Random political thought thread.

[The Cat]

 

[The Cat]

 

[The Cat]

 

[The Cat]

 

[Virtual ghost]

Coalition blues make German Greens see red

 

[Red Herring]

Coalition blues make German Greens see red

Yeah, nothing too surprising though. The coalition is an unconfortable one and most conflicts were foreseable. The FDP is the main obstacle when it comes to climate protection. A lot of it is due to Lindner (finance minister) having budget concerns which I might be able to understand but our minister for traffic Wissing is an absolute desaster. Traffic has always been the department with the most incompetent minister of the entire cabinet, for ages. It's a tradition to dump the least popular, least competent cabinet member in there. But Wissing is openly anti-progress, anti-change and a serious liabilty for the entire government coalition. I sometimes wonder if he has kompromat on the chancelor (and I remember thinking that about the previous minister for traffic from the CSU who was also the least popular and least competent of the lot and a public joke) as he really should be fired. Then again, in a coalition the post would have to go to another FDP politician and it might be hard to find one willing to do the job.

Differences within a coalition are normal, so I'm not worried about that. Neither am I worried about the Greens' poll numbers dropping (back to where they were for many, many years until shortly before the last elections - and it's normal to pay a price in popularity for actually governing) or the AfD being at 15% (where they have been before as they tend to move back and forth between 10 and 15% over time). What has me worried is Germany embarassing itself in Brussels and making the fight against climate change harder for everybody. We could be world leaders in alternative energies if we had persued it more in the 90s and early 2000s instead of leaving it to the Chinese and our automotive industry has spend millions and millions in lobbying to delay the unstoppable for a little longer instead of putting that money in research and development to be ready for what has to come eventually. That's something that has annoyed me for years.

In fact, from what I have been reading, the FDP (and in part the CDU) are not even speaking for the German industry when they fight climate protection measures and reforms. Most business leaders in Germany actually understand the need for change and are ready for it - they just want clear legal guidelines to know what to expect and maybe some incentives/help if possible. But mostly clear guidelines. New standards to adjust to. Remember that the backbone of German industry is small and medium sized family businesses that actually care about still being around a few decades/generations from now. I recently translated a brochure from one such company (an internationally known liquor brand) that is changing its packaging, supporting organic and sustainable production of raw materials, supports resusability, uses renewables and aims at CO2 neutrality. They are not some idealistic hippy start-up. They are an almost a century old company that wants to make sure they still have customers decades from now. It's business sense.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Yeah, nothing too surprising though. The coalition is an unconfortable one and most conflicts were foreseable. The FDP is the main obstacle when it comes to climate protection. A lot of it is due to Lindner (finance minister) having budget concerns which I might be able to understand but our minister for traffic Wissing is an absolute desaster. Traffic has always been the department with the most incompetent minister of the entire cabinet, for ages. It's a tradition to dump the least popular, least competent cabinet member in there. But Wissing is openly anti-progress, anti-change and a serious liabilty for the entire government coalition. I sometimes wonder if he has kompromat on the chancelor (and I remember thinking that about the previous minister for traffic from the CSU who was also the least popular and least competent of the lot and a public joke) as he really should be fired. Then again, in a coalition the post would have to go to another FDP politician and it might be hard to find one willing to do the job.

Differences within a coalition are normal, so I'm not worried about that. Neither am I worried about the Greens' poll numbers dropping (back to where they were for many, many years until shortly before the last elections - and it's normal to pay a price in popularity for actually governing) or the AfD being at 15% (where they have been before as they tend to move back and forth between 10 and 15% over time). What has me worried is Germany embarassing itself in Brussels and making the fight against climate change harder for everybody. We could be world leaders in alternative energies if we had persued it more in the 90s and early 2000s instead of leaving it to the Chinese and our automotive industry has spend millions and millions in lobbying to delay the unstoppable for a little longer instead of putting that money in research and development to be ready for what has to come eventually. That's something that has annoyed me for years.

