What The German Draft Sugar Tax Appears Like?

 The chatter goes this way.

If you are drinking a sugar-free soda....it's zero tax.

The tax will appear to be 38 Euro cents per liter....for heavily sugared drinks....with low-sugar drinks getting taxed at 26 Euro cents.

The 'end' of the sugar talk?  Well....some Germans think this will be revisited every four to six years....when the tax bucket needs more income.  

Same to come for fatty or greasy food, or excessive salted stuff?  Yeah, the same crowd thinks within a year this talk will start up.

Changing anyone's habits?  My personal thoughts....when a Pepsi gets up to 5 Euro a can....it'll reshape buying habits.  

Oddly, if you were happy with cheap beer....you'd get a better pricing scheme drinking beer over a soda.  Everyone should dump sodas and just go with a beer-habit.  

Spain's Housing Changes From Yesterday?

 Yesterday (Tuesday, 29 September 2026), the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, worked up a deal with the coalition government.

National housing fury has been going on for several days.

The main measures include:

1.  Extending the ban on evicting vulnerable tenants who have no alternative housing until the end of 2030.

2.  Automatic two-year extension for existing rental contracts (would expire before 31 December 2028).

3.  A ban on so-called “vulture funds” buying residential properties for speculative purposes until 2028.

4.  Tighter rules on seasonal and room rentals to stop them being used to dodge ordinary tenancy protections.

5.  Higher VAT on tourist apartments and other steps aimed at curbing speculation.

6.  Automatic (indefinite) renewal of rental contracts.

7.  The government also announced related incentives such as interest-free state-backed loans (via the ICO) covering up to 20% of the price of a first home, capped at €50,000.

So the consequences?  Most people think that a halt on building new apartment buildings will occur (figure for 3 years).  

Some of this leading back to Germans living a vacation-lifestyle and 'gobbling-up' properties?  Spaniards say this.....some evidence that it's true.  

30 Sep 2026: Germany: 5 Stories

 1.  WELT piece....11-percent of German 'kids'....ages 18 to 24....are not in training, not employed, and 'just-standing-around'.  

Pretty negative story if true.

2.  Russia story brewing....gov't is moving funds out of social programs....to cover military costs.

3.  If you look at polling....there's only five points separating the CDU-CSU (2nd-place) and the Greens (3rd place).  At present pace, it's possible that the Greens take another point or two off the SPD/Linke folks, and the Greens in 2029 end up in the election forming a gov't....after the next election.

4.  Fairford episode.....just odd....about an hour prior to the farm-gal calling in to report suspicious stuff....someone else called in (police didn't react on that call).

5.  Former boss of RBB (public TV for Berlin network)....has charges accepted by the court (breach of trust).  So there will be a open court hearing. 

Berlin-City 'Twist'

 Elif Eralp, the new Linke Party leader in Berlin....is trying to form a coalition centering around a pledge to 'seize' ownership of 200,000 apartments to be city-property (instead of commercial property rentals)....meaning the city can control the rent price.

The process is called.....Enteignung / Enteignungsverfahren (expropriation under Art. 14 GG and the Building Code / BauGB).  In simple-talk....a city or public authority takes specific properties for a concrete public purpose (it could be a building, a school, a private street).  

The key here....there's compensation required.

If you said you were seizing/expropriating....six buildings (20 apartments in each) worth a cost of 100 million Euro....you can perform the act, but your lawyers are going to present the bill (validated by a court) for 100 million Euro.  Where this money comes from?  Well....your budget, or you borrow the money.

So when you talk about 200,000 apartments....you are probably discussing about 150-plus buildings, and you need to start calculating a necessity for five to ten billion Euro.  

Would the German federal gov't (Merz and company)...give them even a quarter of that amount?  NO.  

Does anyone within the Linke group fully understand expropriation?  I have my personal doubts.

Do Linke-voters understand expropriation?  I seriously doubt it.

My personal belief....they (the Linke-led city council) might rig up some property tax, and have the money to 'grab' two or three apartment buildings per year (figure each in 1-million Euro each)...with the buildings being in fix-it-up condition.  So they'd have to find another 5-million for renovation of the structures.

The key problem here?  Well....the SPD Party wants to be a partner in the coalition, but they probably won't sign up for expropriation efforts.

29 Sep 2026: Germany: 6 Stories

1.  How this Fairford terror event 'flipped'.

Well...the five lads are part of a crime-group out of London....who market and sell stolen farm-diesel fuel. The terror story....at least by police standards...has fallen apart.

