Its a page two story, but a fair number of Germans will be curious about what happens shortly. The German Constitutional Court is going to hear a case where a challenge is mounted over property tax (affecting roughly 35-million properties throughout Germany).
The suggestion here against the property tax is that it's unfair in terms of the relationship with the German Constitution (the Basic Law).
If you count up all the collected money via the sixteen German states....it amounts to thirteen billion Euro, a fair sum of money.
Even if you rent from some guy.....he's figuring his property tax into your rent money, and you are helping to pay it.
The unfairness issue? It's built to be progressive. That means that a very marginal property or house would be taxed at one rate, while a dynamic or highly valued property is taxed at a higher rate. The Constitutional doesn't really suggest a formula or a relationship, and some folks think this is the chance to force change upon the whole law.
ARD even pointed out on this issue....you could have two plots of property in different locations. One might still be assessed the value that it held in 1964, and the other the value of 2018.
There are various ways that the court could review and pass judgement. The worry for cities here....because it's their bread-and-butter money....if you say it's built totally wrong, then what happens? Typically the court would then turn to the Bundestag and say....write a new law within two years.
The odds that you might end up with a forced change and have to pay even more on the property tax? Well....yeah....that's been suggested and folks are a bit worried over where this might go. My guess is that if you live in a highly urbanized and metropolitan area....you likely end up getting screwed if they change the system, and probably end up paying double the property tax that you currently pay.
Monday, January 15, 2018
The Sports Car Story
There's a 39-kilometer autobahn piece existing between Frankfurt and Wiesbaden...referred to as part of A66. You can typically drive this in 35 minutes (at least on a good day). On a low-traffic day? You might be able to drive it in 30 minutes. Most of the autobahn piece is a controlled speed....meaning roughly a 100 to 120 kph speed is mandated. There's a few sections still left where it's unlimited, but cops will readily tell you.....you need to drive a safe speed.
So yesterday, German cops got called and noted two particular drivers. One was driving a Lamborghini (560 horsepower), and the other was driving an Audi R8 (610 horsepower). The two were racing against each other at speeds of 300 kph (186 mph).
Yeah, this proved to be a problem.
But the guys argued with the cops and said they weren't racing, and they were in the area of the autobahn which has no restricted speed.
Stupid behavior? Well....yeah. It's guys like this who screw up and typically trigger some five-car accident.
So yesterday, German cops got called and noted two particular drivers. One was driving a Lamborghini (560 horsepower), and the other was driving an Audi R8 (610 horsepower). The two were racing against each other at speeds of 300 kph (186 mph).
Yeah, this proved to be a problem.
But the guys argued with the cops and said they weren't racing, and they were in the area of the autobahn which has no restricted speed.
Stupid behavior? Well....yeah. It's guys like this who screw up and typically trigger some five-car accident.
Saturday, January 13, 2018
The Cop Story
It's a page five footnote type story which most Germans would miss.
With all that G-20 Summit riot business in Hamburg in the summer....the cops have been reviewing video and came to this one episode and have identified the guy who threw beer cans at police. It's a German policeman from Munich, who was on a vacation trip to Hamburg to visit a girlfriend.
Yeah, pretty serious business now.
There's a suspension involved for the guy now....his apartment searched, and he's been charged up with suspicion of attempted dangerous bodily injury. If convicted, he'd be out of a job totally, and spending a number of months in some state prison.
It's something you'd expect out of a twenty-year old kid in the profession....but this guy is 35 years old.
Affected by alcohol? One might suggest that but I doubt that the judge will be open to forgive the guy on that suggestion. Even if they found some way to lessen the charge and let him walk away, I kinda doubt that the Munich cops would keep the guy around. So a career change is likely to take place here.
With all that G-20 Summit riot business in Hamburg in the summer....the cops have been reviewing video and came to this one episode and have identified the guy who threw beer cans at police. It's a German policeman from Munich, who was on a vacation trip to Hamburg to visit a girlfriend.
Yeah, pretty serious business now.
There's a suspension involved for the guy now....his apartment searched, and he's been charged up with suspicion of attempted dangerous bodily injury. If convicted, he'd be out of a job totally, and spending a number of months in some state prison.