In fact, from what I have been reading, the FDP (and in part the CDU) are not even speaking for the German industry when they fight climate protection measures and reforms. Most business leaders in Germany actually understand the need for change and are ready for it - they just want clear legal guidelines to know what to expect and maybe some incentives/help if possible. But mostly clear guidelines. New standards to adjust to. Remember that the backbone of German industry is small and medium sized family businesses that actually care about still being around a few decades/generations from now. I recently translated a brochure from one such company (an internationally known liquor brand) that is changing its packaging, supporting organic and sustainable production of raw materials, supports resusability, uses renewables and aims at CO2 neutrality. They are not some idealistic hippy start-up. They are an almost a century old company that wants to make sure they still have customers decades from now. It's business sense.

Yeah, that is what I find kinda surprising. Germans usually do things by the book while now they are basically rioting at the last minute over a climate deal that was basically already made. It is kinda atypical moment. I mean I currently have center right EPP in top office with support of some tiny parties ... and there is certain progress regarding climate change. Installing new solar and wind capacity, making sure buildings need less energy, some subsidies for electric cars and their local production, expanding the infrastructure for them, expanding public transport even further, new investments into nuclear, geothermal and hydro energy ... etc. There is progress but this isn't some top priority that drives everything. After all most of it is basically just inertia that is coming from the rest of the EU and it's laws. However with just 0.4% of EUs GDP you aren't really in position to set industrial trends. That is on bigger member states to define for the most part.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Live blog: European Council summit



IT'S TOO LATE TO SAVE DAS AUTO, FINLAND TELLS GERMANY

German attempts to reopen the EU's deal on banning sales of new gas-guzzling cars and vans should be rejected, according to Finland.

“We should all be aware of the consensus that we have reached already within the Council — and we are satisfied with the decision that we have already taken,” Finnish European Affairs Minister Tytti Tuppurainen told POLITICO on the sidelines of the summit. “We would be ready to ban the engines by 2035” and, while Berlin has “a lot of its own interests” at play, Finland is “not willing to open the already-negotiated pact,” she added.



METSOLA SAYS NO GOING BACK ON CAR DEAL
The European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said countries (read: Germany and its car engine allies) shouldn’t seek changes to an otherwise done deal on vehicle emissions legislation.
“We cannot go back on deals because this is ultimately about trust between co-legislators and the credibility of the legislative process,” Metsola said on the sidelines of the summit.
On Monday, at the behest of political groups, Metsola sent a letter to the Council setting out that the 2035 polluting vehicle sales phaseout legislation should stand, despite last-minute resistance from Germany and Italy. “If we are asked or tasked by our citizens to legislate in a specific area, to take decisions in a specific area, we need to be prepared to do that. And once we do that, then we need to deliver,” she said.
As they arrived on Thursday for the first day of a two-day summit, some heads of government insisted that the deal should stand. However, the prime ministers of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, both large car-making countries, said they would talk to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about expanding the car talks to include separate non-greenhouse-gas vehicle emissions legislation called Euro 7 which the industry doesn’t like.



LATVIA ON GERMANY’S CARS U-TURN: ‘NOT A DIRECTION WE NEED TO GO IN’
Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš chided Germany for blocking the EU-wide agreement on the banning combustion engine car sales as “puzzling” and a “difficult sign for the future.”
“If one member state can do it, what will stop the next?” Kariņš added. “This is not a direction we need to go in. The entire architecture of decision-making would fall apart if we all did that.”




Some divided opinions but it seems that the deal could stand and fossil fuel cars will go into history. After all there is still 12 years for adaption, what isn't that small amount of time. However you just have to do it by 2035 if you want to be carbon neutral by 2050. What means removing all carbon based cars from the roads.

 

[Virtual ghost]

To be honest I think that some people just got scared when they realized that fossil fuel cars are going into history and that this is all a done deal. This isn't exactly a trivial decision.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

The Fed just raised the rate a quarter point. They're caught between raising and ruining entities that gorged on bonds while the rates were low, and goosing inflation again. They seem to be trying to take a middle road by going with a quarter point raise instead of a half.

 

[The Cat]

 

[The Cat]

 

[Red Herring]

Looks like the Simpsons predicted Florida education politics under deSantis:

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...rincipal-fired-michelangelo-porn-desantis-law

 

[The Cat]

Looks like the Simpsons predicted Florida education politics under deSantis:

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...rincipal-fired-michelangelo-porn-desantis-law

I would love for Professor Chaos to just pack it in because The Simpsons already did it.

 

[The Cat]

 

[The Cat]

 

[The Cat]

 

[The Cat]

 

[The Cat]

 

[The Cat]

Oh shit.​