in different states were won. “Die Linke” is standing openly for communism and the redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor, more taxes and more state control.

Some of the slogans sound exactly like the campaign slogans of the Democrates and I just hope that US voters come to their senses and take a closer look at the promises of Barak Hussein Obama and Hillary Clinton. Take a look at Germany and you will have a glimps of what you get in the US, when you vote for the Democrates - less freedom, more taxes, more state control, high unemployment and an exodus of companies who prefer to work somewhere else instead of their own country.

As serial entrepeneur for over 20 years now, I see nevertheless great opportunities. That is entrepeneurship  - regardless what the circumstances are, never mind the problem, you look at the opportunity and the potential gain by offering new products or services.

In this context you have to see my last blog post about Ulf 4.1 While it was not my choice to go back to Germany here I am. I could focus on the negative things here and the many problems this country faces, but I don’t. 

Ulf 4.1 is about taking care of “business”. Not neccessarily making money, but taking care of people and foremost family.  After the experience of living in Israel, the USA, traveling to 50 or so countries, speaking several languages and meeting with truely interesting people around the world, I feel it is time to bring all that back to my country of birth and give this to my family. Building the “family business”.

While DreamStream will be my baby and will take some continuous efforts to further develop in the US and Europe, I will help my mom to get Internet savvy.

This has the following background…

Around 20 million Germans are over 50 years old and their number is growing. Due to the collaps of the government retirement funds it is suggested that the pension age is lifted to 67. Most retirees have a state pension, but even with additional savings they hardly ever meet month’s end.

If I can teach my mom, who is 65 today to make 200 Euro extra with the help of the Internet, there are 20 million potential customers who would like to do the same.

While this event will be completely in German, I will post updates on this blog as they occur.