Government by proxy generally means that you've had an election, and voted for a particular candidate/party, where they said they'd go and do A, B, and C. Then you go off and do your regular business....waking up a year, or five years later....to realize that this 'winner' or the 'winner-party' went and did D, E and F as well. These were things, which you felt were a bit beyond the scope of the guy or party. In fact, you may be so disenchanted by the action.....that you feel 'screwed'.
This general idea of government by proxy really started to take shape in the US, and Europe in the 1980s. Someone would lay out such-and-such agenda, which you'd buy into. Then you'd come to realize other pieces, more taxes, or additional regulations added....that wasn't mentioned before. Now you'd like to have a chat, but it's a bit too late to get your 'player' interested in chatting.
As for the herd theory, this is usually where you'd convinced a bunch of folks to settle for A, B, and C.....with them moving in this direction that you choose. The herd rarely stops or reverses, in this case.
In some ways, the general disgruntled feeling in the UK, and seen in a number of European countries....is going anti-proxy. The Yellow-Vest movement in France....mostly centers on actions that Macron took, which was beyond his advertised points in the election. If he'd mentioned these points then.....the high vote tally would have been dramatically less. You see disgruntled voters in Germany, who are hyped up about the welfare mess that exists, pension woes, and the migration path. Working-class Germans would readily admit.....Merkel is not the Chancellor to correct things but they can't really find anyone else better. Same story in Spain....same story in Italy, etc.
If I were to project this out, I see the next decade in Europe as being a difficult period, with a number of political parties exercised out of existence in ten years time. The BREXIT matter? If the UK does the no-treaty exit, and somehow comes out with a better fortune in ten years.....it'll be a shocker to the EU bureaucrats.
Thursday, March 14, 2019
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Court Case in Wiesbaden Continues
There is a great piece today written by Goran Schattauer for Focus magazine.....over the murder trial in Wiesbaden with the dead teenage Mainz girl, and the accused....an Iraqi asylum guy.
Schattauer has been there for the opening day, and today. He lays out a couple of key observations over this accused guy.
Originally, the young guy grew up in Kurdistan. There's not a lot of details about how this family of eleven got over into Iraq. But the guy basically finished up five total years of schooling.....with two of these being repeat years. Educationally, he was behind and this great 'adventure' into Germany was probably (as Schattauer lays out the tale) a bit more than he could handle.
The German language and integration classes? Way too much for him, and he started to skip them.
The guy spent most days....getting up at noon, wandering around the city while sipping vodka, smoking hash and using heroin. At various times, he was caught with knives, and getting in violent crimes. His friends? Not a single German.
As Schattauer weaves the story.....this is a guy who simply 'took', and never 'gave' in return. He was unprepared for Germany, and integration. For him to have 'made it'.....someone would have had to stand there and lead him through each step....the German system would have had to find at least five years to educate him to some higher level....and German 'associates' would have had to be there to support him.
The problem I see....there are probably thousands of immigrant guys in Germany like this......with the vast majority who've yet to murder or harm anyone, but they are hanging on for the 'ride of their lives', and need some kind of mentoring to make this whole thing work.
Schattauer has been there for the opening day, and today. He lays out a couple of key observations over this accused guy.
Originally, the young guy grew up in Kurdistan. There's not a lot of details about how this family of eleven got over into Iraq. But the guy basically finished up five total years of schooling.....with two of these being repeat years. Educationally, he was behind and this great 'adventure' into Germany was probably (as Schattauer lays out the tale) a bit more than he could handle.
The German language and integration classes? Way too much for him, and he started to skip them.
The guy spent most days....getting up at noon, wandering around the city while sipping vodka, smoking hash and using heroin. At various times, he was caught with knives, and getting in violent crimes. His friends? Not a single German.
As Schattauer weaves the story.....this is a guy who simply 'took', and never 'gave' in return. He was unprepared for Germany, and integration. For him to have 'made it'.....someone would have had to stand there and lead him through each step....the German system would have had to find at least five years to educate him to some higher level....and German 'associates' would have had to be there to support him.
The problem I see....there are probably thousands of immigrant guys in Germany like this......with the vast majority who've yet to murder or harm anyone, but they are hanging on for the 'ride of their lives', and need some kind of mentoring to make this whole thing work.
Measles Story
It's an interesting development in Hildesheim (about 30 minutes south of Hanover, in the north of Germany). They had a measles outbreak in the local school.
Local authorities reviewed everything, and then said.....there's 107 kids, teachers, and employees of the school who can't show a vaccination. So rather than risk any more issues....they are forbidden from school until the 22nd of March (roughly 10 days from now).
