It’s Called Bürokratie

Or bureaucracy, if you prefer. That’s what’s happening to Tesla’s German gigafactory.

Nobody does it better, or worse, than the Germans.

Explainer: What’s happening with Tesla’s $7 billion German ‘gigafactory’?

Next Thursday, July 1, was supposed to be a day of celebration for Tesla: the opening of its self-styled “gigafactory” in the tranquil German municipality of Gruenheide, just outside Berlin.

But thanks to fierce environmental resistance, red tape and planning tweaks it is completely unclear when the first vehicles will roll off the production line of the electric carmaker’s first European factory.

Tesla has already pushed back the expected opening to late 2021. Yet the environmental agency in Brandenburg, the state where the 5.8 billion euro ($6.9 billion) plant is being built, has still not given final approval – meaning a further delay cannot be ruled out, even into 2022.

Thou Shall Not Drive A Car With An Internal Combustion Engine

Thou shall not fly. Thou shall not participate in free trade…

Bans, prohibitions, Verbote. That’s what green folks do best. And Germany’s latest Green Moses just came down from the mountain. It is election season in Germany, after all. Time for more true Green religion.

German business lobby group defends its mocking of Greens leader – A German business lobby group on Tuesday defended a controversial campaign in which it portrays Greens chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock dressed as a biblical Moses, holding two tablets under the caption “Annalena and the 10 bans.”

In its campaign, lobby group INSM attacks the Greens’ policies to steer Germans into electric cars and onto trains instead of domestic flights. But its portrayal of Baerbock as Moses has met criticism and accusations of anti-Semitism.

We don’t need a state religion.”

Woman Who Never Worked A Day In Her Life To Turn Germany Into A Socio-Ecological Economy

As soon as anybody can figure out what “socio-ecological economy” means, that is. Might take some time.

Oh yeah, I forgot. There is no more time. The world is coming to an end and man-made CO2 will kill us all and all that. So actually, it’s easy to figure out. All socio-ecological economy means is to spend more and ever more of other people’s money (and their children’s and their grandchildren’s and their…).

Greens vow to turn Germany into ‘socio-ecological economy’ – Party approves election manifesto that calls for fast-tracking of switch to carbon neutrality within next 20 years.

Germans Want Faces Back

They want to save face. No, that’s precisely what they do not want. They don’t want their faces saved. Only if they are in a save place. I mean safe, of course.

Let’s face it. If you take what they say at face value, this means they don’t want companies like Clearview AI all up in their face. And they’re not joking either. They’re demanding that they get their faces back with a straight face.

How I Lost Control Over My Own Face – A company called Clearview AI secretly scrapes the internet for photos, thus producing a gigantic database for government agencies and police. Is it possible to remove yourself from the collection?

Berlin Instructing Washington On How It Will Get Its Way

But they are doing so in a way that will help create the illusion that the current Banana Republican administration in Washington has something to say in the matter.

Germany, U.S. hold talks in Washington on Nord Stream 2, Berlin says – Germany and the United States are holding talks in Washington to try to resolve a row over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Tuesday…

Russia’s Gazprom (GAZP.MM) and its Western partners are racing to finish the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea. The project, now about 95% complete, would bypass Ukraine, potentially depriving it of lucrative transit fees and undermining its struggle against Russian aggression.

If It’s Not Red Tape It’s Red Anarchy

Doing business in Germany 101. Elon Musk may have met his match.

Far-left activists claim responsibility for Tesla factory site fire in Germany – Investigators examining letter from group claiming to be behind fire at Grünheide ‘Gigafactory’ site.

“Tesla is neither green, ecological nor social.”

German Naturalisations Fall As British Nationals Realize Just How Much Europe Sucks

Sorry. I meant as the “Brexit effect” fades, of course.

German ‘naturalisations’ fall as Brexit effect fades – The number of foreigners who obtained German nationality last year fell by 15% to 109,900, and half the decline was due to fewer British nationals becoming citizens of Germany, the Federal Statistics Office said on Wednesday…

In the five years since the 2016 Brexit referendum, a total of 36,500 Britons have naturalised in Germany, the Office added. In 2020, the number fell to 4,900 from a peak of 14,600 in 2019.

Is This The Shot In The Foot?

The German Greens are notorious for this. Whenever they are doing well in the polls, which is the case at the moment, they say something so revealing, that is, so ridiculous about their policies, that they single-handedly manage to turn this trend around.

This time the shot may have come from Robert Habeck, the Green boy boss who was edged out of the running as head honcho by the Green girl boss Annalena Baerbock. How much he resents this we’ll probably never know but in a talk show last night the possibility of raising the price of gasoline as high as 60 euros per liter (per liter, not gallon) was addressed. You know, to make the world a greener place and save humanity and all that? Under her leadership, of course.

I’m not sure but I can’t imagine even the greenest of German Green going along with that one. Unless they’re really green behind the ears.

„Der klimawirksame Gewinn ist nicht so besonders hoch. Das muss man einfach zugeben. Es ist eher ein Beispiel dafür, was man alles machen kann, was niemandem wirklich weh tut. Die ökonomische Frage, wie teuer Fliegen wird, ist davon zu trennen.“

Bureaucracy? In Germany?

No way.

No way this is a news item, I mean.

Tesla’s Musk blames bureaucracy for German gigafactory delays – Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk called for cuts to German red tape on Monday as he said it was unclear when exactly the first electric car would roll off the production line of its planned plant outside Berlin.

This guy really is a visionary, a dreamer. If he actually believes this could ever be possible in Germany: “There should be some kind of active process for removal of rules. Otherwise, over time, the rules will just accumulate and you get more and more rules until eventually you can’t do anything.”

Angela Merkel Is A Lot Of Things

But brain dead isn’t one of them.

“The protection of intellectual property is a source of innovation and must remain so in the future.”

US-Germany rift as Berlin opposes plan to ditch Covid vaccine patents.

Germany says waiver would inhibit private sector research.
Opposition to Biden plan threatens to deadlock WTO talks.

“The limiting factors in the production of vaccines are the production capacities and the high-quality standards and not patents.”