Letter Story

 In the mailbox today....was a Wiesbaden gov't letter addressed to me...more or less...a format letter.

Dear so-and-so....we noticed....you've been a 'guest-with-a-visa' for a dozen years....wouldn't you like to apply to be a citizen?

I paused over it....they listed five or six benefits (like I could vote....particularly in EU elections).  

To be rather honest....I'm here mostly because of my wife.  I could just as well move to Italy, Greece or Den Haag. 

Me being a pleasant 'guest'?  Well....other than a daily cynical comment or two....some weekly grumbling over the Bahn travel....I've tried to be a 'nice-guest'.  

Them needing more citizens?  I looked it up from 2015 to  2025....near 240k to 280k Germans a year.....who exit/leave.  Yeah.....they need to keep pestering folks to either become citizens or come in. I'd almost suggest they need a HR-office to recruit Koreans or Australians to come in.

Is The SPD Party 'Dying-Off'?

 For well over a hundred years....the Social Democrats have existed....leaning just left-of-center.   From 1949 to the early 1990s...they could manage to get in the range of 40-percent of the vote....sometimes bumping over 45-percent.

If you look nationally today....with the Greens, Linke Party and BSW....at best, the SPD can only manage around 16-to-20 percent of the vote.

With the state election of the past weekend....it was in the 10-percent range (crappy range).

If you asked about any 'stars' for the party....nationally....there's not much to talk about.

Some folks gaze at the decline of the FDP Party, and remark that they probably will never get above 5-percent nationally ever again...then suggest that the SPD is following the same path.

Four Predictions By End Of 2027

 1.   Bundestag President Julia Kloeckner (CDU), is elected President of Germany by early 2027.

2.  Porsche (as a brand) is sold off from VW by the end of 2026....to a Middle Eastern investment group.

 3.  Enough pressure builds up....that ZDF (Channel 2 of public TV) has to dissolve its news division....leaving it with a sports division, entertainment division, and public forum division.   

4.  Chancellor Merz, by the summer of  2027....is exiting, and to be replaced within the party....due to zero fixing of the economy.

Political Numbers

There's a state election for Sachsen-Anhalt later in the fall of 2026.  I noted someone brought up the topic of a new poll: 

AfD 40%

CDU: 27%

Linke: 12%

So, here's the odd  thing.....BSW, SPD, Greens and FDP...are all listed with 4.9-percent or less....meaning they get no seats.

If this scenario were to occur....you'd have only three parties with seats.  Coalition?  Well....NO....neither the CDU or Linke would partner up with the AfD.

However, even  if they went to 2nd place (CDU) sitting down with the Linke....based on the numbers, I believe the CDU/Linke combo would not come to 50-plus percent.

In the weeks ahead....for the CDU to end up with some dynamic partnership....either the Greens, SPD, or BSW....has to get to 5-percent.

Escalator Woes

 I grew up in a low-status....having never seen a escalator until I was 18, and fresh new in Frankfurt (1978).  What amazed me....were the number of escalators around Frankfurt.  

This past week...the topic of escalators and Germany came up.   

In Berlin....at the dynamic train-station in the middle of town....there are around 52 different escalators that move people.  Well....if they are operational....they move people.  This past week....now on day 10 (maybe 12)....35 of the escalators are non-functional.  

It's reached a stage that the mayor is 'begging' for help.

I noted on social media....someone brought up the DDR days....saying that pretty much every escalator that existed in old East Germany days....was exceptionally prone to be non-functional.

So, I dug into this. Various escalators from across Germany, are down....from what the  company (Kone) says....is a stem from a safety defect identified in the gearboxes of a specific type of a KONE escalator model. 

The problem in waiting for parts and technicians? Well.....you have to walk up and down the stairs.

Self Defense Story

 I sat and watched MOMA (the morning show of public TV....ARD/ZDF).

So they ran this news piece...2 to 3 minutes...explaining how various German hospitals now offer self-defense courses to hospital staff/nurses...because assaults are now a common threat in German society.

I pondered upon this.   Through the 1980s/1990s....the last place on Earth that you might run into trouble....was a German hospital.  You might have drunks....maybe a crazy guy once a year, but it was relatively 'safe'.

What changed?  I think it's a combination of drugs....acceptance of insults/threats as being 'normal', and simply less respect for hospital people.

Within ten years, I'll predict that it'll be common for nurses and hospital staff to have tazers....using them aggressively.

12 March: Germany: 9 Things

 1.  I sat and read through a paper from the Int'l Energy Agency.....covering the EU in 2040.  So the startling conclusion.....cost for storage capacity and knowable energy (wind/solar)....will be way more....than nuclear energy by that point.

You are starting to see various encouragements...for Germany to revert back to nuke energy.

2.  Germany is about to release oil reserves (hoping to keep price down at the  pump), and there's to be a limit to fuel changes (you see often....five to eight times a day....that stations change the fuel cost).  Once per day...is what they will push.

3.  CDU calling for easier situation for folks to work until age 70.  I personally doubt if you can find more than 5-percent of Germans who agree with this.

4.   Tegut grocery chain.....ending.  Will be split up among Rewe and Edeka.  My village  (4,000 resident) has ONE single Tegut.  Nothing spoken as of this AM....I assume it'll be picked up as a Edeka.

5. Germany is apparently considering Jürgen Klopp for the 2026 World Cup leadership/coach role....Julian Nagelsmann is spiraling downward. Awful late in the  prep-up....to suggest firing the coach.  I have trouble believing that Klopp would desire to step into such a mess.

6. Last night, I watched ZDF (public TV) for the  9:45 PM news.

Key feature?   Fukushima.  It was the 15th anniversary.

So the way they told the story....the 200,000 dead folks....died mostly from the nuclear energy plant disaster.  Yeah, that was totally bogus/false.

The story was rigged to be anti-nuclear energy.  

7.  Great weather for past 2 weeks.  By this weekend....if you into B-W or Bavaria....there's supposed to be 20-to-30 cm of snow.

8. The regional election for 2024 in Saarbrucken (for the towns)....ordered yesterday to be repeated.

Difficult story to lay out.....but in 2024....the AfD Party goofed up on the list of candidates, then went to a 2nd list to clear up the problem.  Saar authorities disallowed the corrective action....so there was no allowance for the voters to vote AfD.

AfD challenged in court....2025....they won.  Saar authorities appealed....yesterday, the appeal was thrown out. Figure in 60 to 90 days....a new election.

Odds?  Currently in polls....AfD is near 20-to-23 percent in public polls.

9.   Bayreuth, Bavaria....odd train station 'bumping'.....two trains collide.....8 folks wounded.

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.