Artificially Intelligent, Maybe

November 15, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Heconomy, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Hideology, Higher Education, Home Cooking Tags: AI, Germany, Investment, Technology 1 Comment

But is it smart?

Technical progress by decree?

Germany is often criticized for sluggish levels of digital investment, particularly in AI. The government wants to invest €3 billion before 2025 to try and close the knowledge gap with world leaders in the field.

Germans are smart, of course, but they can’t even spell AI properly. They call it KI. Ridiculous. And when you look at the amount being invested, well, maybe they’re not all that good at math anymore, either.

“This amount is much less than companies, such as Microsoft or Google, invest in AI in a single year. So people should not think that Germany will suddenly become a world leader in the field, able to compete with the US and China.”

SPD Ready To Abolish The One Reform They Accidentally Did Right

November 12, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Heconomy, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Employment, German, Germans, Germany, Political Parties, Reform, SPD, Welfare, Welfare State Leave a comment

It took them fifteen years to sink this low but better late than never, I guess.

The SPD, clutching for any straw it can still find before going under completely, is now prepared to do away with the infamous Hartz IV reform introduced by the SPD-lead government under Gerhard Schroeder in 2003. Never popular because it made major demands upon the unemployed, it nevertheless brought a considerable reduction in short- and long-term unemployment and contributed to making Germany the employment powerhouse it is in Europe today. Back to the future. As in living in the past.

AUSGERECHNET IHR GRÖSSTES ERFOLGSPROJEKT – SPD will Hartz IV abschaffen!

Your Tax Euros In Action

November 6, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Bundeswehr, Defense, German, Germans, Germany, Government Waste, NATO, Submarines, Taxation, Taxpayers, Waste Leave a comment

You know the drill. These studies are routinely published (in this case by the German Federation of Taxpayers) demonstrating how tax money is burned by the government.

There were some real beauties in this report, too. But my personal favorite is the Case of the Squandered Submarines. The German navy has these six way cool new fuel cell driven submarines that set the German taxpayer back three billion euros. The only problem here is that none of them are currently operational and have spent most of their time dry-docked. Additionally, there are only three submarine commanders available to command these vessels. One of these subs has only been deployed once – in thirteen years. Wow. With a navy like this who needs an enemy?

And I’m sure the next tax increase is already in the works.

Die sechs U-Boote der deutschen Marine mit Brennstoffzellenantrieb gehören zum Modernsten, was die Nato in diesem Bereich zu bieten hat. Drei Milliarden Euro kosteten sie. Das Problem: Laut Schwarzbuch ist keines dieser U-Boote derzeit tatsächlich einsatzbereit.

We Will Hold Germany Ransom For… One Million Dollars!

October 30, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: EU, Germany, Greece, Poland, Ransom, Reparations, WWII Leave a comment

I mean one TRILLION dollars, of course. No, I mean euros.

EU BOMBSHELL: Poland and Greece demand €1TRILLION from Germany for Nazi WW2 payback.

PRESSURE is growing on Germany to cough up over a trillion euros to European countries for the damage caused by Adolf Hitler’s Nazis during World War 2.

“Right, people you have to tell me these things, okay? I’ve been frozen for thirty years, okay? Throw me a frickin’ bone here! I’m the boss! Need the info.”

The Nerve

October 21, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: America First, Business, Deals, Ge, General Electric Co., German, Germans, Germany, Iraq, Siemens, USA 1 Comment

After all Germany has done for Iraq.

Germany’s main industry federation said U.S. pressure to quash Siemens AG’s $15 billion power-plant deal with Iraq is unacceptable and shows how President Donald Trump’s “America First” stance is corroding business decisions.

Iraq signed a memorandum of understanding with General Electric Co. on Oct. 15 after U.S. officials warned Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that U.S.-Iraqi relations would be at risk if his government accepted the deal with Siemens, Bloomberg reported.

Hey. All’s fair in love and business (Siemens is fighting back).

“To implement the America First doctrine in this way in the global competition of multinational companies is not acceptable.”

German Of The Day: Korruption

October 8, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Habitudes, Heconomy, Hi-tech, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: Audi, Automobile Industry, Corruption, Crime, Dieselgate, Emissions, German, Germans, Germany Leave a comment

That means corruption. It’s a foreign word here, though.