NDR (regional public TV from the region) carried the bulk of the story.
Missed work? Well....they've told teachers to hand out homework assignments and some kind of exams will be given for the missed period.
But this is a continuing trend now, with kids and adults having gotten around the measles vaccination business. No one gives the national statistics on this, but I would take a guess that at least 10-percent of German kids now exist without the vaccination. My general prediction is that as each 'season' comes into effect.....more of these forbidden entry episodes will occur, and most of the non-vaccinated kids will get two to three weeks of non-school each year.
Local authorities reviewed everything, and then said.....there's 107 kids, teachers, and employees of the school who can't show a vaccination. So rather than risk any more issues....they are forbidden from school until the 22nd of March (roughly 10 days from now).
NDR (regional public TV from the region) carried the bulk of the story.
Missed work? Well....they've told teachers to hand out homework assignments and some kind of exams will be given for the missed period.
But this is a continuing trend now, with kids and adults having gotten around the measles vaccination business. No one gives the national statistics on this, but I would take a guess that at least 10-percent of German kids now exist without the vaccination. My general prediction is that as each 'season' comes into effect.....more of these forbidden entry episodes will occur, and most of the non-vaccinated kids will get two to three weeks of non-school each year.
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Murder Story
A murder court episode opens in Wiesbaden today....it's over the 14-year old Mainz girl....killed by a local asylum guy (from Iraq). It has charged up some folks in Mainz, and at least has public curiosity over the details of the murder, and the path that this migrant led up unto this event.
One of the more curious things pointed out by the cops (now) is the path of criminal behavior. HR (our public TV network in the region) pointed out some of these issues.
About 18 months into his entry into Germany, four months after failing the visa application and on a appeal process.....this guy comes up with his first criminal situation. He's part of a group that 'mobs' some woman, and there is an ensuing fight. An investigation starts up....then gets dropped by the police (no reason given).
Around eight months pass, another fight episode, and in this case....the victim doesn't want to go into court. So that case gets dropped.
A month passes and the guy 'bumps' into a female cop in Wiesbaden. In this case, he beats the cop to some minor degree and spits on the cop. Normally, that type of behavior would get you a number of weeks in some jail. He spends that night in jail.....but the investigation goes into a lingering mode.
A month or two passes, and now a new and more serious crime....rape of a migrant 11-year old girl. This doesn't go anywhere much on the investigation. No one talks much over the accusation or if there was lack of evidence.
Around two months pass from that episode, and the guy ends up murdering the 14-year old Mainz girl.
At some point early on....there should have been some fatherly-type figure to step in and insist upon correcting his behavior. The cops could have early on.....set the pace by putting him into some jail for a month, or putting on some plane back to his homeland.. Various things that should have occurred, just never did occur.
The max on the murder charge? If convicted? Twenty years. Some people have suggested that they might get the conviction, and then work some deal to deport him to a prison in Iraq. I doubt that the German legal system would allow that to occur.
One of the more curious things pointed out by the cops (now) is the path of criminal behavior. HR (our public TV network in the region) pointed out some of these issues.
About 18 months into his entry into Germany, four months after failing the visa application and on a appeal process.....this guy comes up with his first criminal situation. He's part of a group that 'mobs' some woman, and there is an ensuing fight. An investigation starts up....then gets dropped by the police (no reason given).
Around eight months pass, another fight episode, and in this case....the victim doesn't want to go into court. So that case gets dropped.
A month passes and the guy 'bumps' into a female cop in Wiesbaden. In this case, he beats the cop to some minor degree and spits on the cop. Normally, that type of behavior would get you a number of weeks in some jail. He spends that night in jail.....but the investigation goes into a lingering mode.
A month or two passes, and now a new and more serious crime....rape of a migrant 11-year old girl. This doesn't go anywhere much on the investigation. No one talks much over the accusation or if there was lack of evidence.
Around two months pass from that episode, and the guy ends up murdering the 14-year old Mainz girl.
At some point early on....there should have been some fatherly-type figure to step in and insist upon correcting his behavior. The cops could have early on.....set the pace by putting him into some jail for a month, or putting on some plane back to his homeland.. Various things that should have occurred, just never did occur.
The max on the murder charge? If convicted? Twenty years. Some people have suggested that they might get the conviction, and then work some deal to deport him to a prison in Iraq. I doubt that the German legal system would allow that to occur.
Public Housing Topic
Last night (Monday), ARD (public TV, Channel One) ran Hart Aber Fair (their public forum show). The topic? The housing situation. I've essayed a fair number of observations over this unique German problem.
The basis of this....almost every major urbanized city in Germany is 'short' on affordable housing (1-bedroom, 2-bedroom, 3-bedroom, etc). Part of this issue revolves around a mass sell-off by cities of city-owned pubic housing in the 1980s and 1990s, which the city management system took the profits and drove into parks, road maintenance, and people-projects. The company that bought the apartment buildings? They renovated and raised rents.....so affordability kinda dried up. Another element is land speculation, where lots of open lots exist but the pricing is so far up, that affordable apartment planning is a joke.
So last night, the moderator of the forum had political guests, and agenda people.
The high point of the whole discussion? A leftist agenda person, who made the comment that it was time to seize public housing back away from the companies who've profited.....lower that rent, and refuse to pay the former owners more than 1-Euro. Lots of applause, but reality soon arrives.
Once you enter into this type of seizure (under German law, it's legal).....you have to compensate the former owners. The court system would force this rather quickly. How much would we be talking about? Just in Berlin alone, it's probably in the 20-billion Euro range, for the amount of property they often speculate upon seizing. Across all of German? I would wager that the price tag would go beyond 200-billion Euro. City or state governments capable of paying that? No. Even at the national level....they'd be unable to compensate the owners.
But the commentator who made this suggestion got a fair amount of applause.
One of the great examples of public housing in Europe that 'worked'....comes out of Vienna in the 1950s and 1960s. They built numerous buildings across the city. Renovation-wise, with exteriors....they've done virtually nothing. Along every other decade, they might have improved windows, or bathrooms....but they left the bulk of the buildings in a simple appearance. Rent is developed upon the lines of what you make, and a percentage of that given back to the government. None of their properties went off to private companies. People can whine about the lack of improvement, or 1950s 'look' but they can easily afford the rent.
There might have been some Germans hyped up from last night, but frankly, it's become an unsolvable mess.
The basis of this....almost every major urbanized city in Germany is 'short' on affordable housing (1-bedroom, 2-bedroom, 3-bedroom, etc). Part of this issue revolves around a mass sell-off by cities of city-owned pubic housing in the 1980s and 1990s, which the city management system took the profits and drove into parks, road maintenance, and people-projects. The company that bought the apartment buildings? They renovated and raised rents.....so affordability kinda dried up. Another element is land speculation, where lots of open lots exist but the pricing is so far up, that affordable apartment planning is a joke.
So last night, the moderator of the forum had political guests, and agenda people.
The high point of the whole discussion? A leftist agenda person, who made the comment that it was time to seize public housing back away from the companies who've profited.....lower that rent, and refuse to pay the former owners more than 1-Euro. Lots of applause, but reality soon arrives.
Once you enter into this type of seizure (under German law, it's legal).....you have to compensate the former owners. The court system would force this rather quickly. How much would we be talking about? Just in Berlin alone, it's probably in the 20-billion Euro range, for the amount of property they often speculate upon seizing. Across all of German? I would wager that the price tag would go beyond 200-billion Euro. City or state governments capable of paying that? No. Even at the national level....they'd be unable to compensate the owners.
But the commentator who made this suggestion got a fair amount of applause.
One of the great examples of public housing in Europe that 'worked'....comes out of Vienna in the 1950s and 1960s. They built numerous buildings across the city. Renovation-wise, with exteriors....they've done virtually nothing. Along every other decade, they might have improved windows, or bathrooms....but they left the bulk of the buildings in a simple appearance. Rent is developed upon the lines of what you make, and a percentage of that given back to the government. None of their properties went off to private companies. People can whine about the lack of improvement, or 1950s 'look' but they can easily afford the rent.
There might have been some Germans hyped up from last night, but frankly, it's become an unsolvable mess.
Monday, March 11, 2019
Social Media Chatter
There's this little technology story today in the ARD (public TV, Channel One) news, which I thought was a curious piece.
So a study was done by the Fraunhofer folks.
Presently, 90-percent of Germans will admit to using some form of the internet. But when you get around to social media use....state by state (there are sixteen German states)....things go in various directions.
In the Brandenburg region....only around 38-percent of folks admit to using social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc).
States on the increase? Only the Saarland, Pfalz, and Hamburg. With the Pfalz near 60 percent of the population.
So the question that one might ask....are Germans not attached to social media? The short answer? With youth groups, you might find them hyped up to use Twitter or WhatsApp.....with Facebook lacking that much interest. In fact, with Germans over the age of forty.....Facebook just isn't that big of a deal. Curiously, WhatsApp is a item which most all Germans have adapted to in the past three years.
Some in the tech world suggest that if people just had more training or introduction.....they'd use these more. I kinda doubt it.
