lmao the fact that this guy confidentially speaks about “quantum” - a smoke and mirrors field altogether - as a German win should tell you all you need to know about how little he knows about anything
Sauerland is relevant. You shouldn't judge people by their ancestors. But Friedrich Merz's grandfather was one of the few politicians from the Catholic Centre Party to remain in office in 1933. Just a few kilometres further west, in the Rhineland, that would have remained a stigma after 1945. It may be kitchen psychology, but this attitude of the man, who always seems to be slightly offended, who opposes long-standing assumptions, would not be completely unfamiliar to us. In any case, I can't shake the suspicion that, for example, Friedrich Trump also still walks among us as a ghost. And so does Josef Paul Sauvigny, the mayor of Brilon.
Any economic model that relies on a single factor is doomed to stagnation, in the case of Germany it is exports at the expense of domestic consumption. With the added bonus of an aversion to using public debt to keep investment levels so that there is enough growth potential. The thing is, Germans have a particular ideology in regards to money and debt that puts an exaggerated focus on inflation and one that views debtors as sinners. This has justified the remarkable disaster of setting a debt limit in the constitution and avoiding making the necessary investments in infrastructure and maintenance. Most of the current problems that Germany is facing are self-inflicted.
As an engineer, I seriously doubt the German Automakers were oblivious to the superior performance of the electric vehicle. They were just reluctant to admit it. Powerful electric motors and variable frequency converters have been around for decades. Elon Musk was not a tech visionary, he was more of a pioneer industrializer.
I don't think that engineers still have sufficient influence on the concerns of these very large companies. The merchants rule there, oh what, the managers. “Merchants” would be too honorable. With the “hidden champions” of medium-sized companies, engineers may still have access to corporate decisions, but there you also get stressed because the political requirements within an already very energy-efficient corporate culture are somewhat overambitious. The fact that productive rule-breaking has recently taken place at the level of emissions test software says a great deal about the corporate culture of these companies.
Not oblivious but their competitive advantage is in internal combustion engines, they could not just easily "switch". Beyond the major automakers themselves there is an entire gigantic ecosystem in Germany of mid-tier manufacturers making all the components for the ICE. Basically it's the classic problem of sunk-cost.
Niall Ferguson has somehow managed to blame Merkel, rather than David Cameron, for Brexit.
Passing the buck as is the wont of his neck-puffing ilk
Sounds like the statement from Mershsheimer that the Americans started the war
Adam is a great writer of history. The closer he gets to the present, the worse his ability to see his own bias in everything.
lmao the fact that this guy confidentially speaks about “quantum” - a smoke and mirrors field altogether - as a German win should tell you all you need to know about how little he knows about anything
Sauerland is relevant. You shouldn't judge people by their ancestors. But Friedrich Merz's grandfather was one of the few politicians from the Catholic Centre Party to remain in office in 1933. Just a few kilometres further west, in the Rhineland, that would have remained a stigma after 1945.
It may be kitchen psychology, but this attitude of the man, who always seems to be slightly offended, who opposes long-standing assumptions, would not be completely unfamiliar to us. In any case, I can't shake the suspicion that, for example, Friedrich Trump also still walks among us as a ghost. And so does Josef Paul Sauvigny, the mayor of Brilon.
Some misguided analysis here. You can safely pass this.
Sounds really doom and gloomy in the podcast. Living in Berlin I can assure you, the sun still shines, people are still living their lives
Any economic model that relies on a single factor is doomed to stagnation, in the case of Germany it is exports at the expense of domestic consumption. With the added bonus of an aversion to using public debt to keep investment levels so that there is enough growth potential.
The thing is, Germans have a particular ideology in regards to money and debt that puts an exaggerated focus on inflation and one that views debtors as sinners. This has justified the remarkable disaster of setting a debt limit in the constitution and avoiding making the necessary investments in infrastructure and maintenance.
Most of the current problems that Germany is facing are self-inflicted.
As an engineer, I seriously doubt the German Automakers were oblivious to the superior performance of the electric vehicle. They were just reluctant to admit it. Powerful electric motors and variable frequency converters have been around for decades. Elon Musk was not a tech visionary, he was more of a pioneer industrializer.
I don't think that engineers still have sufficient influence on the concerns of these very large companies. The merchants rule there, oh what, the managers. “Merchants” would be too honorable. With the “hidden champions” of medium-sized companies, engineers may still have access to corporate decisions, but there you also get stressed because the political requirements within an already very energy-efficient corporate culture are somewhat overambitious.
The fact that productive rule-breaking has recently taken place at the level of emissions test software says a great deal about the corporate culture of these companies.
Not oblivious but their competitive advantage is in internal combustion engines, they could not just easily "switch". Beyond the major automakers themselves there is an entire gigantic ecosystem in Germany of mid-tier manufacturers making all the components for the ICE. Basically it's the classic problem of sunk-cost.