Germany’s economy is doing just fine.
Germany’s economy is on shaky ground and glimmers of hope are few and far between – Good news has been sparse for the German economy. And the latest economic data has not done much to change this.
A few key 2023 data points, namely factory orders, exports and industrial production, were out last week and indicated a weak end to the year that saw questions about Germany being the “sick man of Europe” resurface.
Into the brave new renewable energy future. The German government has announced it will spend €16 billion to build four major natural gas plants to meet the electricity demand their beloved renewable energy technology simply can’t meet.
A brilliant move, and long expected. Overdue, actually. You see, wind and solar power are so unreliable that you must always build a second “dirty” system (CO2 is a BAD “pollutant,” remember?) to back them up. This way you get to spend twice as much as you would have if you had only used the dirty system to begin with. Or, heavens forbid, if you had used nuclear energy to begin with (it doesn’t produce any CO2). This way, in other words, you can save the planet with one hand while you continue to pollute it with the other.
After scrapping nuclear reactors, Germany to spend billions on new gas power plants – The fossil fuel expansion is needed to ensure long-term energy security, according to industry and the government.
In a statement Monday, officials said the new strategy came “in addition to the consistent expansion of renewable energies,” and was key to ensuring steady power supplies “even in times where there is little sun and wind.”
And that’s the main thing.
German industrial output drops unexpectedly in November – German industrial production fell unexpectedly in November by 0.7% compared to the previous month, the federal statistics office said on Tuesday.
As reported earlier, this only confirms that the Green plan to shut down Germany in order to save the planet is running like clockwork.
Worried about how heated up the atmosphere is getting?
Then why did you heat it up in the first place? Subsidies are like heroin. You don’t take heroin away from a heroin addict without expecting a reaction, do you?
Protest against German vice-chancellor shocks political class – Angry farmers attempt to stop Robert Habeck disembarking from ferry…
Deputy chancellor and economy minister Robert Habeck was on his way back from the island of Hooge on Thursday night when he faced a group of about 250-300 farmers at Schlüttsiel harbour, near the border with Denmark. They had gathered to protest against a recent government decision to slash agricultural subsidies.
“What I’m really worried about is how heated up the atmosphere in the country is becoming,” he added. “The right to protest in Germany is a precious asset. Coercion and violence destroy this asset.”
When your industries start to tank because of the high costs caused by Green renewable energy fantasies, you produce less.
The less you do, the less CO2.
Germany’s 2023 CO2 emissions fall to lowest in 70 years but drop not yet sustainable – study.
Germany’s carbon dioxide emissions in 2023 fell to their lowest since the 1950s due to less coal-fired power and reduced output by energy-intensive industries, but the decline is unsustainable without climate policy changes, a study said on Thursday…
Industry emissions met government targets, falling 12% year-on-year, at 144 million tonnes, following an 11% drop in energy-intensive output, it added, warning that that fall could be lost this year with the sector’s recovery.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Burning… other people’s money!
Our people’s money (i.e. taxpayer money). Sorry, but that’s what you elected us to do.
Germany to pay into climate funds despite budget crisis – Foreign minister Annalena Baerbock says country will fulfil its international obligations.
Observing Hermann 