Why don't construction prices go down?

What does it change about the fact that an office worker generally has more time during work to take care of their finances and other private matters than a construction worker or a geriatric nurse? Apart from the money you first have to have available to invest in stocks or something else?

That's a nice bubble to float in, telling yourself that everyone could participate if only they were as hardworking and smart as you...

But that will blow up in our faces massively... AfD at 23% in a poll today nationwide, strongest force in Saxony, Thuringia, Brandenburg, and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania... only Haseloff is still holding up, but he won’t stand a chance anymore when gas becomes drastically more expensive in January...
... and people here in the forum then reflect that they are all stupid because you can also operate a heat pump in an old building from the 19th century. You just have to want to :D

I see a bleak future... or rather brown. It seems once again to be time for nationalism, as if we have learned nothing from history...

But what can you tell someone who has to choose between 21°C in the apartment, the weekly groceries, or new winter jackets for the kids... you can't even really blame the people for following charlatans...

I actually see it as a huge problem that office workers suffer from low productivity – even managers in my opinion. Too little is questioned whether they are worth the money that the company pays them.

On the other hand, craftsmen have the option to simply become self-employed, and the job isn’t overly complex (just as little as office work in comparable salary regions). As a self-employed craftsman with a decent income (on the side) you’re doing quite well and reach salary levels that are significantly harder to earn otherwise (for example, a leadership position in a DAX corporation).

I actually see it as a huge problem that office workers suffer from low productivity - even managers in my opinion. Too little is questioned whether they are worth the money the company pays out.

It is even worse with kindergarten teachers and elderly caregivers. They don't produce anything at all... *sarcasm off*

This is a nice bubble where one floats and convinces oneself that everyone could take part if only they were as hardworking and smart as oneself...

Yes, you have to have money. But then it is neither difficult nor time-consuming. Many who would have money don't do it because they consider it complicated and time-consuming, that was the point.

The winning strategy on the stock market has long been buy and hold in the broad market. That’s all I do, because I lack the time and expertise for in-depth analysis of financial statements. The only effort involved is entering the numbers once a year in the tax return.

In my first quote, when I referred to unearned income, I was not talking about investing from the reserves of the working population, but about the concentration of wealth without effort in the owning class. That is a fact, no need for class struggle rhetoric.
It is also a fact that while everyone can implement your suggestion, not everyone can, and especially not solely live from it. Someone always has to produce what generates the interest or stock value increases. And wealth keeps growing, particularly among the top %, much faster than economic output -> so someone, meaning everyone else, ends up with less.

Others are slowly noticing this, and currently the only opposition party to appear is the AfD. It then represents a few popular theses that are currently not reflected in the rest of the party landscape (communication instead of confrontation, stopping the heating law, curbing EU power, immigration and its consequences) and gathers support with this. What is overlooked is that behind this stands the same economic and social policy, just further to the right. What is missing is substantial opposition from the left, so that not everything opposing current policy can be labeled right-wing extremist.
And yes, this especially includes tax and social policy to reduce or tax unearned income more highly and let it benefit the general public.

What does that change about the fact that an office worker usually has more time during work to take care of their finances and other private matters than a craftsman on a construction site or a geriatric nurse?

Now honestly, how much time do you need for your finances? I would argue that you can get by with half a day per year and most of that is the tax return. The rest is checking insurance as well as electricity and gas providers and switching if necessary. You set up the ETF savings plan once and then it runs automatically. After a salary increase, you adjust it by x€, which takes less than 5 minutes. Finances are not complicated, only financial product sellers (“advisors”) try to make you believe that.

The fact is also that although everyone can implement your suggestion, not everyone and especially not everyone alone can live off it.

