Friday, January 26, 2024

27 Jan 2024: Seven German News Stories

 1.  Bit shocking....German gov't admits in preparation for the budget for 2025 (a year away)....they are already around 20 billion Euro short.  

So yeah, there's going to be talks for months about this shortfall, and how someone has to take a 'cut'.

2.  ZDF (public TV, Channel 2) ran a public forum show Thursday night (Maybrit Illner Forum).  German Finance Minister (Lindner, FDP) was a guest....along with a master-baker.

So it came up....the master-baker said his operation is now pushed to the maximum.....there is no profit margin, and they are just in a survival situation.

3.  Bahn strike continues....just minor train movement going on.  Seems like a lot of frustrated Germans looking at both groups now.

4.  I noted off ARD news....since 1991, the number of German cigarettes' sold yearly has been cut almost in half. 

Course, if you bring this up with most German smokers....the tax business has been a major negative.  

5.  Odd survey out of the German state of Saxony.....public polled and two-thirds of them say they feel like they live in a thug-nation or dictatorship.  Trust in news media....slipping.

6.  Some kind of hostage situation developed in Ulm  last night.  What the cops say....a German Army guy came into a Starbucks...acted strange, and took a couple of hostages.  About an hour into this....he tries to escape with one hostage and cops shoot him (just wounded).  No speculation on motive.  I would make a humble guess....some kind of drug use.

7.  This LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) terminal operation in Texas....that was heavily hooked to Germany's future of sufficient natural gas?  Well....by Presidential order....it's shut down (appears to be two of them).  No one can say for sure how harsh this will be for German economy.  There are three other terminals but if you start screwing with docking/refueling....it just invents more pressure.

No comments: