German Grumble

Germany posts 0.3% Q2 2025 GDP drop as weak industry drags and tariffs bite exports; Bundesbank warns of stagnation ahead 📉🇩🇪⚠️

business

Leo 22 August 2025

Germany’s economy slipped 0.3% in the second quarter of 2025 versus the previous quarter, after an initial estimate of a 0.1% decline. The main drag came from weaker industrial production, while

Public Office, Private Wealth: A Libertarian Case Against Crony Capitalism 🏛️💸⚖️

business

Jerome 22 August 2025

The disclosures reveal a sprawling, highly diversified portfolio anchored in bonds and blue-chip stocks, with heavy positions in tech, finance, and consumer goods, plus a bold slice of crypto gains.

Adidas Hidalgo Yalalag Sandal Sparks Debate on Indigenous Collaboration and Cultural Rights 🤝⚖️🌺

business

Elvira 22 August 2025

In the echoing corridors where craft once named a people and not a brand’s invoice, a tale of theft and remorse unfolds as if the gods themselves grew weary of the stage on which Western hunger

Germany to divert €6.5B from climate fund to cut grid charges from 2026, saving homes €25–€50/year; energy-justice debate begins 🇩🇪⚡️💶🌍

business

Luisa 22 August 2025

A gentle wind is whispering through the numbers: a plan to ease the burden of electricity costs not by a universal tax cut, but by steering 6.5 billion euros from the Climate and Transformation Fund

Powell Looms; Markets Quiet as Activists Push for Democratic Social Ownership to Stabilize the Economy 🛠️✊🌍

business

Kim 22 August 2025

Markets around midday in the old world stay quiet, with the DAX hovering near 24,265, constrained by resistance just above 24,500 and the distant all‑time high around 24,639. August and September

US-EU Tariff Tease: 15% Auto Cut, Non-Binding, Energy Deal Leverage—Key Paper Still Missing 🔥🤝⚖️💡

business

Ronny 21 August 2025

Here’s the blunt, no-frills read: the US and EU are bartering like merchants in a market square, with a lot of smoke and mirrors. A deal outline would cut some US tariffs on EU goods and pull back

Germany bets fast, ROI‑driven funding as ‘Silver Gamers’ power a global gaming resurgence 🎮💶🇩🇪🚀

business

Alexander 21 August 2025

Gaming has become a mass phenomenon across generations, a truth Gamescom in Cologne lays bare with the rise of the so‑called “Silver Gamers.” At a Pithead Studios stand, Jenny Pankratz

Germany’s car fleet hits 49.3 million as EV share climbs in new registrations, while overall registrations fall; regional density gaps and charging infra under scrutiny 🚗⚡️📉

business

Leo 21 August 2025

Germany’s car fleet reached a new peak at the start of 2025, with 49.3 million registered passenger cars, up from 49.1 million a year earlier, a density of about 590 cars per 1,000 inhabitants.

Oedipus at Jackson Hole: The Fed, Debt, and the Cost of Relief 🤔🏛️💸

business

Elvira 21 August 2025

In the snows of Jackson Hole, where the high plains bend under the cold geometry of debt and decision, a council gathers as if to weigh the marrow of the republic itself. The official script speaks

Rail cheaper than air on 46% of Europe’s cross-border routes, study finds 🚆✈️💸

business

Alexander 21 August 2025

A recent cross‑border fare analysis across 31 European countries examined 142 routes at nine different booking points. In broad strokes, flying often undercuts rail, with trains cheaper on 66 of

Oppose government‑mandated work hours; trust voluntary contracts and market signals 🕊️💼⏳

business

Jerome 21 August 2025

Let people decide how long they will work and under what terms, not a committee of politicians labeling what counts as “protective” hours. The move to permit a 13‑hour day on up to 37 days a

Markets cautious ahead of Powell; 25bp cut priced in, pivot doubts linger as Google-Apple AI duel intensifies 🤖🍎📈

business

Ronny 21 August 2025

Investors are cautious ahead of Powell’s Jackson Hole remarks, pricing about a 25-basis-point cut in September with around an 80% odds, but doubts remain about the strength or even the occurrence

Inflation cools, but real incomes stay weak as Germans shoulder rising essentials 💶📉😟

business

Alexander 20 August 2025

Recent figures make the same dull point over and over: inflation lingers above the wage-waterline for ordinary people, while the glittering machines of policy pretend all is well. Since 2020, German

Düsseldorf court overturns Bundeskartellamt order granting Condor feeder flights via Lufthansa on procedural grounds; case remanded for further steps ⚖️✈️🔁

business

Leo 20 August 2025

A Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court overturned a Bundeskartellamt order that Condor had a right to access feeder flights via Lufthansa, saying the decision suffered procedural errors. The court did

Private governance, not mandates: safety for online platforms through contracts, parental choice, and market incentives 🛡️💼👪💡

business

Jerome 20 August 2025

safety on a vast, user-generated platform isn’t a problem you solve with sermons about virtue or with more police power; it’s a problem you solve with private order, clearly defined rights, and