I'm not concerned about living off it. I'm more interested in breaking the logic of “we down here and they up there,” because for a large part of the population, that is wrong. Of course, someone living in an expensive city and earning minimum wage has a problem and cannot invest. But that has always been the case. The middle class certainly has the opportunity to invest significant amounts over a lifetime and ultimately also withdraw relevant sums. You just must not squander the money (there is plenty of complaining here about vacations, cars, children’s pools, etc. ;) ) and need to think of a high-yield investment

Everyone else is slowly realizing this, and at the moment the only opposition party coming by is the AfD. They then represent a few popular theses that are currently not reflected in the rest of the party landscape (communication instead of confrontation, stopping the heating law, curbing EU power, immigration and its consequences) and thereby gather support.

What exactly is wrong with the heating law or where is the problem? The core message is the following:

If your old heating system gives out, then please buy a new one that meets the current state of technology and for that, you will also get money from the state.

Who nowadays or in ten years would still voluntarily install an oil or gas heating system in their property?

What I find amusing about the AfD is that they reject domestic energy production with "German sun" and "German wind" and instead prefer to continue to depend on "foreign" oil and gas suppliers and to crawl to the oligarchs/despots/dictators prevailing there to beg for energy.

Even more amusing is that the AfD regularly rants against foreigners, demands more bio-German children and propagates father-mother-child as the ideal and only true family model, with the mother supposed to stand at home by the stove. And who did I see on TV last night? Alice Weidel, who as an openly lesbian woman is married to a foreign woman living abroad and is also raising their foreign children with her. At the same time, she tries to show a "manly" front in public and dictate to others that their own lifestyle is completely wrong.

At the same time, they drag their 82-year-old Gauland through the press, who is supposed to shape the future of the country. He can tell stories from days gone by, but that’s it. What does this person want to tell me about central issues like digitalization? That he can turn his Nokia 3210 on and off and still (alone) withdraw money at the ATM with his EC card?

It's not about making a living from it. It's more about breaking the logic of "us down here and them up there," because that is wrong for a large part of the population. If you live in an expensive city and only earn minimum wage, of course you have a problem and can't invest. But that has always been the case. However, the middle class certainly has the opportunity to invest significant sums over a lifetime and ultimately also withdraw relevant amounts.

The "middle class" may feel like it exists, but the difference to the "lower class" is only the amount of available monthly income, which is earned through one's own effort/lifetime. Some of them may even have another apartment or a house which they rent out additionally and thus provide well for their own retirement.
The real dividing line is between those who have to work regularly for their income and exchange their lifetime or creativity for money, and those who don't have to do that because their money increases on its own through long-term investment in whatever.
So the logic of "us down here and them up there" is not wrong at all.

If your old heating system gives up the ghost, then please buy a new one that complies with the current state of technology, and the government will even give you money for that.

I have nothing against the heating law. But there is a significant part of the population that is very critical of it. Because it’s clear that it will cost quite a lot of money, and 50% subsidy on €40,000 is still a lot of money.
And if gas prices additionally increase (emissions trading) to encourage people to switch, and the government is simply not honest in its communication but sugarcoats everything, these people rightly feel deceived. I regularly hear what the conversion to heat pumps costs (which is not feasible for every house) and what people think of this obligation. I live in Schleswig-Holstein, where there is already a 15% renewable energy quota for heating system renewal, and normally it gets more expensive because of it. Of course, nobody enjoys that unless they are fully ideologically behind it.

And the fact that the willingness is not voluntary is clearly seen in the now again collapsing sales figures for heat pumps. Even here in Schleswig-Holstein, they are sitting in dealers’ warehouses and nobody wants them.
The same is happening with electric cars with reduced subsidies—they don’t sell so easily anymore either.

I myself am deeply involved in all the municipal matters with municipal heat planning and reinforcement of the power grids and can roughly see what work and costs are coming to the municipalities and ultimately the population.
Full cost accounting for future heat supply comes out at, regardless of the scenario, 20 ct/kWh, no matter what technology.

What I find so amusing about the AfD is that they

There is nothing to find amusing about that. Ultimately, it is currently the only active opposition party and apparently for many the only option to express themselves against the government. No need to support it, but recognizing the quackery yourself does not convince others.