Tag Archives: Government

German of the day: Genug!

April 25, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means enough! As in enough already!

Most Germans Have Had Enough of the Firewall Against AfD – While establishment parties continue to ostracize the party, only a third of the country supports the cordon sanitaire, with half wanting AfD to be treated as any other democratic party.

After a turbulent election season dominated by the establishment’s demonization of the national conservative AfD—now Germany’s most popular party—the plurality of Germans believe that ending the undemocratic cordon sanitaire against them is long overdue, regardless of who they vote for.

Thought Crime and Punishment

April 22, 2025 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Watch your step in Germany.

The British news magazine “Economist”, which is read by decision-makers worldwide, sounds the alarm: in Germany, freedom of opinion is increasingly under threat – from laws, court judgments and a way of dealing with criticism that raises questions in a liberal democracy.

The report focuses on the case of journalist David Bendels. The editor-in-chief of the right-wing populist “Deutschland-Kurier” had published a manipulated photo of Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser holding a sign saying “I hate freedom of expression.” The Economist notes: “Such images are commonplace on social media.” However, Faeser filed a criminal complaint – and a court sentenced Bendels to a seven-month suspended sentence, a heavy fine and an apology.

“Free money”

April 15, 2025 By in Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Brilliant. This is better than free lunch!

Why didn’t anyone ever think of this before?

Free money for all: Germany’s basic income experiment – One of the world’s most extensive studies on unconditional basic income was held in Germany. What does the experiment reveal?

… It is seen as a redistribution of wealth through taxes. In the activists’ calculation, Germany’s top earners — 10% of the population — would end up contributing a part of their income to everyone else. They estimate that 83% of the population would thereby have access to more money. The remaining 7% mid-earners would be unaffected by the redistribution scheme.

In times of rising populism, the basic income activists believe that this is a way to combat the population’s dissatisfaction due to wealth inequality.

“Reducing bureaucracy will be one of our top priorities!”

April 12, 2025 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

This is why we are going to create a new ‘super–high-tech ministry’ for research, technology, and aerospace.

Germany to create ‘super–high-tech ministry’ for research, technology, and aerospace – New governing coalition also plans to woo scientists from abroad and make it easier for universities to collaborate with the military on defense research.

The announcement is one of several nods to science in the 144-page agreement, unveiled on 9 April following weeks of negotiations between the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) and its sister party, the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU)—who together won the most seats in February’s federal elections—and the center-left Social Democrats. The agreement is expected to be formally approved by the three parties by early May, paving the way for CDU leader Friedrich Merz to be elected chancellor.

The European Debt Race

March 31, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

To the bottom.

You’ll never catch us! As in U.S.

Germany’s spending push drives up borrowing costs across Eurozone – Investors warn that higher bond yields could make it harder for members of the bloc to increase defence spending.

A surge in Eurozone government borrowing costs as a result of Germany’s planned defence spending spree will intensify debt pressures on other countries in the bloc and could make it harder for them to mount borrowing campaigns of their own, investors have warned.

No place to run

March 18, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Except into debt?

“Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt.”

German parliament approves Merz’s historic spending surge – Germany’s parliament approved plans for a massive spending surge on Tuesday, throwing off decades of fiscal conservatism in hopes of reviving economic growth and scaling up military spending for a new era of European collective defence.

The approval in the Bundestag hands conservative leader Friedrich Merz a huge boost, giving the chancellor-in-waiting a windfall of hundreds of billions of euros to ramp up investment after two years of contraction in Europe’s largest economy…

“The politician’s greatest asset is credibility. With these embarrassing actions, Mr Merz, you have already completely squandered yours. The voters feel betrayed by you, and rightly so.”

One-sided demonstrations directed against one party?

March 3, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

And funded by a government under the control of the opposing party?

This somehow sounds vaguely familiar.

Germany’s conservatives scrutinize state support for NGOs – Germany’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc is questioning the political neutrality of some NGOs. That could weigh on relations with its potential Social Democrat coalition partners…

In its inquiry, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group refers to an article in the conservative-leaning German daily Welt in which several experts on constitutional law expressed very critical views about the demonstrations.

“Associations that helped organize ‘firewall’ demonstrations did not act on a charitable basis,” argued Volker Boehme-Nessler from Oldenburg University. “The demonstrations were one-sidedly political. They were directed concretely against one party, the CDU.”

Don’t choose between security and prosperity…

November 13, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Because you won’t get either.

Scholz, fighting for survival, says Germans should not choose between security and prosperity – Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday appealed to parties to pass measures such as raising child benefits and lifting tax thresholds before a February snap election, stressing that Germans did not need to choose between security and prosperity.

Scholz was addressing parliament in political leaders’ first public head-to-head since the collapse of the chancellor’s ruling coalition last week forced the country into a snap election that will likely take place in February.

We don’t have enough paper…

November 11, 2024 By in Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

For the ballots, you know?

So we can’t have that vote of confidence and early election you voters want. Even though our government doesn’t have a majority anymore and is more non-functioning than ever. Sorry, fellow citizens. It’s out of our hands.

Geez. These German SPD guys would make good Democrats.

Germany: Paper questions punctuate election date debate – As lawmakers jostle over the timing of a vote of confidence after Germany’s coalition collapse, preparations are already being made for a snap election. Officials have warned of logistical issues with ballot printing.

A vote of confidence now?

November 8, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

Why? Everybody loves me.

I’m at least as popular here as Nicolás Maduro is in Venezuela.

German opposition parties and business groups on Thursday urged Chancellor Olaf Scholz to trigger a new election quickly to minimize political uncertainty after his rocky three-way coalition collapsed…

The chancellor said he would hold a confidence vote in January, which he would probably lose, triggering a new election by the end of March — six months ahead of schedule.