Occasionally, I'll write an essay where I discuss the top ten topics going on in Germany culture, society, or the landscape. We are approaching the first of May....where one last big drive of the German news media and politicians will occur, and by late June....the sixty-day German vacation will start up....where nothing occurs in the news cycle because the movers and shakers are on a summer-long sabbatical. Most non-Germans laugh about this, but its a routine that you commonly figure out after a decade in the system.
I'll note in this sabbatical period....TV programing goes to the 'dogs' (as we say in the US).....mostly all reruns or 1960s/1970s movies. Most Germans frequent outdoor beer-gardens....sip a fair amount of wine....and have selected three or four must-read books for their off-period.
As for the top ten topics on the table in this current period? (in random order):
- Rebuilding Hartz IV (the welfare system). Intellectuals, welfare recipients, and politicians all generally agree that the system (having been around for 16 years).....is screwed up. Rebuilding it? Well....you'd have to tax the heck out of some folks, to create this new solution.
- Diesel car ban. Roughly thirty to forty urbanized cities (from Stuttgart to Hamburg) have agendas on the table for the ban, and now realize that Berlin (the federal government) will not come to bribe them out of the ban. With over fourteen million diesel cars and owners in the country....it's a fairly big mess here, and no solution to avoid what has been created.
- BREXIT. There's a path, and a schedule. Most Germans agree....it's not going to hurt the German economy to a major degree, but have come to realize the missing money in the EU account....has to be made up (so they can gift the money back, you know). A hefty rise in taxation to pay for this? Maybe.
- The TV-media Tax. The public TV network would like to make sure it's discussed much.....as will most of the political folks. However, if you wander into a group of plain Germans and bring up the tax (17.50 Euro a month)....there's a fair amount of negativity, and this suggestion that by 2020, it might go up? Oh....that's not going to sell well.
- Crime. Cops say the crime stuff is going down. Assaults? Slightly up. Fair amount of chatter occurs daily now about drugs flowing into Germany, and the belief that the hard-stuff is being used more. They aren't necessarily chattering about the migrants being the chief cause, but several mafia groups now exist in Germany, and the cops readily admit they need more personnel.
- World Cup action. I would suggest that one out of every three Germans is fairly enthusiastic about the games coming up, and their evening schedules will be written out.
- German military equipment. Basically, the Bundeswehr has been on a long run of bad luck with operational status of most all pieces of equipment 'in-the-shop'. It doesn't matter if you talk subs, ships, tanks, helicopters, aircraft, or whatever. Most Germans will tell you it's not a big deal to them, but then they get drawn into the 'blame-game' and wonder how this all came to occur.
- The BER Airport saga. If you were looking for a great thesis over badly planned and executed airport projects, this would give you over a hundred pages of material. We are at least eight years behind schedule, and nothing says that it'll get any better in 2019. The Berlin Airport....even if it were to open next month....would need another massive revision shortly to meet the amount of traffic expected by 2019.
- Erdogan. Five years ago....Germans flowed into Turkey for summer vacations and spent tons of money....soaking up sunshine, and having a great time. The coup, and the talk from Erdogan? It changed everyone's perception and made it a basic no-go area. Germans still talk about this, and all the fantastic deals (two weeks in a 5-star resort with airfare and three meals a day, with unlimited Turkish beer, for only 350 Euro).
- Finally Trump. The Trump-Schadenfreude situation stumbles on. The German news crowd, the intellectual folks and probably 70-percent of the political folks hype on the Trump-Schadenfreude deal.....grinning as they want to discuss the hour-by-hour negatives. There's three problems at present. First, from the general German public....more than half the nation doesn't care anymore (over-hype basically occurred). Second, there's some questioning now that maybe Trump might be around for 6.5 more years, which would be hard to maintain Schadenfreude for that long of time (no one has ever pushed it that far before). Finally, there is some growing German feeling that they need some bold leadership change (note, they aren't talking about a Trump-like character, just someone with boldness). 2021 is the next election, and Merkel says she will be finished by then.
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