Tag Archives: Politicians

“Worried?”

January 6, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

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.”

Corruption?

December 20, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

In Germany? At the highest levels of government?

Yawn. Been there, done that. On a near daily basis even. Just look at the Banana Republic of Amerika if you need a role model.

German banker’s diaries add to Olaf Scholz’s political woes – Chancellor is facing questions over his term as Hamburg mayor, when city wrote off bank’s tax bill.

“It is pretty clear that a wealthy banker successfully influenced public decision making in his favour,” said Gerhard Schick, a former Green MP and head of Finanzwende, a financial reform lobby group, adding that policymakers later also tried to derail inquiries into the matter.

“What is at stake here is a very fundamental principle: the rule of law in a democratic society.” Scholz’s vast memory gaps were “implausible”, he added.

The Berlin Airlift

December 18, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Only this time the planes would be leaving Berlin. And headed toward Rwanda.

Or was it Wakanda? Anyway, good luck with that. You’re going to need it.

CDU seeks to win back German voters with its own Rwanda asylum plan – Official says party favours sending refugees to third countries such as Rwanda for application processing.

“If we did this and kept it up consequently for four, six, eight weeks, we would see the numbers [claiming asylum] reduce dramatically.”

Dabblers

December 8, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

You call that debt?

Sure, you’re burning too much of the taxpayers’ money but if you want to see how it’s really done, take a look at The Banana Republic of US-Amerika.

Hard-pressed Germans dabble in debt but want government thrift – Most Germans do not want their government to loosen its strict borrowing rules to fix a budget mess – but many in a nation that prides itself on thrift are building up their own debts as a cost of living crisis deepens.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition is reeling from a court ruling last month that has thrown its finances into disarray and forced it to suspend a constitutionally enshrined “debt brake” for the 2023 budget.

I sea what you did there…

December 4, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

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.

“Who?”

November 30, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

“Germany has a president?”

“You, there! You look official. Drive down to the airport when you get a minute and welcome him.”

Germany’s Steinmeier left waiting on tarmac in Qatar – Standing with arms folded at the doors of the airplane was probably not how German President Steinmeier thought he would spend almost 30 minutes of his official 3-hour visit to Doha...

In Germany, Doha’s influence on the Israel-Hamas war is seen as somewhat controversial as Qatar is home to Hamas’ political wing. That led some to wonder if Wednesday’s apparent snub was a response to statements made recently by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock prior to Al Thani’s long-planned visit to Berlin back in October.

“We do not accept support for terror,” Baerbock told public broadcaster ZDF at the time. “To put an end to this terrorism,” she added, “countries like Qatar have a special responsibility.”

Put a positive spin on it, I say. Maybe Germany’s Steinmeier was just being überpunktlich. German diplomat-types can often be that way. If they ever arrive at all. They’re not always so punctual when it comes to leaving, however.

More wiggle, wiggle, wiggle

November 27, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

They’re still squirming. 1) No money but lots and lots of things to spend it on (spending voters’ taxes is how they get votes). 2) Can’t raise taxes any higher (voters are already being taxed to death).

Let’s see. 3) There’s still this debt brake thing we could tweak (except we would need to change the German constitution and the opposition won’t help us).

This adds up to… Are you serious? Do you honestly mean to tell us that we now have no choice but to set priorities and, gulp, cut spending? OMG we’re all gonna die!

Germany’s budget crisis spurs calls to change its borrowing limits – Germany’s budget crisis has given new momentum to reforming self-imposed borrowing limits even among the opposition conservatives, as hunger for sorely needed investment trumps an earlier political obsession with fiscal rectitude.

Asking a government to “fund honestly?”

November 24, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

A government with Net Zero Honesty? Good luck with that.

The truth hurts too much.

Germany Faces the Green Fiscal Truth – The constitutional court rules Berlin will have to fund net zero honestly.

Things have gone from bad to worse in Germany this week after a court ruling that’s forcing the government to do something truly shocking: level with voters about how much the net-zero energy transition will cost. Please pass the smelling salts.

German of the day: La malignità

November 23, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Actually, that’s Italian. Meaning Schadenfreude, which is German. Meaning schadenfreude in English. Meaning malicious glee, of course. It’s complicated.

Meloni’s Italy Tastes Schadenfreude Over German Fiscal Fiasco – Stable ratings for Rome contrast with Germany’s fiscal pickle.

“Germans make mistakes too,” says professor at Bocconi.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni could be forgiven for feeling any schadenfreude this week while looking on at Germany’s unfolding budget debacle.

A string of fiscal wins for Rome has just coincided with a crisis rocking Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition in Berlin after a calamitous court judgment cast doubt on its financing plans.