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I hate this kind of misleading two step: “ per capita GDP in the former GDR is higher than in many regions in northern France. Unemployment, at 2.9 percent, is

I hate this kind of misleading two step: “ per capita GDP in the former GDR is higher than in many regions in northern France. Unemployment, at 2.9 percent, is well below the U.S. or EU average, even though Germany took in a million Syrians in 2015 and another million Ukrainians in 2022. Berlin remains the biggest financial contributor to the EU” But? “ The country’s economy is fragile, and the rise of the AfD makes its politics as unpredictable as those of Austria or Italy. ” That’s it. That’s basically the whole article. Germany still has an exceptional economy but it has a right wing party that is surging (like everyone else) and it’s economy is somehow “fragile” which apparently is justified by “German GDP has roughly stagnated since 2019. And German manufacturing is the main problem: Industrial output lags pre-pandemic levels by some 5 percent.” I don’t know, seems fine. In any case, seems a very weak case for the sky to be falling in Germany. It’s just some mundane challenges in a still robust economy dressed up with a provocative headline. (By the way, “roughly stagnated” can be translated as “not stagnated”. I knew that even before finding https://tradingeconomics.com/germany/gdp https://tradingeconomics.com/germany/gdp because it’s a weasel term)

erulabs 3y ago
I just read an article on how social media has had devastating consequences on par with the dropping of atomic weapons at the end of WW2. The main devastation the author pointed to? Right wing politics becoming vaguely more popular.
- ceejayoz 3y ago
  A lot of the “wow, that was bad” realization with nukes came decades later. The same may be true for social media. We’ve yet to know what a generation raised on the stuff looks like 20-30 years later.
chewz 3y ago
Leftie journalists cannot admit that all over Europe people vote for "far-right" parties because they are fed up with forced social engineering, activist green agenda, out of control imigration policy and growing taxes..They need external explanations... Italy, Sweden, Finland, Holland, tomorrow Spain and Germany, Poland soon... And it is all fruits of labour of current European Comission...
scythe 3y ago
>Berlin remains the biggest financial contributor to the EU This is unsurprising for the EU's largest population, though. >I knew that even before finding https://tradingeconomics.com/germany/gdp https://tradingeconomics.com/germany/gdp because it’s a weasel term Looks to me like ~1% annual average since 2018 which is not promising to put it mildly.
- lispm 3y ago
  > This is unsurprising for the EU's largest population, though. It's more difficult. The contribution to the EU depend on the economic situation. Germany is the largest net (!!) contributor, by far. Countries pay to the EU and receive from the EU. A poor EU country with large population will receive much more than they pay. For example France has half of Germany's net contribution, but does have more than half of Germany's population. Poland OTOH net receives almost half of what Germany pays. Most EU countries receive more from the EU than they pay. Germany is the largest net contributor and the third largest per capita net contributor. 9 countries pay more than they receive and 18 countries receive more than they pay. Of the net contributors, Germany is paying by far the largest amount. For example: https://www.statista.com/chart/18794/net-contributors-to-eu-budget/ https://www.statista.com/chart/18794/net-contributors-to-eu-...
  - cycomanic 3y ago
    These contribution calculations are almost always misleading. The right wing parties (in particular the AFD) have been making these sort of calculations for a long time arguing that the EU is a money sink. The reality is that Germanys economy has likely been the biggest beneficiary of the integrated market offered by the EU. So the EU has been a huge net gain for Germany.
    - lispm 3y ago
      It's not misleading at all. It here also means that Germany has a strong economy to be able to provide that amount of financial support for the development of the EU. And this strength is not just depending on the number of people (as claimed above), but also on the state of the countries economic development. > So the EU has been a huge net gain for Germany. sure, as it has been for other countries
rad_gruchalski 3y ago
> I don’t know, seems fine. Sure, on paper. However, energy prices and increasing curbing down on CO2 emissions drive heavy industry (the one Germany was built on) away from Germany. It's getting worse and this is the story line in the mainstream media. The best example here is Viessmann take over by Carrier Global. In the midst of a heat pump boom, a Germany company manufacturing heat pumps sells itself to an American business: https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/us-takeover-german-heat-pump-maker-viessmann-sparks-fears-key-industry-loss https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/us-takeover-german-heat.... The reason? Many believe it's down to how expensive and difficult it is to manufacture these in the EU in the current eco climate. This shows where the German industry is heading. The media often reports that about 30% of heavy manufacturing industry is thinking of leaving Germany and moving to the US or other places.
- lispm 3y ago
  > The media often reports that about 30% of heavy manufacturing industry is thinking of leaving Germany and moving to the US or other places. Especially because the US provides a lot of local subsidies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act
  - signatoremo 3y ago
    Europe itself has a lot of local subsidies. Airbus, the space industry, France’s agriculture, the list goes on. Europe also tries to attract chipmakers like TSMC or Intel to open plants there with generous incentive. Intel is said to get $10 billions from Germany: https://www.reuters.com/technology/chipmakers-plans-factories-europe-2023-02-16/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/chipmakers-plans-factorie...
    - lispm 3y ago
      The US also has a lot subsidies & protectionism: Boeing, the space industry, agriculture, chip industry, ... the US tries to get TSMC and others to open plants there with generous incentives, etc Plus they added even more subsidies and protectionism lately.

