We did it!

December 14, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: Budgets, Courts, Debt, Germany, Government spending, Government Waste, Greens, Olaf Scholz, SPD, Spending Leave a comment

My back is starting to hurt from all the patting I’ve been giving it.

We’ll just get around that old debt brake six months from now by declaring another “unforseen emergency” for more debt our high court can’t stop us from making. We’ve even announced what that unforeseen emergency will most likely be: Ukraine.

Germany clinches last-minute 2024 budget deal, keeps debt brake – Germany’s government clinched a last-minute deal on its 2024 budget on Wednesday that will see Berlin return to its self-imposed limits on new debt despite warnings this could hamper growth in Europe’s top economy and its green transition.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition was faced with either suspending what is known as the debt brake or finding some 17 billion euros ($18.3 billion) in savings and tax hikes after a Nov. 15 constitutional court ruling threw its plans into disarray…

Others said the deal simply delayed a necessary decision on how to fund investments in an economy that has already suffered years of chronic underinvestment. Last month’s court ruling has made clear the government will not be able to resort as easily to off-budget funds going forwards.

Dabblers

December 8, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Budgets, Debt, Government Waste, Politicians, Spending, Taxpayers 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.

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.

I sea what you did there…

December 4, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: Budgets, Debt, Germany, Government Waste, Greece, Greens, Islands, Politicians, Spending 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.

More wiggle, wiggle, wiggle

November 27, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: Budgets, Debt, Germany, Government Waste, Politicians, Spending, Taxation, Waste Leave a comment

They’re still squirming. 1) No money but lots and lots of things to spend it on (spending voters’ taxes is how they get votes). 2) Can’t raise taxes any higher (voters are already being taxed to death).

Let’s see. 3) There’s still this debt brake thing we could tweak (except we would need to change the German constitution and the opposition won’t help us).

This adds up to… Are you serious? Do you honestly mean to tell us that we now have no choice but to set priorities and, gulp, cut spending? OMG we’re all gonna die!

Germany’s budget crisis spurs calls to change its borrowing limits – Germany’s budget crisis has given new momentum to reforming self-imposed borrowing limits even among the opposition conservatives, as hunger for sorely needed investment trumps an earlier political obsession with fiscal rectitude.

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.

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle…

November 21, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: Budgets, Debt, Germany, Government spending, Government Waste, Greens, Socialists, Waste Leave a comment

Let’s watch them squirm.

We… must… spend… more… money we don’t have! There just has to be a way around this debt brake!

Germany freezes spending as budget crisis deepens – As Germany’s financial woes grow more acute, there are growing calls to suspend the country’s damned debt brake.

Germany’s finance ministry has imposed a spending freeze on all federal ministries, deepening a budget crisis that has rocked the ruling coalition since a bombshell ruling by the country’s top court last week.

The finance ministry decision, which halts most new spending authorizations, followed a ruling by the constitutional court last week that blew a €60 billion hole in the government’s coffers.

Po’ Folks

November 16, 2023 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: Budgets, Courts, Germany, Government, Political Parties, Spending, Waste Leave a comment

That face you make when you can’t spend as much of other people’s money as you’d planned.

German court deals 60 billion euro budget blow to Scholz government – The German government froze major spending pledges focused on green initiatives and industry support on Wednesday after a constitutional court ruling on unused pandemic emergency funds blew a 60 billion euro ($65 billion) hole in its finances.

The decision threw into disarray budget negotiations taking place this week within Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-way ruling coalition, whose popularity has slumped as Europe’s biggest economy teeters close to another recession.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Tag Archives: Budgets