Verified Twitter stands on the coast of the Baltic sea on a cold, rainy day, tasked with building a pier, only to prove, once again, how utterly useless they ultimately are.
How does German industry survive? I’ve heard of the switch to a service economy, but can that service Germany’s contributions to the EU budget and what that means for the PIIGS?
Your remarks about the two types of elites I found very insightful. A well written and truly thought provoking piece George. Thank you for that. You have a very interesting perspective.
Well, by having a lot of money to burn, they can outbid anyone on the continent (and probably on the planet), so if they really need energy, or anything else, grain, fertilizer, etc., they will get it, everyone else be damned (see: the selfish way they behaved during the early COVID panic). This is already an issue within the EU, Germany throwing too much money around to the detriment of others.
Germany is an elephant. If the elephant gets sick, hungry, panicky, it's going to suck for everyone else locked in the same china shop a lot more than it does for the elephant itself.
They also have their frugal and collectivist ethos, even the Greens are a self-hating version of that. I expect Germany to handle austerity better than France, to name one.
IF the German Physical elite is allowed to handle this crisis, Germany getting by is not off the table. They can work miracles. But with one or both of their hands tied behind their back, and the Virtual elite left to run wild, Germany is doomed.
Von der Leyen received criticism from within the German elite for being too much of a Colonial Maverick, a careerist who serves Washington's interests first. That's big coming from the them, it's the stuff reserved for far-right "conspiracy theorists". This Physical elite is very quiet, especially theirs, so if they're willing to speak up, it shows that their near-infinite patience is running out.
No matter how this turns out, Germany electing the Greens into power will cost them a space program, if they're lucky, multiple ones if they're not. A colossal show of decadence, a huge waste of money, but they have more money to burn than anyone else.
In either case, Hungary must stay close to the elephant, as we're tied to them with multiple strings, and avoid getting trampled. As for the PIIGS? They should also stay quick on their feet. Everyone should! Interesting times ahead!
I wouldn't write them Krauts off so swiftly. The do sit on a lot of money, even if it's rotting. They can stay solvent longer than the rest of us. Not the slowest campers by far in Europe. (They're also going to do everything in their power to make this everyone's problem, not just theirs)
The question is - which I kind of failed to articulate properly - what will happen to the Physical/Virtual elite's relationship, if and how it might break. Germany is a great canary in the lignite mine, not just due to its continent-dominating Physical elite, but also due to the immediacy of its forced reversal from decadent to realist. Quite an upheaval.
I do honestly count Scholz as one of the sane adults in the room, Social Democrat or not. (I don't hold CDU/CSU above SPD). Was living under Tory rule for 12 years any different from the preceding Labour era? A political dendrochronologist would be hard pressed to show which ring was the last of the previous era and the first of the new one. Apart from not having a media darling PM like Blair - God knows Cameron tried to be loved like him, the fool. -, things chugged along the same pace and the same direction as before, save for the stone toss of Brexit from a 3rd party.
The British Left still needs to exhume Thatcher to have a proper reactionary to hate.
How does German industry survive? I’ve heard of the switch to a service economy, but can that service Germany’s contributions to the EU budget and what that means for the PIIGS?
Your remarks about the two types of elites I found very insightful. A well written and truly thought provoking piece George. Thank you for that. You have a very interesting perspective.
Thanks, Frank!
Well, by having a lot of money to burn, they can outbid anyone on the continent (and probably on the planet), so if they really need energy, or anything else, grain, fertilizer, etc., they will get it, everyone else be damned (see: the selfish way they behaved during the early COVID panic). This is already an issue within the EU, Germany throwing too much money around to the detriment of others.
Germany is an elephant. If the elephant gets sick, hungry, panicky, it's going to suck for everyone else locked in the same china shop a lot more than it does for the elephant itself.
They also have their frugal and collectivist ethos, even the Greens are a self-hating version of that. I expect Germany to handle austerity better than France, to name one.
IF the German Physical elite is allowed to handle this crisis, Germany getting by is not off the table. They can work miracles. But with one or both of their hands tied behind their back, and the Virtual elite left to run wild, Germany is doomed.
Von der Leyen received criticism from within the German elite for being too much of a Colonial Maverick, a careerist who serves Washington's interests first. That's big coming from the them, it's the stuff reserved for far-right "conspiracy theorists". This Physical elite is very quiet, especially theirs, so if they're willing to speak up, it shows that their near-infinite patience is running out.
No matter how this turns out, Germany electing the Greens into power will cost them a space program, if they're lucky, multiple ones if they're not. A colossal show of decadence, a huge waste of money, but they have more money to burn than anyone else.
In either case, Hungary must stay close to the elephant, as we're tied to them with multiple strings, and avoid getting trampled. As for the PIIGS? They should also stay quick on their feet. Everyone should! Interesting times ahead!
An excellent commentary on the Winter of Spice. RIP Germoney.
I wouldn't write them Krauts off so swiftly. The do sit on a lot of money, even if it's rotting. They can stay solvent longer than the rest of us. Not the slowest campers by far in Europe. (They're also going to do everything in their power to make this everyone's problem, not just theirs)
The question is - which I kind of failed to articulate properly - what will happen to the Physical/Virtual elite's relationship, if and how it might break. Germany is a great canary in the lignite mine, not just due to its continent-dominating Physical elite, but also due to the immediacy of its forced reversal from decadent to realist. Quite an upheaval.
I do honestly count Scholz as one of the sane adults in the room, Social Democrat or not. (I don't hold CDU/CSU above SPD). Was living under Tory rule for 12 years any different from the preceding Labour era? A political dendrochronologist would be hard pressed to show which ring was the last of the previous era and the first of the new one. Apart from not having a media darling PM like Blair - God knows Cameron tried to be loved like him, the fool. -, things chugged along the same pace and the same direction as before, save for the stone toss of Brexit from a 3rd party.
The British Left still needs to exhume Thatcher to have a proper reactionary to hate.