Tag Archives: Corona

And Way Down On Page Seven…

June 10, 2020 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

‘Europe Made Mistakes Too’ – Former WHO Head Criticizes Slow Coronavirus Response

WHO

In an interview, Gro Harlem Brundtland, the former head of the World Health Organization, is critical of China’s early management of the outbreak of the coronavirus. She also says that the Europeans were too cavalier in their initial response and warns that the next epidemic could be much worse.

There are reasons to criticize China. Those responsible there were too slow. They informed too late. Worst of all, it took them a long time to acknowledge that the infection was from human to human. This transmission was already clearly discernible on Jan. 1, as we now know, but China did not officially announce this until Jan. 20.

We’re All Going To Die!

June 3, 2020 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Humor, Hype, Hypochondria, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

So let’s go on a nice vacation first. It looks like Coronavirus is going to take a little longer than expected to wipe out the German race so Germans aren’t wasting any time getting their priorities straight.

Vacation

Coronavirus: Germany to lift travel ban for 29 European countries on June 15 – The German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has confirmed that Germany will remove a travel ban on EU member states and some other countries from June 15. However, he stressed that this was not “an invitation to travel.”

“We must not let this lull us into a false sense of security.”

Ha, Ha, Ha

May 31, 2020 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

A new slogan will make “Europe strong again?” Gemeinsam. Europa wieder stark machen.

Europe

Back off, Trump. Germany wants to Make Europe Strong Again. Berlin’s EU presidency motto has echoes of MAGA.

Slogans, as we all know, are merely slogans. The track record here is what you have to go by and it ain’t pretty. The Eurozone hasn’t even begun to deal with Brexit while Angela Merkel signals submission to France to accept a Schuldenunion (a debt union – paying the debt for Southern European countries – yes, they have a North and a South problem here too) when all of a sudden this little thing we call Corona has prompted Brussels to suggest an $826 billion economic stimulus plan (even more debt)  for a “union” of countries that can’t even protect their borders and that only appears to be unified when it comes to supporting  anything that weakens the United States (see China) and on and on we go but together they will make Europe strong. Again. Again?

Make Europe Strong Again. MESA? All I see is a MESA problems that nobody is prepared to fix.

It’s Magic!

May 28, 2020 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

It’s as if none of this Corona crap ever happened at all!

Magic

Maybe that’s because none of this Corona crap ever did happen. Not like it was supposed to happen, I mean. Not that anybody ever really knew how it was supposed to happen but everybody knows now that it simply didn’t happen that way. Folks sure got riled up though, didn’t they?

Germany poised for big economic recovery – The German economy is expected to shrink by more than 6% this year. But a new study found the country could be in for a big economic recovery next year.

In a best-case scenario, the economy could recover in about five months, the institute said. This would result in a more mild economic slump of just 3.9% in 2020.

But in a worst-case scenario, the recovery could also take as long as 16 months. The economy could then shrink by 9.3% this year, with growth of 9.5% forecast for 2021.

“In that case, the recovery would stretch into 2022.”

If We’re Really Lucky, June Is Going To Suck

May 26, 2020 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hurt Feelings, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

May was REALLY awful.

Exports

And we don’t even want to talk about June.

The mood among German exporters recovered somewhat in May after a “catastrophic” April, the first full month of coronavirus lockdown measures in Europe’s largest economy, the Ifo institute said on Tuesday.

“Virtually every sector still expects further declines, yet these will be less sharp than had been expected in the previous month,” the Munich think tank said in a monthly release.

The Ifo export indicator, based on a survey of around 2,300 manufacturing businesses, rose in May to -26.9 from -50.2. It is a net reading for respondents expecting an increase minus those who see a decline.

Austria Doing Germany’s Job Again

May 24, 2020 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Humility, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Frugality? Refusing to pay other countries’ debts? That was “old Germany.”

Austria

Now the Germans need a country like Austria to take care of the problem for them – just like the Austrians took care of Merkel’s migrant madness by closing their borders way back when.

‘Frugal four’ nations counter Franco-German EU initiative – Four EU countries have teamed up, rejecting Macron and Merkel’s persistent lobbying for a €500 billion rescue fund. Instead, they have their own scheme on how to save Europe from economic fallout amid the pandemic…

The four countries also indicated that they will neither agree to a mutualization of debt nor an increase in the EU budget. Their draft proposal was seen by the German Press Agency (DPA) on Saturday.

“Our objective is to provide temporary, dedicated funding through the EU budgetû and to offer favorable loans to those who have been most severely affected by the crisis.”

German Of The Day: Übersterblichkeit

May 22, 2020 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hype, Hypochondria, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means higher mortality rate.

Dead

But you need to read in which context it is being used here to get the whole message: Nur geringe Übersterblichkeit – Todesfälle im April knapp über dem Schnitt. That is: Only a slightly higher mortality rate – The fatalities in April were just slightly above average.

My, that is odd, isn’t it? Wasn’t April the big Corona month in Germany? Just like everywhere else? And the country’s mortality rate was only slightly higher than usual? There must be a mistake here somewhere. Or were we all mislead to expect something else? Certainly not intentionally. Or was it just ineptitude? Numbers, black on white like that, can be very mysterious sometimes. Especially when they don’t fit your story line.

Im April sterben zwar mehr Menschen in Deutschland als im Durchschnitt – der Anstieg beträgt aber nur wenige Prozent.

German Of The Day: Wiederaufbaufonds

May 19, 2020 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings, Hustle (Hoax), Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means reconstruction bonds. Or Eurobonds/Coronabonds light. Or Germany breaking a taboo and knuckling under to France to share debt with other EU countries, if you prefer.

Merkel

It’s hard to keep up with them. Politicians just can’t burn money fast enough these days.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel broke with her country’s longstanding opposition to raising money together with other – often poorer – EU countries. But the proposal made with French President Emmanuel Macron is limited in scale and duration, which could help her sell it to skeptics back home.

It consists of 500 billion euros ($550 billion) in loans and grants to help countries through the recession, and is viewed by some as a step toward stronger EU ties as the 27-country union faces challenges not just from the virus crisis, but from populist forces in member countries Hungary and Poland who want to loosen the bloc’s ties.

Werteunion ruft zu Widerstand gegen Merkel auf.