Dreary Business Survey Out of Germany

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Shocker, right?

Yeah. I know.

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Has the government and cabal of true believers learned anything yet, as they teeter on the edge of industrial annihilation?

I don't think so, especially if government cultists keep listening to the Experts™ who got them to this point.

The German government will spend €29.5 billion next year to curb electricity prices for businesses and private households. This is according to calculations by the German Economic Institute (IW) for the Handelsblatt newspaper. The amount marks a record high.

Andreas Fischer, an energy expert at the German Economic Institute (IW), told the Handelsblatt newspaper that very high subsidies are currently being paid to keep electricity prices in check. "In the long term, however, this is a very expensive solution and doesn't address the root cause," Fischer said. A more efficient expansion of the electricity grid and renewable energies could help to curb electricity prices.

More money and MORE RENEWABLE ENERGY are the answer!

Of course they are! 

BILLIONS OF EUROS IN THE COMING YEARS

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...With these billions in payments, policymakers aim to help curb electricity prices. Compared to other European countries, electricity prices in Germany have been very high for years. This applies to electricity prices paid by private households, businesses, retailers, and service companies, as well as to industrial electricity prices.

There are various reasons for the high electricity prices. The expansion of the electricity grid has become a major cost driver. Grid operators have already invested enormous sums and will have to spend hundreds of billions of euros in the coming years to make the grid fit for the energy transition. This is reflected in rising grid fees for electricity consumers.

Furthermore, the promotion of renewable energy expansion costs tens of billions of euros annually. Therefore, one of the price-dampening measures of the past was the complete abolition of the surcharge under the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) in mid-2022.

[INSERT: Full on SCREAM]

What's that definition of insanity again? Well, it's also the definition of institutional suicide, it seems.

46 German business sectors were queried for the recent survey, and 22 of them came back with negative assessments of business conditions going forward into next year.

A majority of German business associations expect job cuts in 2026 as the country's economic crisis persists, with industry hit hardest by global protectionism and weak exports, a survey by the German Economic Institute IW showed on Monday.

Of 46 business associations surveyed, 22 anticipate workforce reductions next year. Only nine expect to increase hiring and 15 foresee stable employment levels.

The automotive, paper and textile industries are among those expecting production declines. They have been hurt by rising protectionism, weak exports and high domestic costs that have eroded Germany's price competitiveness, the survey found.

"Those who hoped for a swift and comprehensive end to the economic crisis will also be disappointed in 2026," said IW director Michael Huether. The economy is "stabilizing at a lower level," he added.

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Concerningly, as Sundance over at the Conservative Treehouse noticed, the only sectors looking up in Germany were defense-related.

That can't be good - at least it never has been.

...At a top-line this looks bad.  However, when you look at the sectors contracting versus the sectors stable or expanding, you suddenly realize there is a bigger geopolitical problem within the forecast.

Job losses are expected in auto manufacturing, the textile sector, wood and paper fabrication.  Job gains are expected in aerospace, shipbuilding and defense production – i.e. the war machinery.

When the largest and most developed industrial economy in Europe is pinning its economic survival on war machinery, a particular momentum is created.  It is never a good outcome for Europe when Germany becomes reliant on war to maintain employment.

Unfortunately, that economic forecast does provide context to the German position for continued Ukraine/Russia conflict.  You might say that without a war, Germany could slip into a severe economic contraction; not good.

Germany needs a war?

The whole EU is out looking for one.

The European Union is rolling into the Ukraine conflict lock, stock, and all the economic fish in a barrel, and many people are wondering 'why?'

The events in Brussels at the end of this year confirm what many of us have been warning about for years: The EU is sleepwalking into a self-inflicted historical catastrophe that bears a closer resemblance to the collapse of the French monarchy than any other event in modern history.

The headlines in recent weeks have been dominated by the EU’s decision to guarantee a new loan of up to €90 billion to Ukraine. However, “interest-free” is a term that only applies to Ukraine. If the money is raised by the EU via capital markets as planned, it will a) not be interest-free for the EU, and b) this additional burden will lower the creditworthiness of European states, inevitably leading to higher interest rates in the long term.

Once again, the European “elites” believe they can take the public for fools. Relying on future reparation payments from Russia is equally absurd. Such payments would amount to an admission of defeat, which exists only in the minds of Kallas and Co., but not on the battlefield.

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In Germany, it's a slide on all sides. And no one has any cleats on to stop skidding down the hill.

If you're on the side with the bad government, as we have been for the previous four years of the POTATUS autopen, it's not 'fascinating' to watch your country be destroyed in real time - it's terrifying.

At least when we voted, we really did throw the bums out of the White House.

In Europe's rigged parliamentary system, they vote, and nothing ever changes. 

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Elections not only 'don't seem' to matter, they literally mean nothing when 'cordon sanitaires' and successive rounds of election deals can completely negate voters' intentions and express desires.

I can well understand the impulse to bail.

Besides...

They're making damn sure that pretty soon there won't be anyone left you'd want to vote for anyway.

Please help Ed, David, John, and me continue exposing Democrats' plans to lead America down a dangerous path.  

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