Who doesn’t know what he’s driving at.
Germany was billed as Europe’s growth driver. Now economists are saying: Not so fast – Huge investment pledges and major fiscal changes had bolstered hopes that Germany could give the euro zone economy a much-needed boost, but economists are starting to question if — and when — that will happen.
“The actual spending is slower than many of the more excitable pundits had expected. In Germany, it takes time to spend money.”
That means the autumn of reform.
It’s similar to the German spring, summer and winter of reform, only here nothing gets reformed in autumn.
Germany’s Merz faces trouble over ‘autumn of reform’ – Friedrich Merz has decided that the autumn must be the season for tackling Germany’s urgent domestic problems, but that means conflict with his center-left coalition partners.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s “autumn of reform” could turn into a season of coalition strife as he plows ahead with his ambitious plan to reform Germany’s welfare state, while bringing in tax reforms to boost the economy.
The challenges are significant: The German economy now faces a third year without GDP growth, the welfare state and pension system are failing to keep up with demographic challenges, and the federal budget has a hole of some €172 billion ($200 billion) for 2027 to 2029.
That means shadow or underground economy.
It’s a Volkssport (national pastime) here. Over-taxed Germans get even with the government any and every chance they get. See Schwarzarbeit.
German shadow economy booms amid high taxes and state aid – While Germany’s economy falters, the country is experiencing a rise in undeclared work. What role do taxes and generous state aid for the poor play in the surge?
What an original idea.
They should start doing that in US-Amerika too.
Germany updates: Berlin to end migrant rescue NGO funding – The German Foreign Ministry said it would no longer fund NGOs rescuing migrants in distress at sea. Meanwhile, police launched a nationwide operation targeting people suspected of inciting hate online.
“Debt and precarious stagnation in the EU and Germany” sounds like a good read too.
Europe faces mounting fiscal strain as Germany pivots toward debt-financed spending to maintain political support…
The public has now lost faith in traditional muddling through and demands drastic changes.
This report focuses on Europe, where the economic situation has worsened considerably in recent years. Several countries on the old continent have become more vulnerable to shocks, and imbalances have piled up. Moreover, leaders have demonstrated an inability or unwillingness to address structural problems, yet they are all too eager to haughtily break their electoral promises, swim with the tide and gather consensus through frantic lawmaking in the name of emergencies, fairness and social justice.
Because starting around 2015, the money had to be used for other things.
‘Rust in peace’: why are Germany’s bridges and schools falling apart?
Problems caused by underinvestment are being seized on by the far right as evidence of ‘state failure.’
That ought to be easy enough.
I mean, how many ordinary Germans can there be?
Chancellor Merz pledges affordable housing for ordinary Germans – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday that the government wants to do more to make housing affordable for ordinary people again.
“Anyone earning a normal income in Germany should be able to buy a normal home,” Merz said at the Construction Industry Conference in Berlin.
“We are determined to … get things moving so that building in Germany becomes faster, easier and cheaper, enabling the average family in Germany to afford their own home as a rule,” Merz asserted.
King Peter I, the Son of Man or the Messiah?
Germany Arrests King Peter I, the Son of Man, the Messiah – Peter identified sources of frustration and indignity that might bother virtually any German: how one navigates banking, taxation, health care, law.
Last week, Germany arrested Peter Fitzek, 59, an anti-government figure also known as King Peter I, the Son of Man, the Messiah. Historically, attempts to arrest messiahs have met with mixed results, so to stay on the safe side, the Interior Ministry not only rolled up Fitzek and three conspirators but also shut down his whole operation, known as the Kingdom of Germany. Subjects of King Peter deny the legitimacy of the Federal Republic of Germany and, over the past 13 years, have built up a counter-state with its own institutions. “In Germany, just like in the rest of the world,” he said, “We have a lot of problems,”
That means covert tyranny.
Following the classification of the AfD as “verified right-wing extremist” by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, US Secretary of State Rubio has described the classification as “covert tyranny,” while US Vice President Vance even draws historical comparisons.
Both US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Vice President J.D. Vance have criticized the new classification of the AfD by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution with vigorous words. The Federal Foreign Office responded to the X-word battle and countered: “That’s democracy.”
“Germany just gave its spy agency new powers to surveil the opposition. That’s not democracy — it’s tyranny. What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD, but rather the establishment’s deadly open border immigration policies that the AfD opposes.”
Except in Berlin.
Lock ’em up. Toss ’em out. ICE, ICE, baby.
Half of pet dogs in Berlin kept illegally as owners ‘boycott’ registration rules – Microchip implant with data has been required since 2022 but policy is unpopular because of expense and nuisance.
Observing Hermann 