Cause of the French Gov't Collapse?

 Some suggest it's a REGULAR even....I wouldn’t call it a ‘regular’ event....since 2000...it’s collapsed only 3 times (early Dec 2024, mid-Dec 2024, and early Sep 2025.

Current (ongoing) issue? The support for Macron’s 2026 budget plan, which aimed to address France’s escalating public debt through severe austerity measures.  I'll just say on finance issues.....as bad as Germany is doing...France out-ranks them.

These French matters and Macron's plan include: Cutting approximately €48 billion ($52 billion) in spending. Plus freezing welfare benefits and tax brackets at 2025 levels (no inflation adjustment).   And finally...eliminating two paid public holidays to reduce costs.

All of this...to avoid raising more taxation, and no one much (party-wise) agrees....at least from the left or center. They mostly lean toward higher taxation. Right and right-of-center would probably agree to budget cuts, but demand gov’t changes, higher deportation efforts, and gov’t control.

Another election?  Macron will do anything possible to avoid this.  Massive taxation coming....my best guess.

Shame Topic

 

I was looking over Brit news this AM, and this item came up.  Course, they never did clearly say 'what' researchers were saying this BS.

The basic idea....just saying people are obese....created anxiety/panic among fat people. 

So, if you could just invent a NEW word,  they would feel no shame or panic.

I sat and pondered over this.  There might be a brief week or two....where you were stupid enough to fake yourself out, but by the end of six to eight weeks....you'd have fresh new shame.

Then you'd invent yet another substitute word, and fresh new relief, then fresh new shame.

I'm getting too old to hand out common sense.....daily.

9 September 2025: Germany: 6 Things

 1.  I watched a RTL-TV report last night......some folks are inventing fake certificates for immigrants in Germany....on the German language capability...with folks on the path to citizenship.  Whole black-market existing today for the documents.

2.  SPD Party says the method of splitting income levels for tax purposes among couples....for decades....is BS.  This is the one topic you can bring up in a group, and  99-percent of couples readily agree with the SPD.

3.  Pretty clear now....high-wage earners in Germany....will have to pay more on pension contributions.  The way that the journalists talk....expect this by early 2026.

4.  France.  An anesthesiologist allegedly poisoned 30 patients (12 reported dead). So far in court....the guy denies all allegations. Claim?  Well....conspiracy among doctors.  Pretty weird story building  up.

5.  German Bundeswehr (Army) to buy 300 Patriot missiles....1.5-billion Euro in the mix.

6.  Porsche says profits are down by 70-percent.  

How The 2026 Baden-Württemberg State Election Appears Currently?

 We are about 7 months away from the Baden-Wuttemberg state election.  Polling currently?

The Green Party, which held the Premier-President position up to now...WON'T win.  That's obvious at this point, with most polls showing them  in the 20-to-22 percent level of polls.

Leading currently?  The CDU, at 30-to-31 percent.

AfD?  Depending on the poll....ranking near 20-to-23 percent.

SPD?  Near 10-to-12 percent.

Linke at 5-to-7 percent.

Another Street Stabbing Incident

This AM....police from Magdeburg (Germany)...say from Sunday afternoon....a local Syrian gal (age: 59) was killed/stabbed.

Accused?  57-year-old Syrian guy.  Police have arrested the guy.

Motive?  Still as of this AM....unknown.

What Was The Stab-In-The-Back Myth In German History?

 Well....the stab-in-the-back myth (in German: Dolchstoßlegende)....was beer-hall type chatter....which mostly formed around being an antisemitic and anti-communist conspiracy theory (lot of German veterans believed it)....coming after 1918.

In simple form....the Imperial German Army did not lose World War I on the battlefield, but was instead betrayed by certain citizens (Jews/communists).

If you were looking at public standing....especially in 1919.....there were a lot of folks talking about this.  Fake-news type of BS?  To some degree....yeah.

I will point this out....on the lack of 'winning'....the German Army from 1914 to 1918....burned through  manpower....without much success to talk of.  As the US entered the war....1917/1918...there was no winning formula or strategy to reverse the issues at hand. So this stab-in-the-back BS is the only thing to fall back upon.

If you walked into a beer-hall in Munich or Frankfurt in 1925....the odds are....within ten minutes....you'd be engaged in chatter about the war, losing, and who to blame.  Even in 1932....14 years after the war.....it was probably the same way.

News Chatter/BS

I ended up watching the ZDF (public TV, Channel 2) late news last night.  

Moderator Marietta Slomka....the moderator (one of six rotating folks) had a guest on and laid out this curious story.

The guest....US-citizen-professor-turned-Canadian-citizen-professor...Jason Stanley (from what I could figure....philosophy lecturer). Purpose of the interview?  In some way...to asses the current situation in the US.

Stanley claims to be an expert on fascism (I don't have any reason to doubt this, but these days....there are probably five-million fascism 'experts' in the US).

The interview went this way....the US is 'lost'....having abandoned the path to democracy (via Trump). 

My favorite quote from the talk?  Stanley saying "Opposition politicians may not be sent to Sachsenhausen or anything like that. But they are being persecuted by our justice system. That's starting now. It's not yet 1938 in Germany, but it's already 1933."

Moderator....Slomka?  Well....on my impression of skepticism...one-to-ten.....she was pulling a '8'.  Yeah....she let the guy keep talking, but the more he talked....the less you were impressed.

At some point, the professor says something to the effect....the US has never been a healthy democracy (in some way implying the past 200-odd years have gone this way)....at that point, the interview spiraled downward.

Moderator Slomka then says something to the effect....'free elections.....free press...no journalists arrested....all the things you'd see in a non-fascist state.'

That kinda ended the interview.

To the professor's weak point.....there's plenty still of journalists jabbering and talking....it's just that so many Americans see it as a faked-up lecture, and there's a massive amount of skepticism existing at this point.   Even the ZDF moderator probably has a fair amount of skepticism built up.

I would offer two observations.  First, don't go as an American talking of something Nazi-like and try to lecture Germans on the topic....they are the absolute experts on crazy-stupid Nazi-crap.  Second,  as long as you can vote, and have multi-parties in the mix....you live in a non-fascist state.  If you cross the line....having elections but only one single party (with no balance of left or right)....yeah, it's pure fascist in nature.

8 September 2025: Germany: Six Things

 1.  Roof of a supermarket collapsed in Lauchringen, Baden-Württemberg, Saturday evening. Four folks were wounded.   What's odd....about two months ago....the store shut-down for about a week....with interior renovation underway (nothing done for the roof).

2.  My wife noted in shopping on Friday evening.....first batch of Christmas cookies/cakes are up at grocery stores.

3.  Several Russian car manufacture companies are in the midst of lay-offs or suspended production.  Just no money circulation going on.

4.  France currently....has the highest debt problem in the eurozone, at around €3,300 billion.  

Collapse of the government coming?  Most analysts are suggesting the first step of the collapse will occur this week...with a political crisis to follow.

Vote of confidence to occur Monday....likely to fail. There could be a new election (for Parliament)....they have to have 12 months after the last election (summer 2024)....to proceed on this idea.

5.  Over  the weekend, an adult with two kids....dead from a E-car crash in Schwerte (NRW). Based on how the police describe the accident....the Tesla car crashed into a tree...damaging the  door opening mechanism...then burst into flames.  

6.  Watched a N-TV news piece....Syrians in Germany.  Gov't number officially at 955,000.  No one is really sure about most wanting to return to Syria....as the war  is over.   I would speculate those who are in their 40s or older....probably will return.  The younger generation...having eight-to-ten years of life in Germany....probably would prefer to stay.