First, while it's true that the German "Schulden" is related to "Schuld", it's also true that one of the definitions of "debt" is "sin". I don't know if many anthropologists really have wasted much time thinking about this one, but it seems pretty irrelevant to me.
Second, the German banking system is actually very modern. While the Americans and British are still sending cheques through the post, Germans are regularly paying by direct debit and standing order, as a matter of course.
Third, I think a point that may be missing is that Germans might be suspicious of credit card payments as they leave records which can be inspected by government agencies. It's bad enough that they might be able to find out how much rent you pay and how much electricity you use, but they really don't need to know exactly which bar you got drunk in last night. I don't know if anyone's done any serious study into this one, but it is very noticeable that Germans are particularly concerned about their privacy.
> the Americans and British are still sending cheques through the post
I'm from Germany, and I have to ask this... WHY?
Related anecdote: When I was still living with my parents, I had to cash in cheques from time to time for them. The cheques came from the lottery which they were playing, but they had no realistic possiblity at all to cash them in (the next branch of their bank was over an hour away by car), but I had an account at the local bank in the small town where I lived.
Oh I would definitely say that debt is looked down upon in Germany. I would say I have generally owed at most a single (monetary) debt at a given time in my life (or two if you count my employer paying me mid-month as a credit of half a month), because debtlessness is freedom (cue Anastacia's Paid My Dues ).
Actionscript is nearly identical to forms of Javascript, so I'm not sure what you find about learning your time with Flash that wouldn't be transferrable.
Adobe Animate CC is the new version of Flash Pro that builds for HTML5, and if that doesn't float your boat, there's a wealth of JS libraries like pixi and p5.js that look extremely inviting.
There was a time that was a great career path. However, you never can predict how well a technology will perform, especially if it's tied to a closed platform. I suppose this speaks to the power of open source.
Then again, Animate CC should allow you to use those skills for the various platforms it supports.
Second, the German banking system is actually very modern. While the Americans and British are still sending cheques through the post, Germans are regularly paying by direct debit and standing order, as a matter of course.
Third, I think a point that may be missing is that Germans might be suspicious of credit card payments as they leave records which can be inspected by government agencies. It's bad enough that they might be able to find out how much rent you pay and how much electricity you use, but they really don't need to know exactly which bar you got drunk in last night. I don't know if anyone's done any serious study into this one, but it is very noticeable that Germans are particularly concerned about their privacy.