German Air Farce Ready For Action

February 12, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: A400M, Air Force, German, Germans, Germany, Government spending, Government Waste, Luftwaffe, Military, NATO 1 Comment

Only one of Germany’s eight way-over-budget Airbus A400M military transport planes is working at the moment, if working is the proper word for a military transport plane that will never actually be used anywhere anyway. Jeepers. That’s like, I dunno, less than half or something.

Germany’s defense minister Ursula von der Leyen apparently discovered this problem single handedly after the A400M she had taken for a visit to Lithuania broke down there.

Meanwhile… Countless aircraft belonging to German Billigflieger (budget airlines) loaded with countless tons of German tourists don’t seem to be having any technical problems whatsoever. Their number will be increasing dramatically this summer. You just got to set your priorities right these days, I guess.

Zum Sommer wächst das Angebot der Billigflieger an deutschen Flughäfen kräftig.

435,000 Bottles Of Beer On The Wall

February 8, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Asylum, Deportation, German, Germans, Germany, Immigration, Migrants, Refugees Leave a comment

435,000 bottles of beer.

Expensive bottles of imported beer. No, make that deported beer.

“We carried over 435,000 cases into the new year and we want to have dealt with those this spring.”

“If there is virtually no prospect for a migrant to stay here, it makes sense to push for an early repatriation and to encourage that financially.”

Grossly Undervalued?

February 1, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Currencies, Dollar, EU, Euro, Exports, German, Germans, Germany, Peter Navarro, Savings, Trump Leave a comment

Grossly overvalued? The main thing is, gross.

When it comes to the advantage that Germany has taken of the euro, Navarro is right about effect, if not motive.

The euro has been bad for German democracy and for German savers and may well ultimately prove to be a disaster for its taxpayers too, but it has been a boon for the country’s exporters. The euro is far weaker than the Deutsche Mark would have been (as was always likely to have been the case). This means that Germany’s decision to abandon its old currency in favor of the euro has acted as a disguised devaluation, a devaluation that has only deepened as the structural imbalances within the common currency have dragged the euro down still further.

Navarro sagte der “Financial Times”, Deutschland profitiere in seinen Handelsbeziehungen von einer “extrem unterbewerteten ‘impliziten Deutschen Mark'”.

What Does Reality Have To Do With Anything?

January 23, 2017 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Hideology, Hysteria Tags: Energy Costs, German, Germans, Germany, Green energy, Nuclear energy, Renewable energy, The Green Shirts 1 Comment

We Germans don’t care that “Germany isn’t an ideal place for solar and wind power.” We’re green. And we’re going to stay green and pay green (one of the highest electricity rates in the developed world) until we’re green in the face.

Once, German utilities like E.on and RWE had a sound business model that produced cheap energy from nuclear factories. That’s how the two companies could be kind to investors, workers, and taxpayers…

Then the green revolution caught up with the utility sector, as German government decided to abandon nuclear for green energy. “In the aftermath of the Fukushima catastrophe, the German government (Angela Merkel) has resorted to an overhasted exit from nuclear energy until 2022,” explains investment analyst Martin Burdenski. “This decision was in stark contrast to a lifetime extension of existing nuclear plants in 2010…”

“The companies will now receive compensation for investments made between the lifetime extension in fall 2010 and the abandonment of nuclear energy in 2011.”

No Taxation Without Decent Stations!

December 18, 2016 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Hurt Feelings Tags: ARD, Deutschlandradio, German, Germans, Germany, GEZ, Government Control, Political correctness, Propaganda, Public TV, Taxation, TV, ZDF Leave a comment

You say you want a revolution? Then GEZ out on the street and do something about it, people. “Public” TV? Sure. As long as the public has a choice about being forced to finance it or not.

Since the 1970s, every German household with a television or radio has paid a monthly fee, called the GEZ, to finance public TV and Deutschlandradio, the national public radio network.

