Category Archives: Hysteria

International Solidarity with England

August 11, 2011 By in Hate, Helplessness, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , 3 Comments

Nine cars went up in flames last night in Berlin.

The part that I don’t get: Police say every second burning is politically motivated.

Does that mean that the other half gets ignated just for fun?

No, I stand corrected. I don’t get any of this.

Von einer breit organisierten Tätergruppe aus der linken Szene könne nicht ausgegangen werden, sagte Stefan Redlich, Leiter des Dezernats für politisch motivierte Kriminalität beim Berliner Staatsschutz. Vielmehr seien Einzelne bei den politisch motivierten Taten und Trittbrettfahrer bei den persönlich motivierten Taten verantwortlich.

 

RWE Jobs Next

August 9, 2011 By in Helplessness, Hi-tech, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

German utility RWE AG (RWE.XE) Tuesday said it swung to a net loss in the second quarter of 2011, driven mainly by additional costs related to Germany’s decision to exit nuclear energy by 2022 and a tax on nuclear fuel.

The early closure of reactors also resulted in an earnings shortfall, because RWE sold forward the electricity that should have been produced in its two shuttered reactors. To meet its supply obligations the company now has to produce that electricity in more expensive plants or buy power on the market, both of which hurts generation margins.

Bad Jobs Must Go

August 6, 2011 By in Heconomy, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Wow. Even the Brave New Non-Nuclear World (in Germany) demands its tribute.

10,000 jobs at Germany’s energy giant Eon will have to go, for instance. But these folks will gladly take on this burden because its what “the people” want. Unfortunately, only about one third of those gladly taking on the burden will be German employees, but you can bet that there will be  further opportunites for them to excel in the very near brave new future.

Das sind mehr als zehn Prozent der gesamten Belegschaft. Damit würde der Sparkurs des Konzerns viel härter ausfallen als bisher bekannt.

Time To Say Goodbye

August 2, 2011 By in Helplessness, Hi-tech, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

To all those jobs in the German nuclear power industry, I mean. It’s phase-out time in more ways than one over here.

It’s coming out that E.ON, Germany’s largest energy provider, is now to go on an extreme austerity diet and is about to “restructure,” as they like to say, know what I’m saying? They’re even talking about closing down the big new headquarters they just moved into a year ago.

But hey, it’s all worth it. No pain no gain or something. And don’t worry, there are no other hidden fallout issues here, either.

Of 17 German nuclear power plants, half are now turned off; all of them will be shut by 2022. That’s a loss of 22 billion euros in profits.

Tea Party Bad

July 31, 2011 By in Habitudes, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , 6 Comments

Here’s a quick summary of a fascinating Spiegel editorial about the American Tea Party movement and the current US debt crisis. Or the German intellectual take on it, I should say.

Tea Party want bankruptcy. America work for 235 years, then Tea Party come.

Now Tea Party want friction. Tea Party not want results. Tea Party now enemy. Tea Party outsiders.

Tea Party all take, no give. Tea Party not want to raise taxes. Tea Party bad not to want to raise taxes.

Tea Party people make fear, lead America to economic Armageddon.

America now at standstill. Tea Party people want annihilate Washington (see Captain America). They want stripped down state. Not like state. Very bad.

President Obama want improve schools. Tea Party not want this.
President Obama want clean energy. Tea Party not want this.
President Obama want cuts (and taxes). Tea Party not want this (only cuts). This bad.

Tea Party focus on principles. Very bad.

Tea Party practice raw and aggressive democracy.

Tea Party even make fun of Republicans. This good, sort of, but still bad.

Democracy depends on compromise and the American government depends on all branches working together. The Tea Party movement shuns both, preferring instead to drive the state into bankruptcy. On principle.

Oh My God We’re All Gonna Die Again Already

July 29, 2011 By in Heconomy, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Well there we have it. Der Spiegel itself makes it official and that picture down there proves it or something.

The American economy is caving in. We’re tanking. We’re toast. It’s all over but the crying. All bets are off. We’re on the river of no return. We’re dead meat. Buddy, have you got a dime? How about any of you other guys out there other than Buddy? Down and out in [place any American city name you want here]. Yes, we can. I mean no, we can’t.

Thanks, Spiegel. How refreshing (not). But how so very predictable. And consistent.

Es ist ein grässlicher Tag für die USA: Die Supermacht steht vor der Staatspleite, jetzt bricht auch noch das Wirtschaftswachstum ein.

Too Much Sunshine Here

July 26, 2011 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Too much sunshine here? You know how everybody always likes to bitch and moan about the weather all the time? Well they do over here (when not bitching and moaning about the climate).

And they do so with good reason, too. The summers in Germany are often, like this summer, “suboptimal.”

But that doesn’t mean you don’t have to shoot for a little variety now and then when it comes to the weather bitches and moans (bitches and moaners?). The latest spin is that the first half of this year was the sunniest yet on record. And this too is a bad thing, I think.

This means, uh, I don’t know what it means (does the weather ever mean anything?). Or is this climate again already we’re talking about here (climate is meaningful, I think, right?)?

No, this just means that you can bitch and moan all the more about the current crappy weather because you’re being reminded about how much sunnier it was just a few weeks/months ago.

Seit 120 Jahren hat es nur ein heißeres erstes Halbjahr gegeben, so der Deutsche Wetterdienst. Er warnt zugleich vor künftigen Wetterextremen durch den Klimawandel.

Nix Kebab For You!

July 22, 2011 By in Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

It’s witch hunt time again.

“Thilo Sarrazin, a member of Germany’s Social Democratic Party and author of a controversial book about Islam’s role in German society, has been chased from a Berlin kebab shop by angry Muslims, reports Der Spiegel.”

Renommierter Publizist will nicht für etwas ausgezeichnet werden, für das Sarrazin gemobbt wird.

Everything Is So Wonderfulawful Here

June 27, 2011 By in Habitudes, Health, Helplessness, Hypochondria, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Things have never been better here in Germany, we are told. And yet the German nation still can’t seem to get up off the collective couch (the psychiatrist’s kind).

This guy has an interesting take on Germany’s latest “season of angst” or why a prosperous nation has this obsessive need to turn on itself (and those around it).

His bewilderment is uncalled for however, I find. I can only wonder why he wonders. The Germans were, are and always will be collectively schizophrenic, in their own peculiar (cute?) little way. They are permanently krankgeschrieben (off sick) and that couch is, well, where they live.

Yet it is very hard to find anyone here who is happy about this state of affairs. Unlike the great Rhineland industrial booms of the 1950s and 1970s, this one is provoking Germans to turn against their government, against Europe, against technology and growth, against outsiders. It is an inward-looking, self-questioning moment in a country that the rest of Europe very badly needs to be involved in affairs outside its borders.