While active duty in the Army, I spent almost 15 years in Germany. I got to Berlin more than 6 years before the Wall came down and I saw it collapse. I spent the next two years in watching and actively supporting Reunification.
The article nails it. The Ossis came over the Wall, expecting government handouts left and right. And got them. This irritated the Wessis to no end, even with their left-of-center socialistic viewpoints on the role of the state in providing for the welfare of the people.
There was a LOT of animosity expressed toward the Ossis by the Wessis. The Wessis I talked to pretty much had the opinion that the Ossis needed to bust their collective asses in building their own society before they have the right to stand there with their hand out.
Meanwhile, trillions of Euros poured into the former East Germany. To the point that a lot of routine stuff in the West (particularly the sectors formerly occupied by the western Allies in Berlin) was neglected.
I think there's a lot of credence to the gist of this article. Humans can be lazy, and once humans begin to understand (falsely) that the government is the be-all, know-all, it's very easy for humans to acquiesce in their own responsibilities to themselves.
I call it the fundamental fallibility of man.