the teutonic tragedy

nachtigall, ick hoer dir trapsen

they say that there is no perfect allegory, and perhaps this is true, but right this second if i had to pick one, it would be difficult to top this video of green party honcho robert habeck attempting to “safely” christen a ship with champagne.

this man is the economics minister and vice chancellor of germany. he’s is currently running for chancellor.

draw your own conclusions about his general intelligence, competence, and judgement.

i’m honestly not sure there is a better 15 second explainer of german economic and energy policy.

you think you understand how dangerously deluded these people are, but you don’t. the reality is always far beyond what seem like flights of fancy.

this is the same guy now advocating debt funded power subsidies after making making german energy prices double by adding expensive, unreliable wind and solar, closing their nuclear plants and picking a fight with their primary source of natural gas.

(note that that is in EUR cents, so it’s 40.17 cents US. the US average is 17c)

what has happened in germany is not subtle:

prices have not only risen, but the unreliability of renewables has made them wildly volatile.

this is ravaging industry. german heavy and chemical industry was based on 2 things: a large workforce of skilled tradesmen/technicians and cheap, reliable electricity.

now they are in real trouble. (grabbed using GROK)

1. BASF SE:

   • BASF, one of the world's largest chemical companies, announced significant restructuring due to high energy costs. They planned to close several ammonia, fertilizer, and other chemical production units in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The company has also invested heavily in China, marking its largest foreign investment in history, partly due to lower energy costs there.

2. Lanxess AG:

   • Lanxess, another major German chemical company, has reduced its operations in Germany, citing high energy prices. They have considered moving production elsewhere where energy costs are more manageable.

3. Covestro:

   • Covestro, previously part of Bayer and now a leader in high-performance plastics, has explicitly stated they will not build new energy-intensive production facilities in Germany due to the high cost of energy. They are considering relocating production outside of Germany.

4. Continental AG's ContiTech:

   • Continental AG announced plant closures at several locations in Germany affecting sites like Stolzenau, Bad Blankenburg, Moers, Frohburg, and Geithain. While not solely attributed to energy prices, the broader context of high operational costs in Germany, including energy, was a significant factor.

5. Georgsmarienhütte GmbH:

   • This steel manufacturer has been vocal about the impact of high electricity prices on its operations. They have warned that they might need to relocate production outside of Germany if energy costs do not become more competitive.

6. ThyssenKrupp:

   • Posts on X have highlighted that ThyssenKrupp has significantly reduced its workforce from around 46,000 to 20,000 employees, partly due to economic pressures including high energy costs.

7. Volkswagen AG:

   • Volkswagen has faced challenges with high energy costs leading to considerations of shutting down or reducing operations at some factories in Germany. Posts on X mention the closure of three factories due to these costs.

german GDP has been stagnant since 2017.

the EU as a whole is a train wreck.

i set both euro area (blue) and US (green) to 100 in q4 2007.

EU grew 14.7%, US 39.1% (and this has been a bad growth period for us)

there is a fine german phrase: “nachtigall, ick hoer dir trapsen.” it translates to “nightengale, i can hear you galumphing around.” the literal implication is “i can see what you are doing.” one wonders, at what point will the teutons realize that it’s time to apply this marvel of agglutinative idiom to their own government?

perhaps that time is approaching.

i’m not sure how much more government intrusion and mandatory cultural enrichment the deutchlanders are supposed to take.

you can see the fight to keep them in check moving into a higher gear.

this is the same demoralization/censorship issue that was fought in the US.

it’s pretty wild watching the germans flirt with “banning popular political parties to save democracy.” for a group so ostensibly touchy about their fascist past, it seems a remarkably tone-deaf flex.

the AfD (alternative for deutchland) is a popular populist party running on ideas like “let’s get cheap energy again” and “hey, maybe we should not invite all these un-integratable immigrants in and give them free welfare.” it’s quite literally a law and order party outraged by the spike in crime that wants to leave the EU and its watermelon climate cult of socialism masquerading as climate crisis and go back to being a high trust, prosperous society with safe streets and and basic freedoms.

the CDU and their green party pals are big mad at elon for supporting the AfD. they have been threatening him, threatening twitter, and accusing him of election meddling for simply speaking his mind. but it’s not simply that, is it?

elon, DOGE, X/twitter, it’s all part of a rising popular tide that has had it with government by faulty champagne breaking machine and grifter supra-nationals. all over the west, a small dictatorial class funded by slush funds and NGOs whose coffers were stuffed with taxpayer money have been immiserating we the people in their uneven handed grifts and schemes.

they have gone so far that nothing works. systems and economies sputter and fail. societies and civilizations decline. high trust and hope are gone. they have broken the emergence of prosperity and plenty. they have broken the system of the world.

of course the aristocratic authors of this staggering mess are afraid.

anyone would be.

their way of life is ending.

and not a moment too soon.