I've sat on German buses in the morning and noted kids making photos of their homework, via WhatsApp...to send to another kid on another bus.....who missed the assignment from last night, and that kid wraps up his work from the photo. I've stood in grocery stores where women took pictures of products via WhatsApp....to quiz their husband, and then buy it with the acknowledgement of the husband one minute later.
Facebook? I just don't see it ever dominating German consumers, or school kids here.
So a study was done by the Fraunhofer folks.
Presently, 90-percent of Germans will admit to using some form of the internet. But when you get around to social media use....state by state (there are sixteen German states)....things go in various directions.
In the Brandenburg region....only around 38-percent of folks admit to using social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc).
States on the increase? Only the Saarland, Pfalz, and Hamburg. With the Pfalz near 60 percent of the population.
So the question that one might ask....are Germans not attached to social media? The short answer? With youth groups, you might find them hyped up to use Twitter or WhatsApp.....with Facebook lacking that much interest. In fact, with Germans over the age of forty.....Facebook just isn't that big of a deal. Curiously, WhatsApp is a item which most all Germans have adapted to in the past three years.
Some in the tech world suggest that if people just had more training or introduction.....they'd use these more. I kinda doubt it.
I've sat on German buses in the morning and noted kids making photos of their homework, via WhatsApp...to send to another kid on another bus.....who missed the assignment from last night, and that kid wraps up his work from the photo. I've stood in grocery stores where women took pictures of products via WhatsApp....to quiz their husband, and then buy it with the acknowledgement of the husband one minute later.
Facebook? I just don't see it ever dominating German consumers, or school kids here.
Another Failed Asylum Knifing
Via regional news out of central Germany (Faz.net), there's a migrant-girlfriend murder situation now developing again.
What the news media says is that last week....a 22-year old German gal, was attacked and killed by knife in her parent's home, in the city of Worms. Murderer? A 22-year old Tunisian guy who was the boyfriend for a unknown period of time, and who'd failed the visa application process.
Another mental case episode? Well....cops are recommending the guy be reviewed. I would suggest that from the past five years and at least ten murders/assaults related to boyfriend/girlfriend situations with asylum folks.....the majority had the cops recommending a mental eval on the accused. Part of this might be behavior demonstrated while in custody....it might relate to opinions of people who know the guy.....or it might be that the victim had commented prior to their death about the guy being 'funny'.
From Saturday, a memorial was held at a local church. At some point in the service.....some guy (unknown nationality) yelled 'Allahu Akbar' and that triggered bit of a ruckus in the church. No attack....just people a bit disturbed and concerned over their safety.
Its safe to say that locals are a bit angered over the murder. The mayor is trying to restore public order and get people off the negative side of this attack.
What the public will likely center upon.....the guy had failed the visa request, and probably should have been picked up that hour of notification, and held until he could board a plane. A fair number of Germans have been hyped on this idea, and it appears to be gaining steam.
What the news media says is that last week....a 22-year old German gal, was attacked and killed by knife in her parent's home, in the city of Worms. Murderer? A 22-year old Tunisian guy who was the boyfriend for a unknown period of time, and who'd failed the visa application process.
Another mental case episode? Well....cops are recommending the guy be reviewed. I would suggest that from the past five years and at least ten murders/assaults related to boyfriend/girlfriend situations with asylum folks.....the majority had the cops recommending a mental eval on the accused. Part of this might be behavior demonstrated while in custody....it might relate to opinions of people who know the guy.....or it might be that the victim had commented prior to their death about the guy being 'funny'.
From Saturday, a memorial was held at a local church. At some point in the service.....some guy (unknown nationality) yelled 'Allahu Akbar' and that triggered bit of a ruckus in the church. No attack....just people a bit disturbed and concerned over their safety.
Its safe to say that locals are a bit angered over the murder. The mayor is trying to restore public order and get people off the negative side of this attack.
What the public will likely center upon.....the guy had failed the visa request, and probably should have been picked up that hour of notification, and held until he could board a plane. A fair number of Germans have been hyped on this idea, and it appears to be gaining steam.
Sunday, March 10, 2019
The Expropriation 'Chatter'
For a number of months, I've essayed about housing shortages in Germany.....mostly all in highly urbanized cities (Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, and so on). It's at a point where the political parties have promised some remedy, but mostly fallen into a pit of issues that can't be resolved.
One curious thing which the major cities have admitted, and it begs questions.....after WW II.....going up to the 1970s, cities across Germany built 'social housing' (apartment buildings without a lot of glitter) which were rented out at sums of money which the city felt 'fair'.
