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Germany Creating Its Own Economic Stalingrad
The utter contempt which German car manufacturers have shown for generally accepted business standards and for its customers wordwide are a clear sign of a new mood in Germany. The falsifying of emission tests is one of the largest criminal frauds which has ever been perpetrated and the companies involved, VW, Porsche, Audi etc. could not care less. Only the US is big enough to dare to challenge the might of the German car industry and even it is treading comparatively lightly, at least so far. Compare the treatment of the Westminster Three, bankers who were arrested in the UK and extradited to the US, where they were subjected to the full rigours of the US criminal system for a fraud which paled into insignificance compared to that perpetrated by the German car industry, a huge conspiracy to defraud car owners and ensure that the worlds atmosphere did not get cleaned up as it should have been.
The UKs place as a laughing stock in world affairs is well illustrated by the fact that it is about the only major country where the Germans are refusing to offer any compensation whatsoever to UK owners who were tricked into buying what they thought were clean cars. The UK is being singled out because it has become too weak and irrelevant to matter and they Germans know they can get away with it.
Such disregard for the laws of countries in which Germany trades indicates the emergence of a new arrogance and this is not the only example.
One of the worst features of this new and dangerous mood in Germany, is its huge and utterly illegal trade surplus, which in the end will destroy the Eurozone and with it the EU as we know it. Eurozone rules prohibit a budget deficit in excess of 3% of GDP and similarly they also prohibit a trade surplus in excess of 3%. The 3% limits are there for good economic reasons – to exceed them creates an imbalance in the worlds or Europes economies. The German surplus has been inexorably rising towards a huge 10% and it adamantly refuses to do anything about it. Obviously compliance with EU laws is not, once again, something which the Germans are very keen on. They would much prefer, as they have done for years, to scream and rail against tiny Greece for its budget deficits which have now happily been turned into a small surplus and blame the Greeks for causing the imbalance which threatens the Euro. That is much like blaming a rowing boat for sinking the Titanic.
Germany is in effect waging economic warfare, tanks and the jackboot have become outdated. Countries can be devastated by economic means and Germany has shown that it has every intention of continuing to amass its massive and illegal surpluses. There is only one hope and that is the German education system. Germans are still brought up to be disciplined and follow orders. They can not imagine that they are on the road to creating an economic Stalingrad. This time it will not be a blind failure to realise that you need winter uniforms to survive in temperatures of -40C which will cause havoc. This time it will be the sudden realisation that their illegal surpluses have brought about the collapse of their own economy because suddenly there will not be enough money left outside Germany for people to buy its exports. Its illegal surpluses will destroy its own export markets. Germany has again forgotten basic principles, -this time, that one countries budget surplus is another countries budget deficit.
In corporate news:
AstraZeneca AZN says its Lynparza ovarian cancer drug developed with Merck & Co has received additional and broad approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Astra Chief Medical Officer Sean Bohen said: “Today’s approvals validate more than 10 years of dedicated research behind Lynparza, the world’s first PARP inhibitor, which now provides oncologists with the greater flexibility for use in terms of treatment settings.”
Reckitt Benckiser Group RB. has completed the sale of its food business for $4.2 billion. The net proceeds will be used to reduce debt.
Renewables Infrastructure Group TRIG produced a robust operational and financial performance for the half year to the 30th June, with profit before tax up from 19.2m to 31.3m and earnings per share rising from 2.6p to 3.5p. The company remains on track to deliver dividends of 6.4p per share for the full year.
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Is VW Germany’s Second Stalingrad ?
Germany built better armies, better motor cars, better this and better that, than any other country in the world. Its name had become a byword for quality, reliability and honesty until its major car manufacturer destroys those invaluable assets by being caught red handed in a massive fraud which not only has major financial consequences but has put at risk the health of millions of people by successfully masking for years, the true amount of pollution which VW diesel cars have been putting into the atmosphere.
The fines and compensation which will be heaped on VW, may well see its demise but the whole of German industry will also lose out because “made in Germany” has almost become a dirty word overnight. Which of their other manufacturers have been at it ? The one amazing thing is that VW got away with its plan to cheat on a massive scale. Now it has been caught It has given only a half hearted apology which indicates that it it is running scared of confessing its sins in full.
In order for the conspiracy to succeed, VW needed a whole department to design and manufacture the equipment, to purchase the required parts, to install it in the relevant vehicles, a project which would need its own budget. This was a major enterprise in its own right which could not have existed without close involvement and the knowledge and approval of those at the very heart of the company.
Even worse the German government knew of the fraud months ago and did absolutely nothing, albeit now, it has set up a low level enquiry.
The fraud became official VW policy and the project could not then be stopped without a countermanding order. The order was never given. There was no whistle blower, blowing whistles because that would have meant disobeying the original order approving the project. Germans do not disobey orders, they do not take the initiative without an order approving the initiative. There was no such order.
And that was how Germany lost the war – blinkers and refusal to act without the appropriate order
The sixth Army was the finest fighting force the world had ever seen. It laid siege to Stalingrad in the depths of a Russian winter but no order was ever issued for it to be supplied with winter clothing despite temperatures falling as low as minus 60C. Not surprisingly, (except to the German high command) the troops froze to death. Von Paulus never received an order to save his men, 300,000 of them, by breaking out of the Russian encirclement and heading for the relief column only 50 kilometres away. So he refused to take matters into his own hands and order the break out. He condemned his own army. In the end only 6,000 men out of the original 300,000 survived and returned to Germany.
Plus ca change.