Unless, of course, you’re talking about VW, Daimler, BMW, Audi…

Now it’s out that Audi tampered with the chassis numbers of their test vehicles to hamper the emissions scandal investigation going on in Korea. And it looks like this was all directed from Germany.

Please note: The next time Germans get morally outraged about the next big moral outrage in US-Amerika – and it won’t be long – remember that absolutely nobody here in Germany pays the slightest attention to any of this dieselgate made in Germany crime and corruption stuff. They’re all serfs owned by the German automobile industry.

Audi hat jahrelang Fahrgestellnummern von Testautos gefälscht und so die Aufklärung des Abgasskandals in Korea behindert. Die Vorgänge wurden offenbar von Deutschland aus gesteuert.

Germans Threaten Americans With Non-Negotiable Friendship

October 3, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, History, Home Cooking, Humor, Hurt Feelings Tags: Diplomacy, Friendship, German, German American Friendship, Germans, Germany, Heiko Maas, Trade-War, USA Leave a comment

In a sly move calculated to add more leverage to the German position in the on-going trade war troubles with Washington, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas is now headed there for talks in which he will openly threaten US-Amerikans with “non-negotiable” friendship should they not budge on their demands.

Officially there to open the Year of German American Friendship, Maas made no secret about Germany’s intentions. He warned, “Our goal is not to just maintain the relationship we have with the United States but rather improve it.” Adding, “It (the Year of German American Friendship) is designed so that people learn more about Germany than any normal American person could ever possibly want to learn and, what is more, this will be done in an annoyingly friendly and courteous manner for, like, well, a whole year or something. Unless, of course, you lighten up with this tariff bullshit already. Here, let me shake your hand again.”

“Things that used to be taken for granted are no longer that way, they must be worked on.”

Germans Feeling Gloomy?

September 27, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypochondria, Hypocrisy Tags: Economy, German, Germans, Germany, Negativity, Psychology, Snowflakes, Trade-War 1 Comment

Wow. We’ve never had that one before.

The German economy is booming. Unemployment is at a near-record low. In Europe and around the world, the country is seen as a beacon of wealth and efficiency.

So what’s so mysterious about their gloom? This is Germany. Duh. How could Germans not get gloomy about a situation like that?

But maybe, just maybe, with a little luck things will start to crap out here before too long and everybody can start cheering up again.

Es war einmal ein starkes Land.

Isn’t Anyone Going To Do Anything About This?

September 20, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Beer, Brewing, Diversification, Economics, German, Germans, Germany, Marketing, Price War, Prices, Products, Sales, Supply and Demand Leave a comment

The great German beer crisis? Demand is falling, people. And I can only drink so much on my own.

Demand is falling in a country where there are more than 6,000 different brands of beer. The theory goes that you could drink a different one each day for more than 16 years without having to taste the same one twice. In fact, today fewer Germans regularly drink beer at all. Since the early 1990s, domestic consumption has dropped by more than a quarter. Consumption per head peaked in 1976 and has been falling ever since. The result has left mass-market brewers suffering from overcapacity and fighting a long-running price war. More than two-thirds of all the beer sold in supermarkets is offered at a discount.

“How is it that one of the world’s biggest export nations, and one so obsessed with beer quality, fails to woo international drinkers?”

German Budget Surplus Offers German Politicians Further Ways Not To Spend It

August 24, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: Budget Surplus, Budgets, Finance, German, Germans, Germany, Saving, Spending, Taxation 2 Comments

The dramatic growth in Germany’s public sector surplus over the first half means the government has extra room for manoeuvre, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on Friday after data was released showing the surplus at a record high.

“I’ll be looking into as many ways as possible not to spend any of it,” he said. Or could have said. And this is social democrat, too. This savings mania is a German thang.

And saving money is generally a very sound idea, I understand that. But how about considering giving that surplus back to the people you took it from in the first place? I’m just saying.

Der FDP-Politiker Dürr verlangte angesichts der hohen Überschüsse, den Solidaritätszuschlag abzuschaffen. Auch der Bund der Steuerzahler forderte eine Entlastung der Bürger.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Category Archives: Heconomy