But in 2013, the government began to require every household and business to pay the approximately $20 monthly fee even if they don’t own a TV or radio…

In a sign of growing resistance, Beitragsservice issued more than 25 million warnings to households last year for not paying the fee, a 20% increase over 2014, according to its latest figures.

480 Millionen Euro nur fürs Personal: Das plant das ZDF mit Ihren GEZ-Gebühren.

Money Can’t Buy You Love

December 13, 2016 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: German, Germans, Germany, Islamists, Jihadists, Kuwait, Qatar, Salafists, Saudi Arabia, Terror, Terrorists Leave a comment

But if it flows in from places like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar it can buy you lots of support for ultraconservative Salafists and their jihadist ideology.

At least in Germany it can.

Religious organizations from those three countries have been sending preachers to Germany as well as financing the construction of mosques and schools, the German “Süddeutsche Zeitung” newspaper and public service broadcasters NDR and WDR reported. The intelligence reports were conducted on the behalf of the German government…

German authorities have conducted numerous raids nationwide targeting Salafist organizations in recent weeks. In November, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere announced a ban on the Salafist “True Religion” group which was known for passing out a fundamentalist translation of the Koran in German city centers.

German Of The Day: Angemessen

December 6, 2016 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Home Cooking, Hysteria Tags: Fukushima, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Nuclear energy Leave a comment

That means appropriate or suitable.

You know, like the appropriate or suitable compensation that the German government will now how to pay to the power companies it expropriated after the infamous (and ongoing) Fukushima Panic Attack of 2011?

Of course what this appropriate or suitable compensation will actually end up being once the non-atomic dust settles is quite another matter. Something tells me it’s going to be a whole lot. Hey, nichts ist umsonst. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

SPD-Vize Stegner gibt Merkel Schuld für Milliardenentschädigung.

Meet The New Crisis

December 5, 2016 By Hermann Observer in Heconomy, Helplessness, Hurt Feelings Tags: Euro Crisis, Euroe, German, Germans, Germany, Italy, Renzi, Schäuble 3 Comments

Same as the old crisis. So like what, me worry?

“I think there is no need to talk about a euro crisis,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said after Italian voters defeated the referendum on constitutional amendments. “I think we should see the situation in Italy with a certain calmness. That is how democratic and constitutional processes work in the member states. The Italians have decided, that is to be respected. They will make the best of it.”

I admire his serenity (Greece, Brexit, Italy…). And I’d also like to know what kind of tranquilizers this guy is on.

Die Lage in Italien heute besser als vor zwei Jahren.

Heckler & Koch Announces Bankruptcy Plans

November 28, 2016 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: Arms Sales, Exports, German, Germans, Germany, Guns, Profit, Weapons, Weapons Exports 3 Comments

German weapons manufacturing company Heckler & Koch has announced a major change of business strategy.

In the future the company will only sell its weapons to countries that are “unequivocally democratic” and “clearly not corrupt.” A frantic search has now begun by Heckler & Koch customer care professionals to locate any countries out there that might possibly meet these requirements before the liquidator is called in but the results have been less than encouraging and time is running out fast.

“Wir wollen nur noch solide Länder beliefern, also zweifelsfrei demokratisch, eindeutig nicht korrupt und in der Nato oder Nato-nah.”

Eco-Power?

November 22, 2016 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: Eco-power, Fukushima, German, Germans, Germany, Green energy, Nuclear power, Renewable energy, Solar energy, Wind Energy Leave a comment

As in enormous-cost-power?

And green power must be short for greenback power, right? Only they have to pay in euros here in Germany.

You’re never going to believe this: Energy prices will be rising dramatically again next year in Germany (same procedure as every year). It has something to do with this little thing they call the “eco-power levy” here (levy sounds better than tax). It’s going up another 8.3 percent. But it’s for the Energiewende so that’s a good thing, or something. Hey. It’s not easy being the world’s leader in renewable energy but somebody has to do it. And you still don’t mind paying for it… And you still don’t mind paying for it… And you still…

Öko-Strom-Umlage steigt um 8,3 Prozent.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Category Archives: Heconomy