It's something you'd expect out of a twenty-year old kid in the profession....but this guy is 35 years old.
Affected by alcohol? One might suggest that but I doubt that the judge will be open to forgive the guy on that suggestion. Even if they found some way to lessen the charge and let him walk away, I kinda doubt that the Munich cops would keep the guy around. So a career change is likely to take place here.
Friday, January 12, 2018
Twenty-Eight Pages
The new coalition draft is a total of 28 pages....maybe a quarter of what a typical German government formation would be in draft form. That will be obvious to people, and make them wonder how long this government will last.
So today, the chief topics of the 28 pages came out:
Taxes: no new taxes. Yeah that was a shocker. Both sides (CDU and SPD) agreed to the end of the Solidarity Tax (it said in writing when started in the 1990s, that it would end in 2019). So they kept their word, it will actually end. I expect this no new tax scripted talk to last only through 2018, and be a major problem in 2019 and 2020.
Refugee policy: an odd decision. They came to a compromise which says that every month....up to 1,000 family members of immigrants in Germany....may bring their relatives here. So, a max of 12,000 a year. As for the general incoming number? They agreed to a range of 180,000 to 220,000 per year. Then they agreed that in the future....all asylum will be carried out in a central reception facility (yet to be described), and this facility would have decision-making ability and return facilities built into it. To me, it sounds like a magnet for pro-asylum folks to protest and make for problems. It was also agreed that only food and residence would be provided at this point, with NO cash benefits.
Health insurance. A new joint financing plan will be built for statutory health insurance. This means that it'll be equal....what you and your boss pays...equal amounts. Presently it was set to 14.6 percent for the boss, and you had roughly 15.6 percent.
Pension reform will occur. The present program will continue til 2025, then start to modify. A commission will form up to discuss this major change. A new special pension will come to exist for low-income wage earners...meaning some type of government funding will funnel in and help to raise their standard of living. This is a miserable part of German society today and a lot of these people are on welfare because there's simply not enough to survive. Eight-thousand new nursing or helper posts will be created to handle situations in nursing homes around Germany. This will come out of the German federal pot of money.
Employment: Long-term unemployed folks will get more attention and helped with retraining to get them into the market. Longer periods to pay the unemployment benefits? That was NOT agreed upon. Some agreement came over social security contributions.
Farming: The herbicide glyphosate will be slowly edged out of the market. The goal is to end the use....no one says the timing of this.
If you look at the limited nature of the twenty-eight pages...if approved by each general party, then I would suggest a somewhat quiet 2018 period with these goals laid out and most likely accomplished by spring of 2019. Then? Well....without any real structure, my guess is that 2019 (EU election coming up) will become a hectic year....full of drama....and lots of political chit-chat.
This is designed to just get folks over the 'hump' and viewing the mess as settled, and then after some quiet period.....launch into full political 'charming'.
My general prediction is that the two state elections in 2018 (Hessen and Bavaria) will see both the CDU and SPD losing a fair number of votes over what they had in 2013. The other parties will see numbers improve, and signal that the public is disenchanted with politics of the two central political parties.
The same likely occurs in 2019 with the EU election...thus shocking a few political analysts and the news media.
All in all....there's a limited amount of talk you can get out of twenty-eight pages and a sign of no real agreement between the two groups.
So today, the chief topics of the 28 pages came out:
Taxes: no new taxes. Yeah that was a shocker. Both sides (CDU and SPD) agreed to the end of the Solidarity Tax (it said in writing when started in the 1990s, that it would end in 2019). So they kept their word, it will actually end. I expect this no new tax scripted talk to last only through 2018, and be a major problem in 2019 and 2020.
Refugee policy: an odd decision. They came to a compromise which says that every month....up to 1,000 family members of immigrants in Germany....may bring their relatives here. So, a max of 12,000 a year. As for the general incoming number? They agreed to a range of 180,000 to 220,000 per year. Then they agreed that in the future....all asylum will be carried out in a central reception facility (yet to be described), and this facility would have decision-making ability and return facilities built into it. To me, it sounds like a magnet for pro-asylum folks to protest and make for problems. It was also agreed that only food and residence would be provided at this point, with NO cash benefits.
