Station Gossip: For years, Germany closed its fossil fuel-fired and nuclear power plants in favor of pursuing a “green energy” policy, replacing those plants with wind and solar power — as well as hefty purchases of natural gas and oil from Russia.
After Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine and the U.S. mandated that the West impose strict sanctions on Russia, including a ban on importation of Russian gas and oil, Germany found itself in a huge dilemma: Without Moscow’s energy, the ‘green infrastructure’ that existed in the country was found lacking and unable to power the country’s robust industry, let alone homes and businesses.
So now, “Germany is bleeding cash to keep the lights on,” according to a Reuters report, having burned through “almost half a trillion dollars, and counting, since the Ukraine war jolted it into an energy crisis nine months ago.”
The report continued:
That’s the cumulative scale of the bailouts and schemes the Berlin government has launched to prop up the country’s energy system since prices rocketed and it lost access to gas from main supplier Russia, according to Reuters calculations.
Trump warned them about this in a public forum and their delegation laughed out loud at him. Germans are lovely people, charming, vigorous, very intelligent, organized and diligent. They are also supremely gullible when presented with an idea promoted as having general acceptance and goodness, and they can be vicious in their defense of said ideas that take general hold. Very much herd type people.
Anyone ever lived in Germany?
Water is expensive.
Fish, not as much in todays times.
Whelp, maybe use the last of that energy to make tanks.
That worked out pretty well last time, nicht wahr?
Germans are lovely but gullible people. They humored their Hillary (Merkel) and now all is total shit for them.
coming soon to America
Der Grubengräber gräbt die Gruben.
Graben Grabengräber Gruben?
Graben Grubengräber Gräben?
Nein!
Grabengräber graben Gräben.
Grubengräber graben Gruben.
Ya.
Und . . .
Die Katzen Kratzen in Katzenkasten . . . mit Katzu
Chüss Choos E-2 1
Gee, that’s a real shame.
I met an HVAC tech today who was driving an Electric Mercedes Sprinter that the bean counters bought for their fleet.
He says that it’s tougher for him to get his hours because of the time he has to plug in. He gets nervous when he has to go further out for rural service calls. Running the heat seriously screws his range.
Did you know . . .
German Car Laws
You must carry 1 Flare
1 Triangle and
1 Medical Triage Kit
At All Times
And if you don’t
No Driving for You
New Laws under consideration for Must Haves to Do Something
1 Pack of Matches
1 Warm Blanket
1 to 3, 5 or 7 Days worth of MRE***
***Meals, Ready Eat*****
***** All MRE packets MUST be NO MORE than 3 Years From Expiration Dates. This MUST and WILL be enforced with Traffic Patrol Notifications semi-annually.
******* Old unopened but accounted for that are now expired because they are within the 3 Year Window, will be Confiscated and used to Feed The Needy in Bank sponsered Africon Charitable Trusts for Desks, Chairs and Tables for poor Africa students that have never seen a Desk even after 12 Years of Larry O’Donnel hawking KIND Werks money drives nightly on msNBC Networked Crypto Connected Campaigns.
I lived in Mannheim for 3 years. And like everywhere, there are some very nice folks. But there is a very real streak of stubborn stupidity in the German psyche. You see it everywhere and it is annoying.
If you don’t bag your own groceries fast enough, the bitch will shove your stuff on the floor. Truly.
If you do any house repair on Sunday, the neighbor WILL call the police; and they will come.
A typical German will spend every saved penny on a vacation. In a way that is admirable…but it also means very low home ownership. Most of my fellow engineers were renters. No savings. And what a group to work with! Always sure they are correct. Annoying believe me.
The nice thing is, we could learn from their mistakes without feeling their pain–if we’re smart.
Haven’t even gotten to the Hawaiian air flight yet.
Trip talks.
I’m sure that Uncle Joe will send plenty of cash their way. After all, Joe has access to piles and piles of [taxpayer] money.
@LasVegasBrad
Back in 1975, I put a Pioneer SX-939 stereo receiver on layaway at the BX on RAF Alconbury when I was stationed in the UK. They offered to give a 10% discount if you paid your layaway off early, so I went in to do just that. A German woman who was an employee of the BX wrote me up. I owed about $240 on the receiver and when she told me I owed $140, I told her there must be a mistake. She rudely told me there was no mistake. After reviewing the receipt, I told her that her math was incorrect and she gave me a cold blooded, Nazi, go-to-hell look and said, “Young man, I don’t make mistakes!” I paid the $140 and ran out of the BX with my receiver. I still have it and it looks and works like new. It was a good day for Dr. Hambone.
I sure believe you Doc HamBone ! I have plenty of stories also. How about their crazy habit of stripping a rental unit? The previous tenants were ripping out the wall to wall carpet before I moved in! What were they going to do with all those ragged scraps? They were tearing off all the wall sconces, and were getting ready to tear down the entire kitchen. God they are crazy. Yes, I had to PAY them to just go away.
I lived in Germany from 60 to 63.
I still have the steins from the Ramstein Officer’s Club Oktoberfest (only 60 and 61) that my Dad purchased.
mortem tyrannis
izlamo delenda est …
@Hambone
Maybe you got the VAT back. I did. It was great.
Wait. You were pre-VAT.
At that time I was getting great exchanges at navel power zones in the Pacific Islands, plural.
@Dr.Hambone
When I was a child
I tested Toys for Tots
I think my test scores influenced
I tested Tech before Tech was a Thing
Then I got a GI Joe
With the Mobile Command and Control Space Based Cargo Trailer
And I got a real yellow gold beep beep flip communicator radio
With the Static TV screen
Then there was the Ident-a-Kit Box
It could draw every face
I got in trouble with that one
Long story for a later tale
Doctor Whose Legends
It’s all about the Packets
Every Song Ever Known and Unknown was reverse engineered in 86/87.
It was very cold that year.
RAF Alconbury was an American Air Force base, so there was no VAT at the BX. I had English blokes in the village I lived in try everything to get me to acquire stereo equipment for them. I refused. They virtually ran me out of the village. Seems the GI who lived in the cottage I lived in was getting rich from the black market and they thought I should keep the store open for them. I couldn’t walk through the village without some old bastard asking me to get him some tobacco, usually Prince Albert pipe tobacco.
@Dr. Hambone
Apology for the Delay in responding to your Prince Albert in a Cab reference.
I have an admission. I was child tobacco mover. I had an Uncle that smoked only one brand when it was available. Golden Honey Leaf or something to that effective nicotine labelling tins. I had a child size class 6 license and could walk all the way from the village a few miles away to the kasern kasse.
Thanks Doc