The EU Disintegrates Into Chaos
In the end the fine ideals and the proud words meant absolutely nothing. In the end the EU confirmed that it is nothing more than a motley collection of disparate member states, who when what they see as their own narrow national interests threatened, can not wait to be first in the rush to drive a coach and horses through the most sacred of EU principles. In the end, agreements, treaties, protocols, call them what you will, became worthless.
The barriers, the razor wire fences, closed off what should have been open borders, without a murmur of protest. Freedom of travel throughout the Schengen countries, was abolished overnight, without even an attempt being made to reach agreement between the member states, let alone a common policy.
Germany welcomes the immigrants with open arms. Austria treats them like cattle, closing down part of its railway system, to prevent “arab” refugees travelling through the country using rail tickets for which they had lawfully paid and which had been lawfully sold to them by Austrian Railways.
Hungary in true fascist style sends tear gas across its border into Croatia, in order to subdue the refugees and then for good measure, douses them with water cannon.
And when it comes to ignoring the rules, who is the worst repeat offender ? Germany, which for years has refused to reduce its ever growing and now massive budget surplus to the legally allowed EU limit. That alone has created the imbalance which caused such devastation to the economies of the peripheral EU member states. And not a bleep out of Brussels which daren’t say boo to its German paymaster.
France was the first big offender when, in order to protect its farming industry, it allowed French farmers to blockade roads and ports to keep out imports of English lamb. The local gendarmes stood idly by ensuring that the ports and roads remained closed in complete breach of their own French laws, never mind European laws, allowing free trade between member states.
Basically Europe worked well and brought great benefits when it was a community devoted to free trade. Its founders were men of vision. Now controlled by time serving, unelected bureaucrats and greedy politicians whose vision is limited to the location of the next gravy train, it has become a travesty. Without complete reform, disunity and lack of accountability will quickly lead to collapse. The immigrant crisis is not the cause of the EU’s problems. It is the result of them.
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Germans Have Stopped Making Enough Babies
Germans are not making enough babies with the result that the country is now sitting on a very ugly demographic time bomb.
Why ? is the question. Has nookie and rumpty tumpty suddenly become unfashionable amongst the denizons of the Munich beer halls and the Berlin cabaret bars. Do lederhosen and those voluminous Dirndl skirts make mating so difficult that in the end it is not worth the effort. Or is it the serious German character where passion is reserved for the fatherland rather than for ones partner.
Whatever the reason, Germany is in a serious mess and that, believe it or not, is why it is throwing its arms wide open to hundreds of thousands of (mainly young) refugees who seem already to have done rather well in the baby making stakes. They may not know it yet, but they and their offspring are the ones who are going to keep German pensioners in the lifestyle to which they are accustomed from 2060 onwards, if not earlier.
Germany’s population statistics are frightening. The 2011 census showed that the German population was only 80.3m, 1.5m less than the expected 81.8m.In 2014 deaths exceeded live births by 150,000 and the imbalance will get worse as the years go by. 20.3% of the German population now has a migrant background but recent immigration levels will not resolve the problem..
The nightmare for Germany is that by the year 2060 its population will have fallen drastically to between 68 and 73 million, depending on whether immigration is high or low. This represents a loss of between 8 and 13 million from present figures.
From 2020 the working age population will start to fall drastically. By 2060 it will be down to roughly between 34 and 38 million as against 49 million as recently as 2013 and will then represent only about 50% of the total population, meaning that every German will have to pay enormous taxes to provide for the young and the elderly.
In 2013 just over 21% of the population was aged 65 or over. By 2060 the figure will have risen to 33%. As for the over 80s, their numbers will have risen to 9 million by 2060, as against 2013s 4.4million.
Already the country is beginning to suffer from long term under investment, especially in public projects. Some of its infrastructure such as bridges has already fallen into disrepair because there is no money to pay for even essential repairs.
So one can understand the German welcome to these refugees who seem mostly to be of child bearing age.One can understand the millions which Germany has just announced it will spend on them
But hang on a minute, Greece has massive youth unemployment, over 60% at the last count and created by the austerity forced on Greece by the German led ECB. Why cant Germany start proclaiming a welcome and jobs for lustful young Greeks who are desperate for work and who would be only too happy to be invited to go to Germany and make babies. And after all they are Europeans and as young people they can not be blamed for the Greek crisis. So why this discrimination by Germany against fellow young Europeans in need, in favour of immigrants from the Middle East.
Perhaps Europe has really become a meaningless cipher.
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German Economy Soars on the Back of Greek Austerity
Over the past 5 years the German economy has soared as the Euro has become weaker and weaker on the international currency stage. Not all that many years ago the the DAX was at about the same level as Londons FTSE, which has remained stuck at under 7,000 whist the DAX has gone ahead in leaps and bounds until it stood at over 12,000 before its recent retreat, as Germans became worried that Greece may exit the Euro.
And Germans were right to worry because without Greece the Euro would have become a super strong currency, just like the Deutchmark of old. By making the Euro weak Greece has, almost single handedly been responsible for the soaring level of German exports and Merkel knows this.
Yet the Germans claim that the Greeks have no right to expect any further subsidies and if Germany has its way Greece will not get any further help and Greeks will be puished even more with extra doses of austerity. The truth of the matter is that austerity and the collapse in the Greek economy has been the equivalent of a massive subsidy by Greece to Germany. Germany has not once complained about the weakness of the Euro and why should it. It has been one of the greatest beneficiaries of the decline of the Euro. And that is what a single, one size fits all, currency union is all about. Transfer of wealth from the poor countries to the wealthy countries.
The Germans are desperate for Greece to remain in the eurozone but they are not prepared to contribute a single cent more to the country which has enabled Germany to have a huge and illegal budget surplus which it repeatedly refuses to reduce.
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