Odds of charges?  I'd give it 30-percent chance of charges being developed.

So they had three full-size vans....with fuel 'bladders' in each.  Some Brit did analysis...saying if there were heavily-loaded.....3,500 liters per van....the 'take' per van would be 4,000 to 5,000 Pounds (figure 4,660 Euro to 5,820 Euro)....per vehicle.

Two guys, with their crime group involved, and a middle guy....probably took 1,500 Euro each as their 'profit'.  Maybe if you were doing this 6 to 8 times a month....it makes sense.  Lot of risk for overloaded van-driving, if you ask me (as a kid on soybean farm....driving an overloaded truck at 45 mph and marginal braking power)

Weight risk and accident potential?  I asked Grok/AI to check the weight and van-standards.  It's badly over-weight, and would be a mess to drive in a safe manner.

End of the story?  Well....defcon Charlie is probably still in effect, and the 'real' terrorists....are somewhere out there...waiting.

The five guys?  If the fuel bladders were empty....there's no charges much that the police can dump on them.  

2.  The German couple who invented the Covid vax....shutting down one of their 'plants'....business has dropped big time.

3.  Rottweill (SW Germany)....woman wounded by gunshot.  

4.  Greece says it will form a deportation 'center' in Africa....whether the EU allows for this....unknown.

5.  Odd Sunday evening TV offering....two German commercial networks offered NFL football.

6.  Looking over a Berlin City election map.....the far outer east ring of the city....is where AfD got votes.  The middle seven suburbs....are where Linke Party voting was dominant.   

Four Humble Thoughts

 1.  UK going back to EU....UN-BREXIT?

The question should be...if you ran a election...could the re-join vote get 50-plus percent?

Then you need to ask....would EU look at matters and say 'no'?

Finally....if the UK rejoined....would France go and halt the migration-raft deal into the UK?  If not....why waste time discussing this (again)?

2.  If the Greens found themselves at 20-percent (ahead of the SPD and CDU-CSU, behind AfD)....would former alt-Chancellor Habeck get a call to 'come-back'?

3.  SPD talking of a retirement account....that parents could start for kids....at age 6?

Well....the topic has come up and some folks think it's a great idea....believing that a IRA-like deal....over 60 years....would be worth half-a-million Euro.  

But to be honest....50-percent of parents ain't got the money to run such an account (even 40 Euro a month would be a issue).

4.  In roughly 3 weeks.....all Bahn stations will forbid consumption within train stations.  

This Brit Farmer Gal

 Shortly after midnight....this Brit farmer gal left a party....probably having consumed an ale or two.  She rounds a corner, and there lay three white vans.  There's probably a 8-second jolt....something ain't right, and then she notices five young lads who probably aren't of the local surroundings

The farmer gal turns around....fumbles around with the smart-phone....tries to alert the base security folks (that fails), and reverts to the local police.  Roughly 25 minutes later...a couple of Brit police arrive....with guns, and take the five lads.

The farmer gal?  She wasn't done.  She used WhatsApp and alerted everyone in the village area....'lockdown' and be prepared.

She probably didn't get home and chilled-out to sleep...until 3 AM.

By 6 AM....she probably got up and tended to farm chores....checking the cattle....doing a fence secure walk, and by 7 AM....had a jolt of serious caffein.

Around 10 AM....she probably had ten minutes of free time to check on the base story.  Then back to work

The blunt truth....there's probably twenty-thousand farm folks....prepared for action....around the clock, and what keeps terrorists out-of-action.

Saving Energy Chatter

One odd development in Germany over the past 20 years....if you frequent outdoor restaurants in the fall/spring.....some folks have invested money in gas patio heaters (called Heizpilze).  They generally run off natural gas or oil.  

From my prospective....if you sit within 2 meters (6 feet)....you get a 'jolt' of heat (say around 10 F added to the temp).   So siting and having dinner, or have a beer....isn't some cold affair.  

Well...the EU in the past month or two....has proposed a BAN on the patio heaters....saying it's a waste of energy.  I won't argue much about the waste idea....but if you were a pub, or restaurant....if the ban occurs, you can probably zero-out about 20-percent of your fall/spring profit margin.

The only suggested 'cut'?  Well....NO.  There's talk of a nighttime public street lamp 'cut'.  

This being a suggestive idea?  That's also part of the story.  They'd prefer not to force this upon every state....that states would adapt the two ideas. 

German acceptance?  I'd give it less than a 5-percent chance of either idea being 'forced'.