What Drove Germany To Be Anti-Nuclear Energy?

 I won't make this a 60-page 'white-paper'.

Basically four factors fell into play.

In the early 1970s....all things nuclear (particularly 'weapons')  got hyped up. Environmentalists picked up the topic, and it became a top priority of the Green Party in the early 1980s.

Second....as you enter the 1990s....the question came up....where do you 'dump' the waste, and they could never identify a 'safe' method (none of the 16 states wanted it).

Third....the 1986 Chernobyl disaster was discussed in a massive way and portrayed as the greatest disaster of all time (at least by the German mentality).

Fourth and final....as the country was heading toward taking the system down slowly....Fukushima occurred.  I would describe the six months after Fukushima as a turbo-period, where deadlines were established.

The funny thing?  Well....Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland have nuke stations, and on occasion...Germany buys grid power from them.  For whatever reason....it's OK that Germany does not have nuke power....while  their neighbor does have nuke power.

My Four Thoughts On The German Economy

 First....I'm one to say since 2020 (the Covid era)....the German economy has marginally recovered, and the severe damage done (2020, 2021, and 2022)...has severely wounded what was the 'machine' left from the 1980s (the Kohl era).

Germans have tried to go back to normal....going on trips....renovating their homes....being social....being hyped-up about soccer and reality TV.  But if you walk around shopping districts of Frankfurt, Mainz, Darmstadt and Wiesbaden....there's empty store-fronts....fewer restaurants/pubs, and more 'gimmicks' to get people to spend money (that they apparently don't have).

There's one particular pub in Wiesbaden....which suffered greatly in 2020/2021/2022.  They briefly came back for 6 months in 2023....then gave up, and exited the building.  A year passed....another guy showed up and tried to introduce a new pub....with that failing in six months. I noticed last week....a burger-joint operation is about to open at the site (mostly to sell beer,  and hamburgers). It might do well in the spring/summer months....but they lack seating for winter 'survival'. I'll predict within 18 months....it shuts down.

Second, while Merz is the right guy to plan a recovery....he has to have general support of the SPD to bring change.  Most of the SPD strategy centers on more 'projects'....which require more taxation revenue.

I'm not that enthusiastic over a route being invented.

Third, energy cost....compared to twenty years ago...is outrageous.  The design that Merkel left for this 'crew'....would require a total revamp, and probably a comeback of nuke energy....which the environmentalists are fully against.

It'd make more sense for most German companies who have products/services requiring  large electrical consumption....to move into Czech or Poland.

Fourth and final....if you sit with a older German crowd....everyone grumbles about the cost of living and the marginal pension plan.

The Merz crew is giving zero confidence on this problem....with whoever follows them....locked into the same mess.  

11 March: Germany: Six Things

 1.  VW announced yesterday....by 2030, it will have cut another 50,000 employees.  Less profit....less sales....lot of blame going toward E-car technology.

If you lined up a hundred working-class Germans...I'd say only around 10-percent 'thrilled' to buy into E-cars. If you heavily discounted prices....you might get another 5-percent.  Gov't policy and EU regulations....were detrimental to the whole German car industry. 

2. The German police in Rosenheim....arrested a guy who had spat at a train attendant. So it turns out...he was a Somali, who already had court action going on....benefit fraud and document forgery. On the books....he was already going to spend four months in jail.

3.  Some German  went and did a speed camera inventory of the sixteen German states.  Oddly....Baden-Wuerttemberg had the record....14 cameras per 100,000 residents.  Hessen followed, with around 12  speed cameras per 100,000 residents.

At the bottom of the list? Bavaria, with two speed cameras per 100,000 residents.

Any logic to it?  No.

My village (4,000 residents) has zero speed cameras. Over the hill....3 km away...another village (10,000 residents)....with five speed cameras.  

4.  EU talking up advocating nuke energy....yeah, shocker.

5.  Talk started up....gov't talking of adding a special tax on gas-companies in Germans....if they make too much money.

About half the politicians seem to be shaking their heads.....that it'd only get passed down to consumers.

6.   Economist Marcel Fratzscher, the president of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), gave a talk.....very negative about a forecast for economic growth in Germany.  

"These two, three, five percent growth figures that some people still have in mind, – that's no longer happening. Because, we are a shrinking country and we lack the workforce."

Oddly,  if you think about it....the CDU was elected into place to lead the economy back to a more positive position.  If they can't do it....it's pretty crappy.

