German of the day: Wärmepumpe

December 6, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Budgets, Energy, German, Germany, Greens, Language, Spending Leave a comment

That means heat pump.

You know, the warming device that needs government subsidies to get anyone to install it (promised subsidies that will now no longer be offered)?

German heat pump rollout at risk as government suspends climate subsidies – Move could also undermine nine funding programmes, covering schemes from energy efficient homes to cargo bikes provision.

Nine funding programmes, covering everything from energy efficient homes to cargo bikes for commercial use, are now on hold as Olaf Scholz’s coalition government seeks to make savings of about €17bn (£15bn).

The government was thrown into a quandary last month over how to finance its ambitious environmental and industrial transformation programme (KTF) when the country’s highest court blocked its attempts to switch €60bn of pandemic-era borrowing to pay for it.

Time to say goodbye

December 5, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Budgets, CO2, Coal, Economics, Germany, Government Waste, Greens, Renewables, Solar, Spending, Taxation, Wind Leave a comment

To your latest Green fantasies.

The money. She is gone, señor.

Germany’s Greens thought their moment had finally come… But then, last month, Germany’s top court handed down a ruling that effectively stripped the ruling coalition of the full financial firepower it needs to make those ambitions a reality.

The bombshell ruling by Germany’s Constitutional Court blew a €60 billion hole in the country’s finances, leaving the government scrambling to fill the gap. At the same time, the ruling sharply limits the government’s ability to draw from special funds created to circumvent the country’s constitutional debt brake, which restricts the federal deficit to 0.35 percent of GDP except in times of emergency.

These special funds were supposed to help finance several projects which are core to the Greens’ agenda — such as the transition of steel plants to hydrogen energy, subsidies for battery and microchip production, and the modernization of the country’s railway network.

“Who?”

November 30, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Annalena Baerbock, Diplomacy, Diplomats, Doha, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germans, Germany, Greens, Hamas, Politicians, Presidents, Protocol, Qatar, Snubs, SPD Leave a comment

“Germany has a president?”

“You, there! You look official. Drive down to the airport when you get a minute and welcome him.”

Germany’s Steinmeier left waiting on tarmac in Qatar – Standing with arms folded at the doors of the airplane was probably not how German President Steinmeier thought he would spend almost 30 minutes of his official 3-hour visit to Doha...

In Germany, Doha’s influence on the Israel-Hamas war is seen as somewhat controversial as Qatar is home to Hamas’ political wing. That led some to wonder if Wednesday’s apparent snub was a response to statements made recently by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock prior to Al Thani’s long-planned visit to Berlin back in October.

“We do not accept support for terror,” Baerbock told public broadcaster ZDF at the time. “To put an end to this terrorism,” she added, “countries like Qatar have a special responsibility.”

Put a positive spin on it, I say. Maybe Germany’s Steinmeier was just being überpunktlich. German diplomat-types can often be that way. If they ever arrive at all. They’re not always so punctual when it comes to leaving, however.

Asking a government to “fund honestly?”

November 24, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Budgets, Government, Government Waste, Greens, Net Zero, Politicians, Renewables, SPD, Spending Leave a comment

A government with Net Zero Honesty? Good luck with that.

The truth hurts too much.

Germany Faces the Green Fiscal Truth – The constitutional court rules Berlin will have to fund net zero honestly.

Things have gone from bad to worse in Germany this week after a court ruling that’s forcing the government to do something truly shocking: level with voters about how much the net-zero energy transition will cost. Please pass the smelling salts.

German of the day: La malignità

November 23, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Berlin, Budgets, Debt, Financing, Germany, Government, Politicians, Spending Leave a comment

Actually, that’s Italian. Meaning Schadenfreude, which is German. Meaning schadenfreude in English. Meaning malicious glee, of course. It’s complicated.

Meloni’s Italy Tastes Schadenfreude Over German Fiscal Fiasco – Stable ratings for Rome contrast with Germany’s fiscal pickle.

“Germans make mistakes too,” says professor at Bocconi.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni could be forgiven for feeling any schadenfreude this week while looking on at Germany’s unfolding budget debacle.

A string of fiscal wins for Rome has just coincided with a crisis rocking Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition in Berlin after a calamitous court judgment cast doubt on its financing plans.

German of the day: Loser

November 22, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: EU, German, Germany, Language, NATO, Russia, Ukraine, USA, War Leave a comment

That means loser. It also means losers (in plural).

US and Germany risk owning Ukraine’s stalling war effort – The onus is on European allies to step up support and chart a path for Kyiv towards Nato and EU membership.

More than 50 countries are supporting Ukraine in its defence against Russia’s full-scale invasion. Yet Ukraine’s existential struggle in Europe’s largest war since 1945 currently hinges mainly on two countries. US leadership, as well as financial and material support for Kyiv, have been essential to Ukraine’s survival. Germany is its second largest supplier of weapons and money, far ahead of the rest of the field.

The Germans ban everything else

November 19, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Bans, Germany, Mosques, Taliban, Terrorists Leave a comment

So where’s the Taliban ban?

Outrage after Taliban member speaks at German mosque – German politicians have demanded answers after the head of Afghanistan’s food and drug body spoke at a mosque in Cologne. Abdul Bari Omar was previously in the Netherlands for a World Health Organization event.

Videos shared on social media show Abdul Bari Omar, the director of Afghanistan’s food and drug authority, speaking at the mosque on Thursday.

Psychology of guilt?

November 18, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, History, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Armenia, Erdogan, Gaza, Genocide, Germany, Guilt, Hamas, Holocaust, Hypocrisy, Israel, Turkey, War Leave a comment

It’s just not our thing. In Turkey.

Germany has ‘psychology of guilt’ when it comes to Holocaust, Israel, Erdoğan says – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz acknowledged the two countries’ very different perspectives on the Israel-Hamas war.

“Since we’re in a kind of psychology of guilt here, you can’t judge it that way, but we have no debt to Israel. If that were the case, then perhaps we wouldn’t be able to talk so easily. Nor have we gone through the history of the Holocaust,” the Turkish president said via an official German translator.

It Can’t Happen Here

November 17, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Crime, Germans, Germany, Migrants Leave a comment

So it didn’t. Even though it did. And does. And even is, happening as we speak.

Pay close attention: This report will be diligently ignored by the powers that be.

BKA Report: Sharp Uptick in Violent Crime Committed by Migrants Against Germans – New figures from Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) that detail the demographic makeup of serious violent crime suspects in 2022 have been called “frightening” by the chief of the Federal Police Union, who urged both state and federal authorities to take swift action to put an end to the problem.

The BKA’s 2022 “Federal situation report on crime in the context of immigration” revealed that 47,923 German citizens fell victim to violent crimes carried out by immigrants—defined by the office as foreigners who came to the country as refugees or asylum seekers—last year, up 18% from 2021, BILD reports.

“What many have always suspected is now proven.”

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.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Category Archives: Hurt Feelings