erulabs 3y ago

I just read an article on how social media has had devastating consequences on par with the dropping of atomic weapons at the end of WW2. The main devastation the author pointed to? Right wing politics becoming vaguely more popular.

ceejayoz 3y ago
A lot of the “wow, that was bad” realization with nukes came decades later. The same may be true for social media. We’ve yet to know what a generation raised on the stuff looks like 20-30 years later.

chewz 3y ago

Leftie journalists cannot admit that all over Europe people vote for "far-right" parties because they are fed up with forced social engineering, activist green agenda, out of control imigration policy and growing taxes..They need external explanations... Italy, Sweden, Finland, Holland, tomorrow Spain and Germany, Poland soon... And it is all fruits of labour of current European Comission...

scythe 3y ago

>Berlin remains the biggest financial contributor to the EU This is unsurprising for the EU's largest population, though. >I knew that even before finding https://tradingeconomics.com/germany/gdp https://tradingeconomics.com/germany/gdp because it’s a weasel term Looks to me like ~1% annual average since 2018 which is not promising to put it mildly.

lispm 3y ago
> This is unsurprising for the EU's largest population, though. It's more difficult. The contribution to the EU depend on the economic situation. Germany is the largest net (!!) contributor, by far. Countries pay to the EU and receive from the EU. A poor EU country with large population will receive much more than they pay. For example France has half of Germany's net contribution, but does have more than half of Germany's population. Poland OTOH net receives almost half of what Germany pays. Most EU countries receive more from the EU than they pay. Germany is the largest net contributor and the third largest per capita net contributor. 9 countries pay more than they receive and 18 countries receive more than they pay. Of the net contributors, Germany is paying by far the largest amount. For example: https://www.statista.com/chart/18794/net-contributors-to-eu-budget/ https://www.statista.com/chart/18794/net-contributors-to-eu-...
- cycomanic 3y ago
  These contribution calculations are almost always misleading. The right wing parties (in particular the AFD) have been making these sort of calculations for a long time arguing that the EU is a money sink. The reality is that Germanys economy has likely been the biggest beneficiary of the integrated market offered by the EU. So the EU has been a huge net gain for Germany.
  - lispm 3y ago
    It's not misleading at all. It here also means that Germany has a strong economy to be able to provide that amount of financial support for the development of the EU. And this strength is not just depending on the number of people (as claimed above), but also on the state of the countries economic development. > So the EU has been a huge net gain for Germany. sure, as it has been for other countries

rad_gruchalski 3y ago

> I don’t know, seems fine. Sure, on paper. However, energy prices and increasing curbing down on CO2 emissions drive heavy industry (the one Germany was built on) away from Germany. It's getting worse and this is the story line in the mainstream media. The best example here is Viessmann take over by Carrier Global. In the midst of a heat pump boom, a Germany company manufacturing heat pumps sells itself to an American business: https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/us-takeover-german-heat-pump-maker-viessmann-sparks-fears-key-industry-loss https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/us-takeover-german-heat.... The reason? Many believe it's down to how expensive and difficult it is to manufacture these in the EU in the current eco climate. This shows where the German industry is heading. The media often reports that about 30% of heavy manufacturing industry is thinking of leaving Germany and moving to the US or other places.

lispm 3y ago
> The media often reports that about 30% of heavy manufacturing industry is thinking of leaving Germany and moving to the US or other places. Especially because the US provides a lot of local subsidies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act
- signatoremo 3y ago
  Europe itself has a lot of local subsidies. Airbus, the space industry, France’s agriculture, the list goes on. Europe also tries to attract chipmakers like TSMC or Intel to open plants there with generous incentive. Intel is said to get $10 billions from Germany: https://www.reuters.com/technology/chipmakers-plans-factories-europe-2023-02-16/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/chipmakers-plans-factorie...
  - lispm 3y ago
    The US also has a lot subsidies & protectionism: Boeing, the space industry, agriculture, chip industry, ... the US tries to get TSMC and others to open plants there with generous incentives, etc Plus they added even more subsidies and protectionism lately.