The party’s over.
Berlin clubs struggle as drink sales dry up and costs rise – Berlin’s clubs are still drawing crowds, but shorter nights, fewer alcohol sales and rising costs have changed their business model. Door fees, rather than bar takings, are increasingly their real financial lifeline.
Berlin’s world-famous club scene has remained in high demand, but venues are increasingly struggling to turn packed dancefloors into sustainable businesses.
That means hemorrhage.
Germany news: Industry hemorrhaging 15,000 jobs a month – Industry boss Tanja Gönner says the situation is critical but offers opportunity.
The head of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) says the country has become less competitive and called on politicians and business leaders to usher in a course correction.
Thanks again, China.
German battery maker Varta files insolvency applications – German battery manufacturer Varta has filed four insolvency applications, a spokesperson for the Stuttgart district court said on Friday, marking another setback for the company.
Reuters reported on Thursday that Varta planned to file for insolvency after its shareholders sports car maker Porsche AG and Austrian investor Michael Tojner declined to provide additional funding to the struggling company.
Varta now faces a potential breakup: Key creditors, including Deutsche Bank, intend to take over the profitable household battery business, while Tojner has expressed interest in the micro-battery division.
Varta lost its key customer in the spring: Apple plans to source the rechargeable “CoinPower” button cells for its AirPods headphones from China in the future.
Anywhere, just to get out of Germany.
Survey: Half of Germany’s top earners consider moving abroad – Within a year, more than 288,000 Germans have moved abroad. A recent survey suggests many highly skilled professionals are eyeing a move – and most do not expect to return soon.
Within the space of a year, more than 288,000 German citizens have moved abroad. This is confirmed by data from Germany’s Federal Statistical Office.
A recent survey commissioned by the job platform Indeed suggests that the trend is continuing: since 2020, the number of searches for international job offers has more than doubled.
Plans to move abroad are particularly widespread among top earners.
That means store hours on Sunday.
There are none in Germany, in case you didn’t know. Germans are very religious. Hardy, har, har.
But wait! Suddenly. In the year 2026…
Debate Over Expanding Sunday Store Hours – Following libraries and bakeries, the retail sector now also wants to fight for the right to open stores on Sundays. It has received support from the Bundestag’s Economic Committee. Churches and labor unions view the initiative critically.
Following the government’s announcement that it would extend Sunday opening hours for bakeries and pastry shops, the discussion about general store opening hours on weekends is now gaining momentum: The Bundestag’s Economic Committee has called for a significant relaxation of the current ban on Sunday openings…
That means own goal.
The great German own goal – In economics, as in football, they’ve lost their edge.
Can it be a coincidence? For three World Cups in a row, Germany has failed to make it to the last 16. For the 16 previous tournaments — from 1954 until 2014 — it never failed to reach the quarter finals. You can be unlucky once, or even twice, but three times? Especially when we see a similar pattern in the Euros, this failure can’t be explained away by the glorious randomness of football.
The year of the 2018 World Cup also marked a turning point for the German economy. Until then, it was considered one the most successful in the world, a reputation it had enjoyed almost without interruption since the Second World War. I spent a lot of time back then warning that Germany’s strategy was not sustainable — even if it superficially seemed to work. From 1945 to 2018, after all, Germany was Europe’s manufacturing powerhouse. The last eight years, though, have been marked by deindustrialisation, price spikes, and persistent economic disappointment…
That means job cuts. Deep cuts, in this case.
Job Cuts at VW: Auto Giant Plans to Cut Up to 100,000 Jobs – The crisis in the auto industry continues. VW is now reportedly doubling its original layoff plans – and some plants are also expected to be closed.
According to information from Manager Magazin, the Volkswagen Group plans to cut up to 100,000 jobs. Citing insider information, the publication reported that the restructuring is to be carried out over the next few years. This would effectively double the previous job-cut target. In addition, plans are reportedly in place to close four plants in Hanover, Emden, Zwickau, and Neckarsulm (Audi) in the medium term.
And practice.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) has already ruled out a “big bang” of reforms out of consideration for the SPD and a frightened public. However, the verbal de-escalation ahead of the coalition committee meeting should not obscure the extent of the need for action and, above all, who must take the initiative to help Germany emerge from the economic crisis: the SPD, led by Labor and Social Affairs Minister Bärbel Bas, as well as the labor unions. But it won’t work without the cooperation of CSU leader Markus Söder, who is at times very much a social democrat.
That means poverty.
Germany’s poverty rate rises to record high, welfare group says – Germany’s poverty rate rose to a record high of 16.1% in 2025, leaving around 13.3 million people classified as poor, according to a report published on Tuesday by the Paritätische, an umbrella group for charitable organizations.
The figure was up from 15.5% a year earlier and marked the highest level since comparable records began, the association said, citing official data released earlier this year.
After uncovering the remains of a rural settlement dating from the 3rd to 5th centuries CE offering new information about daily life during the final centuries of the Roman Empire…
And considering how Germany today is clearly incapable of introducing the radical economic reforms it needs to continue as a competitive industrialized nation, the helpless German government is considering a proposal by the Greens to reintroduce these ancient longhouses and weaving workshops as an alternative path to progress and prosperity.
Skeptics point out, however, that the huge bureaucratic hurdles blocking a return to such an alternative lifestyle could take several centuries CE to overcome.
Observing Hermann 