Dabblers

December 8, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

You call that debt?

Sure, you’re burning too much of the taxpayers’ money but if you want to see how it’s really done, take a look at The Banana Republic of US-Amerika.

Hard-pressed Germans dabble in debt but want government thrift – Most Germans do not want their government to loosen its strict borrowing rules to fix a budget mess – but many in a nation that prides itself on thrift are building up their own debts as a cost of living crisis deepens.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition is reeling from a court ruling last month that has thrown its finances into disarray and forced it to suspend a constitutionally enshrined “debt brake” for the 2023 budget.

I thought they’d never leave

December 7, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

The (communist) party’s over.

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

German Left Party dissolves parliamentary faction after key member breaks away – The faction was forced to officially disband after a prominent member split off to start a new populist party.

Members of the Left Party will remain in the German parliament, or Bundestag, but will no longer be part of an official faction, or caucus. The disbanding means the party loses financial support and is forced to liquidate assets and fire staff. The parliamentary rights of its members will also be limited.

German of the day: Wärmepumpe

December 6, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , 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 in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , 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.

I sea what you did there…

December 4, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , 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.

Lone Muslim + terror attack = “undergoing psychiatric treatment”

December 3, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That’s the standard European media formula used in cases like this.

They have ready-made templates for “stories” like this, all prepared in their top desk drawer, so-to-speak. They are meant to absolve the powers that be (and “the religion of peace” itself, of course) from its duties of addressing the real problem. And it works like a charm. Every time.

German tourist killed and two others injured in central Paris attack – Police arrest a man known to authorities as a radical Islamist after passersby attacked near Eiffel Tower.

The climate cr-cr-cr-crisis-is-is…

December 2, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

Is making it cr-cr-critically c-cold here at the moment.

Ausgerechnet (of all times) in December, too. If I lived in Munich I’d fly to the south to escape if I could but I couldn’t so I wouldn’t so I won’t.

Germany: Munich airport suspends flights amid heavy – Flights at Germany’s second-biggest airport were canceled until noon. Heavy snow submerged the Bavarian capital, with public transport also suspended.

“Who?”

November 30, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 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.

It’s deadly out there

November 29, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Climate crisis deadly.

And it’s getting deadlier all the time. Namely, whenever the temperature isn’t “just right.” Whatever “that “just right” might be.

German authorities urge people to stay home amid deadly winter weather – Authorities in western Germany on Tuesday urged residents to stay home, warning of life-threatening danger, after a burst of winter weather led to hazardous roads, leaving two people dead.

The sudden onset of winter led to several accidents and people being trapped in their vehicles due to slippery roads and fallen branches caused by snowfall in many parts of Germany.