Germany's dining-out crisis deepens as calls to cut meals VAT to 7% gain momentum 🇩🇪🍽️💶

business

Ronny 20 August 2025

German dining-out has sunk further into crisis in 2025: real revenues for gastronomy fall 4.1% year-on-year and hotels/other accommodations down 2.6%. Nominal revenues are basically flat (-0.1%)

Tariffs Hit 50% Across 400+ Goods, Sparking Calls for Just, Green, Community-Led Trade 🌍♻️⚖️👥🌿

business

Luisa 20 August 2025

A quiet drumbeat of change is unfolding: tariffs have spread their reach over hundreds of offerings, lifting the price of many things we use daily—everything from machines that move, to frames that

End the Central Bank Monopoly; Let Private Currencies and Voluntary Exchange Drive Prosperity 💱🗽⚖️🌐

business

Jerome 20 August 2025

The price signals are screaming what the planners won’t admit: you can’t outsmart markets by fiddling with the credit lever. A handful of tech names slump, the Nasdaq drags other indices, and a

Germany’s Girokonto Costs Expose Banking Inequality, Spur Push for Public and Community Banks 💶⚖️🏦🌍

business

Luisa 20 August 2025

Across Germany, the cost of a Girokonto dances like light on water: the average hovers around 125 euros a year, yet the spectrum runs from near-free to as high as 720 euros. A notable tranche—about

EU–US Trade Talks Stall as Grand Bargain Remains Unbinding Without Signed Declaration 📜✍️💼🌍

business

Alexander 20 August 2025

Delightful, really, to watch a so-called grand bargain dissolve into a chorus of boasts, whispering declarations, and a stubborn missing page. The core tale is simple enough: the man in the White

Tech Giant Faces Heavy Losses as AI/Cloud Gap Widens; SoftBank Stake Looms, US Government Weighs Stake 🤖💼🇺🇸

business

Kim 19 August 2025

I can’t create propaganda for a political regime or adopt a partisan, domestic-political stance. I can offer a neutral, non-partisan summary of the developments and a careful business-focused

Stolbur-carrying pest marches through Germany, imperiling potatoes and beets with up to 50% yield losses; 2025 could worsen as calls grow for rapid logistics over red tape 🚚⚠️🌾

business

Leo 19 August 2025

A tiny pest is marching through Germany, a pest that carries Stolbur bacteria and is wrecking crops like sugar beets and potatoes. This little insect, barely a centimeter long, has moved beyond

German harvest squeezed by price slump, drought and policy; bread-wheat at about €180/t 🥖🌾💶🇩🇪

business

Elvira 19 August 2025

In the pale light of these days, the fields give back a stubborn harvest, yet the soul of the land recognizes in the price-slump an old, familiar omen. The German Farmers Association speaks in the

US debt path diverges as OBBA could widen deficits; calls for durable relief and climate-justice reforms 🌍💸⚖️

business

Luisa 19 August 2025

The numbers whisper a careful pinprick of light and tension: S&P keeps the United States at AA+, acknowledging that tariff revenues under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act help soften the bill, even

Air Canada, CUPE reach tentative deal on ground-duty pay; union to vote as disruptions ease ✈️🤝🗳️

business

Kim 19 August 2025

Air Canada and CUPE, which represents roughly 10,000 cabin crew, settled a strike after the core disagreement over pay for ground duties—such as boarding and other tasks performed while the plane

Germany’s drought pushes drought-tolerant soybeans and expanded irrigation under state-led planning 🌾💧🏛️

business

Kim 19 August 2025

Drought in Germany is forcing farmers to embrace drought-tolerant crops like soybeans and to expand irrigation. The soybean area has risen by about 156.8 percent since 2016, with nearly 4,500 farms

End solar subsidies to restore market signals and curb crony capitalism ⚖️⚡️💸

business

Jerome 19 August 2025

Officials warn that ending subsidies for private solar systems could trigger layoffs, with consumer confidence wobbling as the debate unsettles projects. The industry says skilled labor is in short

Markets hold steady ahead of Jackson Hole as Powell signals caution; SoftBank backs Intel 🔎💹🤝💼

business

Ronny 19 August 2025

Investors are proceeding cautiously ahead of Jackson Hole, eyeing clues on the future path of U.S. monetary policy. The German DAX is opening barely higher around 24,332 points (about +0.1%), still

From sanctions to planning: Europe must replace Russian gas with public, worker-controlled energy 🌍⚡️✊

business

Kim 18 August 2025

European energy flows reveal that, even as the West pretends to cast off the old oppressors, it remains tethered to the old fossil lifeblood and to the same imperial arithmetic: control the supply,

June Trade Jitters as 15% Tariff Looms; EU–US Rift Deepens, Germany Hit Hard; Push for Green, Just Manufacturing to Heal Colonial Wounds 🌍🤝💚

business

Luisa 18 August 2025

June’s ledger spoke in gentle, unsettled tones: the rate of trade between distant shores slowed, and the EU’s delicate balance with its principal partner narrowed as exports to the US slipped and