Health insurance. A new joint financing plan will be built for statutory health insurance. This means that it'll be equal....what you and your boss pays...equal amounts. Presently it was set to 14.6 percent for the boss, and you had roughly 15.6 percent.
Pension reform will occur. The present program will continue til 2025, then start to modify. A commission will form up to discuss this major change. A new special pension will come to exist for low-income wage earners...meaning some type of government funding will funnel in and help to raise their standard of living. This is a miserable part of German society today and a lot of these people are on welfare because there's simply not enough to survive. Eight-thousand new nursing or helper posts will be created to handle situations in nursing homes around Germany. This will come out of the German federal pot of money.
Employment: Long-term unemployed folks will get more attention and helped with retraining to get them into the market. Longer periods to pay the unemployment benefits? That was NOT agreed upon. Some agreement came over social security contributions.
Farming: The herbicide glyphosate will be slowly edged out of the market. The goal is to end the use....no one says the timing of this.
If you look at the limited nature of the twenty-eight pages...if approved by each general party, then I would suggest a somewhat quiet 2018 period with these goals laid out and most likely accomplished by spring of 2019. Then? Well....without any real structure, my guess is that 2019 (EU election coming up) will become a hectic year....full of drama....and lots of political chit-chat.
This is designed to just get folks over the 'hump' and viewing the mess as settled, and then after some quiet period.....launch into full political 'charming'.
My general prediction is that the two state elections in 2018 (Hessen and Bavaria) will see both the CDU and SPD losing a fair number of votes over what they had in 2013. The other parties will see numbers improve, and signal that the public is disenchanted with politics of the two central political parties.
The same likely occurs in 2019 with the EU election...thus shocking a few political analysts and the news media.
All in all....there's a limited amount of talk you can get out of twenty-eight pages and a sign of no real agreement between the two groups.
The Platform Story
I travel alot around in Germany via railway. All total, I would imagine that I've stopped at over two-hundred different cities, towns and villages via a train. Typically, there's one odd aspect that you come to recognize after a while....as you step off the the train....there are varying amounts of space between you and the platform. Sometimes, you are actually two feet above the platform....sometime, inches above the platform, sometimes inches below the platform, and sometimes even two feet below the platform.
So the question is begged....in a land where standards ought to exist....why so many variations?
Well, there are four basic answers.
1. For 150-odd years, no German ever wrote a basic standard for trains or platforms. I know, you'd think some idiot committee should have written a standard but they never did.
2. Someone came long in the 1970s and had this idea for development of double-decker trains, which meant you needed to lower the car closer to the ground, and it meant that the platform would be at least a foot....sometimes two feet....above the car-door.
3. While some stations modernized their platforms to meet new trains....others did absolutely nothing (mostly because of cost).
4. In the 1990s as the national and regional railway networks modernized....they often went out and bought trains which had unusual advantages or varying designs. Having a particular exit level....wasn't often on the list of priorities. Just in my local region, I'd say there are at least eight different train designs.
ARD (public TV, Channel One, in Germany) picked up the story today.
It's a great quote: "In Mainz there are 55 cm, in Leipzig also, in Mülheim, Neuss and Hamminkeln in North Rhine-Westphalia it is 76 centimeters. And then there are still platforms with 33 centimeters, 38 centimeters or even 96 centimeters."
The problem here is money. If you went to one single standard around the entire nation, it'd get into the billions to modernize all of the platforms to meet one single standard. No one really knows how to fund this. Just to suggest a twenty-year program to meet one standard....it'd scare the tax revenue folks to a great degree. The Bahn folks? They might take on a couple of projects a year in major cities to meet some standard, but it might take them decades if they said it was a 100-percent Bahn project. So the question is....would German states go and funnel money into this? The general answer is no.
Does it even matter? The local train stop for me is mostly a grassy area next to the tracks and a two-foot built up concrete area, with a covered area for rain, and one single machine for tickets. I would take a guess in the mornings....maybe sixty people (mostly kids) get on and ride into Wiesbaden. To get into the train, you have to step about 1.5 feet up, to get into the car. For older folks with limited mobility, it's an issue. When you arrive in Wiesbaden at the main station, then you find that you have to step about 1.5 feet UP, onto the platform.
