Discountrepublik Deutschland

June 24, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, High Art, Home Cooking Tags: Berlin, Cost of Living, Economics, EU, Euro Zone, Europe, GDP, German, Germans, Germany, Inflation, Living Costs, Prices 1 Comment

Verblüffender Befund (an amazing finding)? I don’t see how it could amaze anyone here – anyone who has ever gone shopping in Germany and then compared those prices to those you would pay in other European countries, that is.

Germans apparently aren’t aware of the fact that they have some of the lowest Lebenshaltungskosten (living costs or cost of living) in all of Europe. Of their immediate neighbors, it’s only cheaper to live in Poland and Czechia.

What is really amazing I find, however, is the fact that the Germans are able to enjoy these cheap prices while still having a higher per capita GDP than a lot of the European countries with a higher cost of living (Belgium, Denmark, France).

Beats the hell out of me. Hey, es darf eben nichts kosten here.

Verbraucher in Deutschland bekommen für ihren Euro mehr als die Menschen in den Nachbarländern. Lediglich bei den Nachbarn in Polen und Tschechien sind die Lebenshaltungskosten niedriger.

We Looted The Loot First

June 23, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, High Art, History, Home Cooking, Humor, Hypocrisy Tags: Art, Art Theft, Berlin, German, Germans, Germany, Humor, Kunst, Loot, Moscow, Museums, Russia, Satire, World War II Leave a comment

The grand opening of a joint German-Russian art exhibition in St Petersburg was spoiled on Friday when Moscow objected to Angela Merkel’s plan to use her speech to refer to hundreds of looted German works of art looted by Red Army soldiers after the war.

The Germans claim that some 1 million looted objects are still missing, including the Treasure of Priamos, objects looted by the Germans in Troy under the direction of Heinrich Schliemann way back in 1873.

Moscow appears to be open to compromise, but only when the Russian artworks destroyed by German troops during World War II – estimated to be more than 110m books and publications following the plundering of 427 Soviet museums and 4,000 libraries – be returned, as well.

“This is a very touchy question for the societies of both countries. We need to look for solutions, rather than inflating the problem.”

The Next Failed Berlin Wall Analogy

June 21, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Hard Facts, History, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Borders, German, Germans, Germany, Illegal Immigration, Mexico, The Berlin Wall, The Border-Security Fence, USA 2 Comments

This happens all the time (geez, this time it even happened in the Wall Street Journal).

People are always comparing the world’s famous and infamous walls (and there sure are a lot of them, aren’t there?) to that über-infamous Berlin one and, well, they just plain refuse to get it right. This time it’s the fence built along the border between the US and Mexico’s turn.

I’ll try and explain: The Berlin Wall was built to keep people in. You know, like a prison wall? The fence in question, as far as I understand it, is being built to keep people out. I know, that’s a feiner Unterschied (fine distinction) here, but it is an important one. And I just wanted to try to set the record straight, again.

The border-security fence in the Senate bill would be America’s Berlin Wall—a historic embarrassment.

Auf Tegel Ist Immer Verlass

June 19, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hi-tech, High Art Tags: Air Force One, Airplanes, Airports, Berlin, Berlin Tegel, Brandenburg Gate, German, Germans, Germany, Obama, Technology 1 Comment

Speaking of mein Haus, mein Auto, mein Boot… Klaus Wowereit got booed before Obama’s speech at Brandenburg Gate for some reason.

Hey, at least you can always count on Berlin Tegel.

Although it’s hard to believe that that bad boy could actually land there.

Mein Haus, Mein Auto, Mein Boot

June 18, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Hi-tech, High Art, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Brandenburg Gate, German, Germans, Germany, Obama, State Visits 2 Comments

Then you’ve got Obama’s Haus (OK, plane), Auto and Hotel.

“He’s on the defensive. I don’t expect a great speech. There will be some nice pictures and pretty words about the trans-Atlantic alliance.”

No Contradiction Here

June 17, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypochondria, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, German, Germans, Germany, NSA, Obama, Paranoia, PRISM, Psychology, Schizophrenia, Spying, Terrorism Leave a comment

Not for the Spiegel, anyway. At the moment they are somewhere between…

Obama’s Soft Totalitarianism – Europe Must Protect Itself from America

and

The German Prism: Berlin Wants to Spy Too.

