I sea what you did there…

December 4, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: Budgets, Debt, Germany, Government Waste, Greece, Greens, Islands, Politicians, Spending Leave a comment

But I’m not shore if you were serious.

What goes around comes around.

Island strife: Greece serves Germany a dose of its own medicine – A former minister in Athens turns the tables with a proposal that recalls unwelcome advice during the debt crisis.

As Greece sank into the mother of all debt crises in 2010, the German tabloid Bild ran a story under the headline: “Sell your islands, you bankrupt Greeks! And sell the Acropolis, too!”

One former Greek government minister never forgot the newspaper’s impertinent advice. Like a reincarnation of Nemesis, the ancient Greek goddess, Panagiotis Lafazanis last week recommended — in an interview with Bild, no less — that Germany should consider selling an island or two to overcome a budgetary emergency of its own.

More wiggle, wiggle, wiggle

November 27, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: Budgets, Debt, Germany, Government Waste, Politicians, Spending, Taxation, Waste Leave a comment

They’re still squirming. 1) No money but lots and lots of things to spend it on (spending voters’ taxes is how they get votes). 2) Can’t raise taxes any higher (voters are already being taxed to death).

Let’s see. 3) There’s still this debt brake thing we could tweak (except we would need to change the German constitution and the opposition won’t help us).

This adds up to… Are you serious? Do you honestly mean to tell us that we now have no choice but to set priorities and, gulp, cut spending? OMG we’re all gonna die!

Germany’s budget crisis spurs calls to change its borrowing limits – Germany’s budget crisis has given new momentum to reforming self-imposed borrowing limits even among the opposition conservatives, as hunger for sorely needed investment trumps an earlier political obsession with fiscal rectitude.

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle…

November 21, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: Budgets, Debt, Germany, Government spending, Government Waste, Greens, Socialists, Waste Leave a comment

Let’s watch them squirm.

We… must… spend… more… money we don’t have! There just has to be a way around this debt brake!

Germany freezes spending as budget crisis deepens – As Germany’s financial woes grow more acute, there are growing calls to suspend the country’s damned debt brake.

Germany’s finance ministry has imposed a spending freeze on all federal ministries, deepening a budget crisis that has rocked the ruling coalition since a bombshell ruling by the country’s top court last week.

The finance ministry decision, which halts most new spending authorizations, followed a ruling by the constitutional court last week that blew a €60 billion hole in the government’s coffers.

Po’ Folks

November 16, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: Budgets, Courts, Germany, Government, Political Parties, Spending, Waste Leave a comment

That face you make when you can’t spend as much of other people’s money as you’d planned.

German court deals 60 billion euro budget blow to Scholz government – The German government froze major spending pledges focused on green initiatives and industry support on Wednesday after a constitutional court ruling on unused pandemic emergency funds blew a 60 billion euro ($65 billion) hole in its finances.

The decision threw into disarray budget negotiations taking place this week within Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-way ruling coalition, whose popularity has slumped as Europe’s biggest economy teeters close to another recession.

German of the day: Zusammenbruch

November 13, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Building, Construction, Economy, German, Germany, Housing, Language, Real Estate, Red Tape Leave a comment

That means collapse.

German homebuilding collapse threatens wider economic damage – Once-thriving residential construction industry has slumped, posing drag on EU’s largest economy.

Across Germany, homebuilders are facing such a sharp reversal in their fortunes that the downturn in residential construction is threatening to have broader repercussions across Europe’s largest economy.

Many have declared themselves insolvent, dampening Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s target of building 400,000 new homes a year to tackle a housing affordability crisis in several of the country’s largest cities.

We Germans work the fewest hours

October 31, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: Employment, Europe, Germany, Jobs, Work, Working Leave a comment

That’s why we desperately need a four-day work week.

To, uh, increase the hours worked each week? I don’t get it.

Germans work fewer hours over their lifetime than their European neighbours – In comparison to their European neighbours, people in Germany work fewer hours throughout their lifetime, a new study has revealed, but there is still a big appetite for a four-day week in the federal republic.

Germans work an average of 52.662 hours throughout their lives.

A new study from the Roman Herzog Institute has laid out the working habits of people in European countries. In comparison to their neighbours, Germans are on the clock for fewer hours throughout their lives, clocking in an estimated 52.662 hours of work, which means 39,3 years of their lives are solely occupied by work.

Human robots don’t cut it in Germany anymore

October 29, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hi-tech Tags: Automation, Employment, Germans, Germany, Industry, Jobs, Labor, Labor Shortage, Robots Leave a comment

They’re just not as, well, robotic as their parents and grandparents used to be.

It’s time to replace them with the real thing.

As baby boomers retire, German businesses turn to robots – At machine parts producer S&D Blech, the head of the grinding unit is retiring. With Germany’s acute labour shortage leaving few candidates to take on the skilled but dirty and hazardous manual work, the company will replace him with a robot.

Other small and medium-sized companies are also turning to automation as the gradual exit from the workplace of Germany’s post-war “baby boom” generation tightens the labour squeeze.

Largest housing price drop in 2000 years?

September 23, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Construction, Economy, Germany, Housing, Prices, Real Estate, Rents Leave a comment

Damn. That’s a big drop.

Oh. Since the year 2000. But still.

German housing prices show sharpest drop since 2000 year over year, statistics office says – German housing prices fell by the most since records began in the second quarter as high interest rates and rising materials costs took their toll on the property market in Europe’s largest economy, government data showed on Friday.

Residential property prices fell by 9.9% year-on-year, the steepest decline since the start of data collection in 2000, the federal statistics office said. Prices fell by 1.5% on the quarter, with steeper declines in larger cities than in more sparsely populated areas.

Green Germany looks more black to me

September 22, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Coal, Dependency, Energy, Gas, Germany, Greens, Laws, Legislation, Nuclear power, Politicians, Renewables Leave a comment

Black as night when you turn off the light.

The Green obsession with doing without is in full nighttime bloom.

Germany passes law to make energy savings compulsory – Germany’s lower house of parliament on Thursday passed a bill to make saving energy compulsory in all economic sectors, a move intended to help fight climate change and curb use of imported fossil fuels.

The Energy Efficiency Act, introduced by the Greens-led economy ministry, includes regulation for energy savings in public buildings, industry and fast-growing data centres across Germany, with the goal of a 26.5% cut by 2030 from 2008.

Spurred by fears that persistently low Russian gas supplies could lead to shortages, the German government introduced some initial energy-saving measures last year, including banning heating for private swimming pools and encouraging people to work from home.

Don’t cry for me, Argentina

September 21, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Economy, Energy, Gas, GDP, Germany, Greens, Renewables Leave a comment

Actually, go ahead.

Go ahead and cry for me, Argentina. We can cry together, if you want.

Germany Joins Argentina as Only G-20 Member Facing GDP Drop – Germany faces the only contraction in any Group of 20 economy aside from Argentina this year, according to the OECD, which cut its outlook through 2024.

The euro-zone country will suffer a 0.2% drop in gross domestic product in 2023 — down from a previous projection for stagnation, the Paris-based organization said in new forecasts published Tuesday. It will then grow only 0.9% in 2024, down from 1.3% anticipated in June.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Category Archives: Heconomy