The odd thing is then....same station, mind you....I might walk two platforms over to catch a train into Mainz and find that I need to step 1.5 feet UP (higher) to get into that train, and arrive in Mainz to find an absolutely level platform.
On my list of 10,000 things in Germany that probably do need fixing....I would be the first to admit that this is way down on the list. I might even rate it between number 3,000 and 4,000. It's just an odd problem which people note on a daily basis and continually pops up in your mind.
So the question is begged....in a land where standards ought to exist....why so many variations?
Well, there are four basic answers.
1. For 150-odd years, no German ever wrote a basic standard for trains or platforms. I know, you'd think some idiot committee should have written a standard but they never did.
2. Someone came long in the 1970s and had this idea for development of double-decker trains, which meant you needed to lower the car closer to the ground, and it meant that the platform would be at least a foot....sometimes two feet....above the car-door.
3. While some stations modernized their platforms to meet new trains....others did absolutely nothing (mostly because of cost).
4. In the 1990s as the national and regional railway networks modernized....they often went out and bought trains which had unusual advantages or varying designs. Having a particular exit level....wasn't often on the list of priorities. Just in my local region, I'd say there are at least eight different train designs.
ARD (public TV, Channel One, in Germany) picked up the story today.
It's a great quote: "In Mainz there are 55 cm, in Leipzig also, in Mülheim, Neuss and Hamminkeln in North Rhine-Westphalia it is 76 centimeters. And then there are still platforms with 33 centimeters, 38 centimeters or even 96 centimeters."
The problem here is money. If you went to one single standard around the entire nation, it'd get into the billions to modernize all of the platforms to meet one single standard. No one really knows how to fund this. Just to suggest a twenty-year program to meet one standard....it'd scare the tax revenue folks to a great degree. The Bahn folks? They might take on a couple of projects a year in major cities to meet some standard, but it might take them decades if they said it was a 100-percent Bahn project. So the question is....would German states go and funnel money into this? The general answer is no.
Does it even matter? The local train stop for me is mostly a grassy area next to the tracks and a two-foot built up concrete area, with a covered area for rain, and one single machine for tickets. I would take a guess in the mornings....maybe sixty people (mostly kids) get on and ride into Wiesbaden. To get into the train, you have to step about 1.5 feet up, to get into the car. For older folks with limited mobility, it's an issue. When you arrive in Wiesbaden at the main station, then you find that you have to step about 1.5 feet UP, onto the platform.
The odd thing is then....same station, mind you....I might walk two platforms over to catch a train into Mainz and find that I need to step 1.5 feet UP (higher) to get into that train, and arrive in Mainz to find an absolutely level platform.
On my list of 10,000 things in Germany that probably do need fixing....I would be the first to admit that this is way down on the list. I might even rate it between number 3,000 and 4,000. It's just an odd problem which people note on a daily basis and continually pops up in your mind.
Germans Worry About Housing
I noticed this mentioned today in Focus. It's a page two-type story, which would rarely get much mention in German society today.
The German Caritas Association (Catholic welfare organization) did a survey, which had surprising numbers.
Across German society....three out of every four people....fear housing costs.
It used to be normal for the low-income Germans to worry about rent, but the numbers indicate that even the middle-class now think about the cost of housing.
The term "weaken social cohesion" gets mentioned by the head of the survey (Peter Neher). The suggestion of the survey? There's a short list of things that political folks tend to worry about with the core voters (pension, taxation, child care, schools, etc). Well....affordable housing is now edging up to the point of being a national worry.
If drove around Frankfurt today....looking for a three-bedroom apartment....it might take a pretty long drive to find such an apartment that fell into what you'd perceive as affordable. That situation repeats itself across a lot of major German cities.
The German Caritas Association (Catholic welfare organization) did a survey, which had surprising numbers.
Across German society....three out of every four people....fear housing costs.
It used to be normal for the low-income Germans to worry about rent, but the numbers indicate that even the middle-class now think about the cost of housing.
The term "weaken social cohesion" gets mentioned by the head of the survey (Peter Neher). The suggestion of the survey? There's a short list of things that political folks tend to worry about with the core voters (pension, taxation, child care, schools, etc). Well....affordable housing is now edging up to the point of being a national worry.