If A Meteor Falls Upon Your House In Germany?

Topic came up this week (in the Pfalz).

Various German federal states have somewhat differing regulations regarding how such finds are handled. In most cases, finders are allowed to keep meteorites, provided they have fallen on their property or public land.

If you were to sell to the state?  Prices go between one euro per gram and 5,000 euros per gram....depending on the composition, condition, and whether the find is fresh or not.

Some German states have a rule....stipulating that the find must be of special scientific interest....which it automatically becomes state property, with some cash as a reward.

Polling For Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (State Elecction Sep 2026)

Polling released in the past 2 or  3 weeks:

AfD, 39-percent

CDU, 15-percent

SPD, 13-percent

Linke, 12-percent

Greens, 6-percent

BSW, 7-percent

Remaining 9-percent spilt up.

If AfD were to get near 50-percent....no coalition is required.  Key question...can BSW  and Greens stay above 5-percent each...or if both were to falter to 4.9-percent or less....the numbers benefit AfD.

10 Mar: Germany: 7 Things

 1.  Turmoil brewing in Baden-Wuerttemberg over election results.  After counting votes and doing the seat analysis....Greens get 56 seats, and CDU gets 56 seats....with SPD getting 10 seats and AfD getting 35.

Coalition matter?  Well...the ONLY combo is Greens and CDU together.   CDU suggesting power-sharing....which the Greens say....NO, there was an election and we got the most votes....so we get the Premier-President seat and lead on  most state cabinet posts.  

If no coalition is achieved in 30 days? There would be another election....probably in June. 

What might happen?  The CDU might sit down and agree on some things.....listing ten things that the Greens promised....as a NO-GO promise.   That would make the Green Party incredibly weak for five years in the state. 

2.  Scandal brewing?  Posted to the right....was a ARD (public TV) election graphic showing the seat pattern (yesterday early AM) from the state election. 

While the Green and black scale is correct.....the AfD  (blue scale) is INCORRECT.   Not the numbers....the scale is incorrect.

The real graphic is below it.

Accidentally done?  That's the public TV management claim.

Childish prank?  More or less.

3.  VW profit slumped by 50-percent  in the past year.

4.  Erlangen (Bavaria): ER situation...police called in....had to shoot some guy swinging a knife around.

5.  WELT piece by Anton Korinek....worth reading.....warning of massive layoffs due to AI.

6.  ARD (public TV) is starting a new service....called 'rabbit-hole'.....which they claim....will evaluate all stories for fakeness.

I give it  90 days of service....before it is announced as a 'failure'.

7. I spent 10 minutes 'playing' with a election map and Sunday results.  Where you see massive Green Party results.....it's in highly urbanized metro zones....the rest of the state (B-W).....it's mostly split by CDU and AfD.

Four Humble Thoughts

 1.  Hyped-up sense over the state election yesterday?

Well...Greens walked away with a major 'win', and the SPD folks (at least in the state of B-W)....looked like crap.  I would add....if you go and look at regional voting....there's some shocking upward urbanized trends for AfD (Mannheim for example).

Balance of seats?  It appears that the Greens get 56 seats....as do the  CDU. SPD gets 10 seats, and AfD gets 35.  Coalition?  It can only be Greens and CDU.  If the CDU has some right-wing agenda to pop up....they could carry it with AfD votes.

2. Yesterday....Putin gave some speech.  Midst of it....had a five-star coughing attack. Was carried live on TV apparently.

3. One odd aspect from the German state election.....the trend-folks can show that AfD gains....came from left and center politics.  General public are attached to the crime-angle and migrant issues.  

4.   Meteorite damage.....various parts of Rhineland-Palatinate Saturday evening.

Police say....fragments of a meteorite have caused damage to roofs and houses in Rhineland-Palatinate. Damage reports: Hunsrück and Eifel regions, as well as Koblenz.  

Baden-Wurttemberg State Election Results

 Green Party.....winner....31.8-percent.

CDU....2nd place....29.3-percent (about 5 points above last election). 

AfD.....17.6-percent....about 9 points above last election.

SPD.....5.5-percent (half of last time's vote).

FDP/Linke....4.5 percent each.....neither will get seats unless they get near 5-percent.

Massive Green Party win.....simple coalition.....Greens with CDU as a partner.

How way-off were the polls from the past week?  I'd say Greens were 30-percent off....SPD way-over-counted.....and the CDU did overly well (6 points above projection).