Because once things start looking better, they can only get worse.
German businesses expect only mild recession as disruptions ease – German companies expect only a mild recession next year despite headwinds from the energy crisis, raw material shortages and a tepid global economy, a survey of major associations published by Reuters on Tuesday showed.
There have been growing signs that the German economy could stave off the worst of an economic downturn triggered by a plunge in energy supply from Russia after the Ukraine invasion.
Inflation to 11.3% in November from a high of 11.6% the month prior as energy prices eased. The German government has predicted the economy will grow by 1.4% this year and next year.
Over 60% of Germans are Dissatisfied with the Work of Chancellor Olaf Scholz – Currently, only 25% of Germans are satisfied with Scholz’s performance as chancellor, and as many as 62% are dissatisfied – a record low during his tenure.
If the chancellor had been elected directly, Scholz would have taken only third place. According to the survey, 25 percent would choose current Economy Minister Robert Habeck as Germany’s chancellor, 19 percent would choose CDU leader Friedrich Merz and only 18 percent would choose Scholz of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
Germany on cusp of recession, says ifo, after business sentiment falls – German business morale fell more than expected in July as high energy prices and impending gas shortages push Europe’s largest economy to the cusp of recession, a survey showed on Monday.
The Ifo institute said its business climax index was 88.6, its lowest level in more than two years. June had also seen an unexpected drop to a downwardly revised reading of 92.2.
These Germans. They’re all worried about some horrible war just a few miles down the road and ever-growing inflation that looks as though it might be spiralling out of control.
They should worry about real problems, like they used to. You know, like their plans for this year’s third vacation, their next second car, finally starting that diet, which weekend demonstration to take part in, etc.
Germans worry about war and inflation – The German government is supporting Ukraine, battling inflation, and combatting climate change. A monthly survey has asked voters how they rate the efforts.
The war is driving up energy prices, but food prices have also risen significantly. Almost half of all respondents said they already have to cut back significantly because of this. Among low-income earners, 77% say they are beginning to struggle…
Especially when you consider that there are only about thirty or forty black people living in Germany in the first place.
Black People in German Survey Report ‘Extensive’ Discrimination – Black people living in Germany face pervasive issues with racism and discrimination, according to a survey which marks the first wide-scale effort to tally the community’s experiences.
“The results of the Afrozensus indicate that anti-Black racism is widespread in Germany and anchored in institutions,” a press release of the report said on Tuesday. “There is no area of life in which discrimination and racism are not extensive problems.”
But you can bet that’s only because the pollsters didn’t bother to ask any Germans.
Woke Germans (the only ones who count) love to hate Germany more than woke Americans love to hate US-Amerika (AKA The Banana Republic), if you can imagine that.
Soft Power: Germany Gets Record-High Approval From World – The world’s approval of Germany’s leadership during Chancellor Angela Merkel’s last full year in office in 2020 hit a new record high, not only for Germany, but for any global leader in more than a decade. The 52% median approval rating for Germany’s leadership in 2020 towered above ratings for Russia (34%), China (30%) and the U.S. (30%).
A survey says. Most Germans also find that they are miserable and without purpose or direction and in desperate search of some Ersatzreligion (substitute religion – see apocalyptic environmentalism and climate activism), my observation says. But maybe that’s just me.
Most Germans find religion unimportant, survey shows – A significant majority of Germans say religion plays no role in their life, a poll has shown. Fewer than one in eight adults believe that faith makes the world a fairer place, although younger people were more positive.
Not really. They’re just saving up their Angst for a rainy day. Oh, my. Look at those dark clouds over there…
German Inflation Hysteria Mysteriously Missing Before Vote – Germany’s sudden spike in pandemic-induced inflation is prompting a noticeably less hysterical response than the country is used to.
That marks a shift from traditional fears of lax southern European-style economics, infused with worries of 1920s Weimar-Republic hyperinflation, that caused alarm during the euro-zone debt crisis in the previous decade, according to academics including Ferdinand Fichtner of Berlin’s University of Applied Sciences.
“It’s surprisingly quiet compared to what you would have expected 10 years ago,” he said. “The outcry could have been louder. As far as the election is concerned, the topic may even be over because there’ll be no new inflation numbers.”
An annual study has again asked people what they fear the most. After almost two years of COVID pandemic, somewhat surprisingly, health issues do not top the list.
For years, there was no new public debt in Germany. This gave citizens the reassuring feeling of living in a fiscally sound country — until the coronavirus pandemic came rolling over our world like a tsunami.
“People like to push thoughts of illness away, we all know that. But when it comes to money, then, also in my experience, the fears are always very large.”
Germans may feel the least free of all Europeans when it comes to the pandemic…
But to compensate for this they pay the highest taxes, have the highest energy and water costs, earn some of the lowest wages, get the lowest retirement pay, fight through the worst bureaucracy, have the most difficult time acquiring property of all Europeans and there’s more of course but I’ll stop here because I’m running out of breath.
Germans ‘feel least free’ of all Europeans during pandemic – Nowhere in Europe have people felt more inhibited by 18 months of Covid-19 restrictions than in Germany, a new study by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) finds.
Just one in ten Germans currently ‘feel free’ in their everyday life, while almost half say that they ‘don’t feel free’, the study published on Wednesday found.
The results put Germany at the bottom of a table of Europeans in 12 EU member states who were asked about their level of freedom now compared to since the pre-pandemic days.
Observing Hermann 