If drove around Frankfurt today....looking for a three-bedroom apartment....it might take a pretty long drive to find such an apartment that fell into what you'd perceive as affordable. That situation repeats itself across a lot of major German cities.
Thursday, January 11, 2018
The Vest Story
This came up today via ARD (public TV, Channel One) here in Germany.
Back toward the summer of 2014, German cops in Wuppertal (a German town to the far north, 350,000 in population)....came up some individuals on a street wearing vests with 'Sharia Police' in lettering. Basically, the the seven vested guys were walking around and appealing to people they perceived as young Muslims to avoid drinking booze, gambling, or visiting the local brothels. Had they simply had the vests (yellow) on, with no writing....the cops would have just nodded and told them not to intimidate anyone. The problem was....according to regional law....you can't wear anything that is uniform-like to the cops or firemen. The lettering with the word 'Sharia Police' was felt to be illegal. So they got arrested and charged.
Yesterday, the district court of Wuppertal held their session and decided to acquit all seven guys of the uniform charge.
The prosecutor? The news folks say he was a bit frustrated. He says he'll appeal to a higher court.
How this came to an acquittal? Well...it appears that witnesses came up and noted that the men were not being aggressive and no one suggested fear or intimidation. There's also the suggestion by the court that law over the vests is too vague. The other problem is a German law that now exists....mandating you have to carry a yellow vest in your car.....so every single car owner is mandated to own a yellow vest.
The higher court acting? They might conduct a review, but this would take a minimum of a year. In a couple of months.....it'll be four years since the event occurred. Yeah, it takes that long for German law to act.
What'll happen now? I suspect as spring comes....a number of folks will appear on the streets of Wuppertal with vests that say 'Sharia Police', and continue their episode. It's possible that other groups will appear with 'Anti-Capitalist Police', 'Anti-Alcohol Police', and even 'Anti-Anti Police', and the locals will be shaking their heads over this yellow vest phonenum and too many people telling you what you should not do.
My general gut feeling is that most new migrants into Germany of a Islamic nature.....really don't have any desire to have vested Sharlia-Police characters standing in front of them and telling them what they can or can't do. Some of the Turks might even do a push-back routine....taking absolutely no intimidation from the vest crowd.
Back toward the summer of 2014, German cops in Wuppertal (a German town to the far north, 350,000 in population)....came up some individuals on a street wearing vests with 'Sharia Police' in lettering. Basically, the the seven vested guys were walking around and appealing to people they perceived as young Muslims to avoid drinking booze, gambling, or visiting the local brothels. Had they simply had the vests (yellow) on, with no writing....the cops would have just nodded and told them not to intimidate anyone. The problem was....according to regional law....you can't wear anything that is uniform-like to the cops or firemen. The lettering with the word 'Sharia Police' was felt to be illegal. So they got arrested and charged.
Yesterday, the district court of Wuppertal held their session and decided to acquit all seven guys of the uniform charge.
The prosecutor? The news folks say he was a bit frustrated. He says he'll appeal to a higher court.
How this came to an acquittal? Well...it appears that witnesses came up and noted that the men were not being aggressive and no one suggested fear or intimidation. There's also the suggestion by the court that law over the vests is too vague. The other problem is a German law that now exists....mandating you have to carry a yellow vest in your car.....so every single car owner is mandated to own a yellow vest.
The higher court acting? They might conduct a review, but this would take a minimum of a year. In a couple of months.....it'll be four years since the event occurred. Yeah, it takes that long for German law to act.
What'll happen now? I suspect as spring comes....a number of folks will appear on the streets of Wuppertal with vests that say 'Sharia Police', and continue their episode. It's possible that other groups will appear with 'Anti-Capitalist Police', 'Anti-Alcohol Police', and even 'Anti-Anti Police', and the locals will be shaking their heads over this yellow vest phonenum and too many people telling you what you should not do.
My general gut feeling is that most new migrants into Germany of a Islamic nature.....really don't have any desire to have vested Sharlia-Police characters standing in front of them and telling them what they can or can't do. Some of the Turks might even do a push-back routine....taking absolutely no intimidation from the vest crowd.
Wednesday, January 10, 2018
The Ypsilanti Story
I sometimes essay over politics in Germany, and how things have become 'muddled'. So this is one of those more unusual stories.