For those who don’t know any better, I could see how you could imagine calling this a form of German schizophrenia. For those who do know better, that’s most definitely what you’d call it.

A monitored human being is not a free human being. And every state that systematically contravenes human rights, even in the alleged service of security, is acting criminally.

Germans See Germans Do

June 16, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Habitudes, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypochondria, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Big Brother, BND, German, Germans, Germany, NSA, PRISM, Security, Spying, Surveillance, Terrorism 1 Comment

Shocking, these Americans and their surveillance state. It’s good to know that that kind of thing can’t happen here.

Despite the scandal concerning the US spy program Prism, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (Federal Intelligence Service) is planning to monitor the Internet more thoroughly. 100 million euros are to be invested with more technical equipment and up to 100 more personnel planned.

Meanwhile… Federal Minister of the Interior Hans-Peter Friedrich (CSU) is arguing for a flight passenger security check system similar to the American model for those who enter Europe. German security services should be able to check to see “if someone is on the wanted or prosecuting authority lists” before the start of the journey.

“So geht man nicht mit Freunden um, die im Kampf gegen den Terrorismus unsere wichtigsten Partner sind”, sagte der Minister der “Welt am Sonntag”. Friedrich betonte, Deutschland sei von Datenzulieferungen aus den USA abhängig. Es sei bekannt, “dass es die US-Geheimdienste sind, die uns immer wieder wichtige und richtige Hinweise gegeben haben“.

Neo-Hippie-Eco-Porn

June 14, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, High Art, Higher Education, Humor, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Film, Forests, Fuck For Forest, German, Germans, Germany, Idealism, Porno Films, Sex 5 Comments

No, no. Don’t look to read on here. That title has said enough already.

Marczak spoke with sexologists and sociologists and read reams of hippie literature before he started shooting.

Black Workers Are Everywhere These Days

June 13, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Berlin, Black Market, Economy, Europe, German, Germans, Germany, Government Interference, Illegal Employment, Regulation, Schwarzarbeit, Taxation, Taxes, Undocumented Workers Leave a comment

No, not Afro-American workers. You know, Schwarzarbeiter (illegal workers).

And they’re everywhere all over Europe these days, although Germany is the champion here again too, as usual.

Eight million Germans are working on the black market as we speak, so-to-speak, generating about 13 percent of the country’s economic output. And loving it, I hope for them, because many of them just don’t seem to have any choice in the matter. Nobody will hire them otherwise:

Punitive tax regimes, increased labor market regulation and a growing lack of trust in governments are causing many Europeans to abandon formal employment and enter into the murky, illicit world of shadow economies worth billions of dollars.

Unternehmen und Arbeitnehmer setzen auf Schwarzarbeit, dadurch entstehen zwei Drittel des Schadens. Für das weitere Drittel ist verantwortlich, dass viele zu geringe Einkommen und Erträge ausweisen.

Obama’s Popularity Rating Plummets To 82 Percent In Germany

June 11, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helections, Hi-tech, Hideology, Higher Education, Humor, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Big Brother, Eavesdropping, Espionage, German, Germans, Germany, Humor, IRS, NSA, Obama, Popularity, PRISM, Satire, Security, Stasi, Tea Party, Terror 2 Comments

Germans are still enamored of Obama: a poll last week showed 82 percent view him favorably.

It used to be 92 percent so this must have something to do with the time he recently spent in Prism.

Just kidding. The real reason is because there are “gute Amis, böse Amis” (good Yankees and bad Yankees) and the Pres clearly belongs to the good ones, NO MATTER WHAT. I mean, this guy could rape a turtle live on “Wetten, dass..?” and nobody would find anything wrong with it (except the turtle). He’ll be back up to 92 percent here again in no time, in other words.

The bad Yankees are the awful scumbag Republican NSA types who actually did the snooping, by the way.

Damn. Speaking of snooping… He and his crew sure are cool, you’ve got to hand it to them. Even when he’s having them monitor you for your own good (and that whether you’re a tea partier or not). I think I’m going to call them the Cyber Snoop Dogg Pack from here on out. Rat Pack had already been taken.

Germans accuse U.S. of Stasi tactics before Obama visit

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

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