Category Archives: Heconomy

Investing in Africa may be too risky…

November 29, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

But it’s not as risky as investing in Germany.

German Fortune 500 companies have announced over 60,000 layoffs this year, but the biggest employee cull is still to come – German companies in the Fortune 500 Europe have announced over 60,000 layoffs this year, in a sign of the country’s ongoing economic malaise that has left manufacturers reeling.

Major German employers, including Bosch, Thyssenkrupp, Deutsche Bahn, and Siemens, have this year announced plans to lay off thousands of workers in a bid to combat falling profits following a rocky post-COVID economic landscape.

Well, if there was ever any doubt…

November 26, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

You must NEVER relax the debt brake, Germany.

Relax Germany’s debt brake, says Angela Merkel – Former chancellor’s memoirs back reform of borrowing cap that she introduced into constitution.

Former chancellor Angela Merkel has called for Germany to relax its “debt brake”, in a sign of the growing political pressure to overhaul a borrowing cap that many economists say is too inflexible. 

Merkel, who served as chancellor between 2005 and 2021 and introduced the debt brake into Germany’s constitution, made the proposal for change in her autobiography Freedom: Memories 1954-2021.

Sorry, we’re only firing at the moment

November 4, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Hiring war gestern (was yesterday).

German companies’ hiring plans drop to four-year low, Ifo finds – German companies are less willing to hire new staff than at any point in more than four years, data from the Ifo institute showed on Monday, as weakness in Europe’s largest economy has left its mark on the country’s labour market.

Ifo’s employment barometer fell to 93.7 points in October from 94.0 points in September, the lowest level since July 2020.

“Everything that could go wrong went wrong, or is going wrong”

October 24, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Other than that though, alles ist in Ordnung (everything’s OK).

Germany’s lost decade: How the Fortune 500 Europe giant is flirting with long-term irrelevance – There is an elephant in the room of the 2024 edition of the Fortune 500 Europe. It’s not a crisis-riddled company or scandal-hit CEO. Rather, it’s the whole German economy.

For most of the 21st century, economists and neighboring countries have looked to Germany with admiration and envy as it managed to weather economic storms with relative ease, capitalizing on trade with growing economies and expanding the power of its industrial giants in the process.

However, a shifting world order has pulled the carpet out from underneath Germany. The industrial quirks that once helped it outgrow its European peers are fast becoming a burden, and crisis after crisis has exposed a lack of planning at the top of government.

More debt is the answer!

October 22, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Higher Education, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Right? It’s always the answer. Just look at US-Amerika.

We should be commending the Germans for not going down that deadly road, not smirking at them.

Schadenfreude reigns as Berlin pays the price of its tough line on debt – “It’s karma, no?” said one European official.

Germany has long been the European Union’s penny pincher par excellence — a paragon of fiscal rectitude in contrast to its spendthrift neighbors. But now its insistence on balancing the books is coming back to bite it.

“Declining connectivity” in Germany?

October 14, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

I wonder why.

It costs over four thousand euros for a commercial aircraft to leave a German airport. In other European countries it costs as little as 500 euros. Some say this has to do with German regulation and “green kerosene” madness but I’m sure there must be a more… reasonable explanation.

Lufthansa CEO concerned more airlines will cut German routes – After airlines such as Eurowings and Ryanair have cut back their connections in Germany due to excessive fees and costs, Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr fears a negative impact on Germany as a place to do business.

German of the day: “nicht zufriedenstellend”

October 9, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means not satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

Year number two. Germany is on a roll.

Germany expects economy to shrink after cutting 2024 forecast – Government predicts rebound in 2025 after 0.2% decline this year.

Germany is facing its first two-year recession since the early 2000s, as the government downgraded its growth forecast for 2024, predicting a contraction of 0.2 per cent.

“The situation is not satisfactory,” Robert Habeck, economy minister, said on Wednesday.

German of the day: Auf Eis legen

September 17, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means to put on ice. As in put on hold.

Intel postpones construction of chip factory in Magdeburg – Haseloff against abandonment of the project.

The chip company Intel has put its plans to build a factory in Magdeburg on hold. According to company boss Gelsinger, construction will probably be delayed by two years due to cost-cutting measures. A total of 3,000 direct jobs were to be created on Magdeburg’s Eulenberg. Saxony-Anhalt’s state government assures that the semiconductor plant will nevertheless go ahead.

Or not.

Last one out turn off the lights

September 4, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Oh, sorry. Green energy already turned the lights off for you.

Germany in crisis: Intel and Volkswagen mull a multibillion-dollar withdrawal from the country.

For the first time in its 87-year history, Volkswagen is considering shutting down plants in Germany, where it employs around 300,000 people, as the company ramps up efforts to save €10 billion in costs…

Reuters reports that Intel will consider pausing or halting plans for its €30 billion ($33 billion) factory in the east German city of Magdeburg as the semiconductor manufacturer looks for cost savings. Germany had committed €9.9 billion ($10.9 billion) to the project when it was announced in June last year.

Not so quiet on the Western Front

August 21, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The Chip War Western Front.

EU approves German state aid for $11 billion TSMC chip plant – Taiwan’s TSMC (2330.TW), opens new tab on Tuesday launched a major new computer chip plant in Dresden, Germany, expected to be a key supplier to European industry and carmakers after the EU Commission approved 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion) worth of state aid.

The large aid award for the project, which will cost 10 billion in all, is the biggest approved so far under the EU Chips Act, and the first in Germany.

It is also the first project in Europe under TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, and is expected to improve Europe’s resiliency if a chip shortage of the type experienced during the COVID pandemic happens again.