An odd thing started in the 1990s, which no one much talks about. A lot of these apartment buildings (remember, they were built and financed by the city management themselves)....weren't lined up for renovation as the 1990s arrived, and the cities really didn't have the money to bring them up to the next level that people expected. Cities made this odd decision.....they sold the apartment buildings...to a commercial company called 'Deutsche Wohnen Gruppe'. This company did the logical step.....they went into renovation projects, but they raised the rent. As a commercial company, they had to not only be responsible for the property, but they had to make some kind of profit..
So you'd have a 500 DM (still in the 1990s, remember) apartment, which underwent renovation, and then the landlord company said with the new 'look'.....800 DM was now the new rent. So across Germany, apartments started to escalate. Where people couldn't afford their old apartment, they went looking for another place, and they crowded up the scene for 'affordable' housing.
In recent months, there's been this chat in Berlin (not the Bundestag, but the city folks)....about expropriation (meaning the city would take your property). The discussion at the city level is that it's time to go and seize the old properties and revert this mess back to them
The discussion here is that as a company in a city (like Berlin).....once you go over ownership of 3,000 apartments)....that would be the point where the city would seize your assets (over the amount) and run them as a non-profit situation.....meaning just basic rent.
You can imagine an 2-bedroom apartment going for 1,200 Euro currently ($1,400) on the monthly rate, and the city would just say 800 Euro (cutting a quarter of the rent) and in their mind, the crisis would 'end'.
Issues? Well...Focus went and talked about this effort. The experts say, just in Berlin alone....they'd need 25-to-40 billion Euro. Here's the curious thing....the city presently is around 60-billion Euro in debt. What bank would cover this? None. How much property tax would you have to create to make this interesting for the banks to cover the loan? Don't even bother talking over that topic....it'll freak people out.
If you did start to expropriate the property....would anyone go and build regular apartment housing? I suspect that idea would rapidly come to a closure, and people would only build for high-end condo sales.
It's curious.....all this chatter in the past six months.....Burgergeld, pension woes, reform of welfare payments, and expropriate of public property......all requiring adding up to hundreds of billions over a decade, and really no way to grab that money....leaving people to stand there talking about some fantasy repairs, but grumbling because nothing ever gets fixed.
One curious thing which the major cities have admitted, and it begs questions.....after WW II.....going up to the 1970s, cities across Germany built 'social housing' (apartment buildings without a lot of glitter) which were rented out at sums of money which the city felt 'fair'.
An odd thing started in the 1990s, which no one much talks about. A lot of these apartment buildings (remember, they were built and financed by the city management themselves)....weren't lined up for renovation as the 1990s arrived, and the cities really didn't have the money to bring them up to the next level that people expected. Cities made this odd decision.....they sold the apartment buildings...to a commercial company called 'Deutsche Wohnen Gruppe'. This company did the logical step.....they went into renovation projects, but they raised the rent. As a commercial company, they had to not only be responsible for the property, but they had to make some kind of profit..
So you'd have a 500 DM (still in the 1990s, remember) apartment, which underwent renovation, and then the landlord company said with the new 'look'.....800 DM was now the new rent. So across Germany, apartments started to escalate. Where people couldn't afford their old apartment, they went looking for another place, and they crowded up the scene for 'affordable' housing.
In recent months, there's been this chat in Berlin (not the Bundestag, but the city folks)....about expropriation (meaning the city would take your property). The discussion at the city level is that it's time to go and seize the old properties and revert this mess back to them
The discussion here is that as a company in a city (like Berlin).....once you go over ownership of 3,000 apartments)....that would be the point where the city would seize your assets (over the amount) and run them as a non-profit situation.....meaning just basic rent.
You can imagine an 2-bedroom apartment going for 1,200 Euro currently ($1,400) on the monthly rate, and the city would just say 800 Euro (cutting a quarter of the rent) and in their mind, the crisis would 'end'.
Issues? Well...Focus went and talked about this effort. The experts say, just in Berlin alone....they'd need 25-to-40 billion Euro. Here's the curious thing....the city presently is around 60-billion Euro in debt. What bank would cover this? None. How much property tax would you have to create to make this interesting for the banks to cover the loan? Don't even bother talking over that topic....it'll freak people out.
If you did start to expropriate the property....would anyone go and build regular apartment housing? I suspect that idea would rapidly come to a closure, and people would only build for high-end condo sales.
It's curious.....all this chatter in the past six months.....Burgergeld, pension woes, reform of welfare payments, and expropriate of public property......all requiring adding up to hundreds of billions over a decade, and really no way to grab that money....leaving people to stand there talking about some fantasy repairs, but grumbling because nothing ever gets fixed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)