In regional Hessen politics....back in January of 2008...we had a state election. For the CDU, it was considered a dismal episode and most conservatives would like to forget that year. The CDU took 36.8-percent of the vote....down 12-percent over the previous election. The SPD shocked most folks that year by taking 36.7-percent (an increase of 7.6-percent over the last election).
Numbers-wise, the CDU won (yeah by the margin .1-percent), but to form a government, you need a coalition. Partner-wise, once the SPD said 'no', the path to a coalition was just about impossible. So as weeks passed, the coalition game was handed to the SPD (the second-place winner) to form the state government.
The SPD chief in charge? Andrea Ypsilanti.
Throughout this period in the fall of 2007....Ypsilanti had spoken to the suggestion of a SPD-Green-Linke Party coalition as NOT going to happen. The truth of the matter is that a fair number of the SPD members were absolutely open to Green partnering....but a fair number were NOT in favor of any coalition with the Linke Party. Folks felt that Ypsilanti's words were going to be kept.
So it was a shocker in this SPD effort to form a government....that she turned and said yes, there probably would be a SPD-Green-Linke Party coalition. Frustration was discussed throughout the state because folks weren't happy with this idea.
To make this a possibility....a group vote was required within the SPD Party, and one key member voted against Ypsilanti. This lead to a couple of downfalls, and by the end of that year.....Ypsilanti quit the SPD Party, and walked away.
This week, Ypsilanti got back into the news of Hessen, with a book discussing the state of politics in Germany, and "neoliberal capitalism." The book title? "And Tomorrow We'll Rule Ourselves".
Her chief comment? Ypsilanti says the SPD Party has turned itself away from the working-class voters, and now resembles to some degree the American-Democratic Party...appearing to represent various groups.
Her long-term view of the SPD? They need renewal. She voices support for the basic income idea, and more reductions for working-hours.
In her analysis....there's a marginal amount of alternatives in German politics today.
Will people care much for her opinion? She's been out of politics for almost a decade, and some younger members have no memory of her history. It might draw a debate, and open up some discussions about what's wrong in German politics today.
In regional Hessen politics....back in January of 2008...we had a state election. For the CDU, it was considered a dismal episode and most conservatives would like to forget that year. The CDU took 36.8-percent of the vote....down 12-percent over the previous election. The SPD shocked most folks that year by taking 36.7-percent (an increase of 7.6-percent over the last election).
Numbers-wise, the CDU won (yeah by the margin .1-percent), but to form a government, you need a coalition. Partner-wise, once the SPD said 'no', the path to a coalition was just about impossible. So as weeks passed, the coalition game was handed to the SPD (the second-place winner) to form the state government.
The SPD chief in charge? Andrea Ypsilanti.
Throughout this period in the fall of 2007....Ypsilanti had spoken to the suggestion of a SPD-Green-Linke Party coalition as NOT going to happen. The truth of the matter is that a fair number of the SPD members were absolutely open to Green partnering....but a fair number were NOT in favor of any coalition with the Linke Party. Folks felt that Ypsilanti's words were going to be kept.
So it was a shocker in this SPD effort to form a government....that she turned and said yes, there probably would be a SPD-Green-Linke Party coalition. Frustration was discussed throughout the state because folks weren't happy with this idea.
To make this a possibility....a group vote was required within the SPD Party, and one key member voted against Ypsilanti. This lead to a couple of downfalls, and by the end of that year.....Ypsilanti quit the SPD Party, and walked away.
This week, Ypsilanti got back into the news of Hessen, with a book discussing the state of politics in Germany, and "neoliberal capitalism." The book title? "And Tomorrow We'll Rule Ourselves".
Her chief comment? Ypsilanti says the SPD Party has turned itself away from the working-class voters, and now resembles to some degree the American-Democratic Party...appearing to represent various groups.
Her long-term view of the SPD? They need renewal. She voices support for the basic income idea, and more reductions for working-hours.
In her analysis....there's a marginal amount of alternatives in German politics today.
Will people care much for her opinion? She's been out of politics for almost a decade, and some younger members have no memory of her history. It might draw a debate, and open up some discussions about what's wrong in German politics today.
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