Why? Everybody loves me.
I’m at least as popular here as Nicolás Maduro is in Venezuela.
German opposition parties and business groups on Thursday urged Chancellor Olaf Scholz to trigger a new election quickly to minimize political uncertainty after his rocky three-way coalition collapsed…
The chancellor said he would hold a confidence vote in January, which he would probably lose, triggering a new election by the end of March — six months ahead of schedule.
The bad part is that nobody can tell the difference.
German Stocks Lifted by Demise of Scholz’s Fractious Coalition – German stocks leapt on Thursday after the country’s unpopular coalition government started to unravel, sparking hopes that early elections next year will bring a much needed economic boost.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a Social Democrat, brought an end to his three-party alliance with the Greens and fiscally conservative Free Democrats late Wednesday when he sacked FDP Finance Minister Christian Lindner. Scholz called for the next scheduled election to be brought forward to March from September, but the opposition wants it sooner.
It’s a Volkssport (popular national pastime) here. It’s just what Germans do.
People resent living in a political system that takes at least half of what you earn and they “pay it back” every opportunity they get. And twenty sick days a year is nothing. Berlin cops and firemen, for instance, are “sick” more than twice that amount every year.
German bosses are blaming the country’s economic woes on ‘work-shy’ Gen Z calling in sick nearly 20 times a year – Germany is in a structural crisis—with falling exports, soaring energy prices, and weakening competitiveness in its most important sectors. But according to the bosses of Germany’s biggest businesses, the real problem is its workers taking too much sick leave.
Several German employers have lamented a record-breaking year for absences linked to illness.
That means forced labor.
IKEA’s motto: “Everything is possible if you think in opportunities.”
IKEA to compensate East German prisoners for forced labor – The German branch of IKEA has pledged millions to compensate victims of the former Communist East German regime, who were forced to make furniture components in the GDR.
But somebody has to do it.
Germany’s loveless coalition teeters on brink of break-up – Chancellor Olaf Scholz snubs partners, fuelling speculation of early elections in spring.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz held a much-vaunted “industrial summit” on Tuesday, sitting down with business leaders and union bosses to figure out how to pull Germany out its current malaise. Pointedly left off the guest list: his own finance and economy ministers.
Robert Habeck, the economy minister, responded by unveiling plans for a multibillion-euro, debt-financed investment fund — an idea not previously discussed with cabinet colleagues — while finance minister Christian Lindner simply scheduled his own, rival business summit on the same day…
Speculation is growing in Berlin that the alliance could soon collapse, pulled apart by its own internal contradictions. Several German media outlets have even named a possible date for snap elections — March 9, more than six months ahead of schedule.
At Germany’s automobile industry burial.
Volkswagen AG workers in Germany will pause production on Monday to join rallies about the automaker’s plans for unprecedented factory closures in the country.
Labor leaders plan to inform employees at 11 German sites about the latest on negotiations with the company. The events kick off a contentious week for Europe’s biggest carmaker, which is expected to post declining sales and profit when it reports third-quarter results on Wednesday…
The automaker has had a rough few weeks since it issued its second profit warning in three months in late September. While its premium brands including Audi and Porsche have been the carmaker’s biggest source of profit in recent years, they’re now struggling. Porsche AG on Friday said it’s weighing cost cuts and reviewing its model lineup after a demand slump in China hit its profits.
Hmmm. That’s a tough one.
What can stop the rise of populism in Germany? How about taking care of the problem you created? You know, like the voters have been demanding you to do for nearly ten years now? Until the migrant madness ends, this “populism” you fear won’t.
What can stop the rise of populism in Germany and elsewhere?
Populist parties are on the rise in Germany as they are all over the world. What can open societies do to protect democracy?
“We have to realize that party democracy is losing structure and strength. Party democracy is changing into a movement democracy, which is much more volatile.”
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.
Uh-oh. If “Russian disinformation is growing in Germany…”
Then German state media disinformation providers are going to have to crank it up a notch. No prob. We’re on it already.
Russian disinformation is growing in Germany – Russia is flooding Germany with more disinformation than ever, officials warn. Analysts say this tactic is helping pro-Kremlin narratives increasingly seep into the country’s politics.
“We see that this strategy is gradually achieving its goals, and the public debate in Germany is increasingly shifting in a direction that serves the Kremlin’s interests.”
Observing Hermann 