If her government hadn't reversed the earlier nuclear phaseout plan, the renewables infrastructure to replace it would have been built sooner. The problem wasn't phasing out nuclear. It was phasing it out in a panic after Fukushima made the mistake apparent.
Do you even know that it was a decision taken in the early 2000s? Those plants are very old and need extensive maintenance. The solution would be to build new ones which is not an immediate solution. You are saying it as it they took 25 perfect nuclear power plants and decided to turn them off.
@@MrDisasterboy Wind and solar simply can't replace nuclear, for technical reasons. Wind and solar are not reliable. That is, they cannot be relied upon to produce a constant amount of energy. The wind doesn't always blow, and the Sun is not always out, especially at night. When you need more power, you need it NOW, within milliseconds. When you turn on a lamp, that extra power right away. Wind and solar can't do that. Nuclear can, but still isn't as good as fossil fuels. The Practical Engineering channel did a series of videos on the power grid, and how it works.
Closing nuclear plants was a disastrous decision. Even if Germany still had great relationships with Russia and get cheap gas it would impact diversification of the energy sources and electric grid stability. Also note that gas and oil prices can vary wildly while uranium contracts are usually fixed long-term. That should've been obvious even 15 years ago.
It’s a good case for reading news outside your country and constantly seeing what’s normal elsewhere. If you’re the outlier, like Germany on nuclear, you should take a real hard look at the issue. A lot of people said the German shutdown of nuclear was idiotic, but the people pushed it through. That along with other structural failures that reflect how too many Germans voted and well… here we are. You reap what you sow. At least you’ve got company with a whole bunch of other progressive forward democracies shitting the bed due to their feelings first policies.
The real funny thing is that the real reason why a lot of german politicians don't want nuclear energy is because they have personal investments in solar/wind energy. Investing in nuclear would mean less investment and market share of solar/wind, which means less money in the pockets of those politicians and their friends. Follow the money.
She did not just ruined Germany as well as the rest of Europe. Then came another german - Ursula and did the rest. I am almost 70, I never, never saw Europe in the state it is, nor have I seen europeans so angry.
Germans are not angry enough and there is no real democracy in Germany. Soon the populair AFD party will be banned, so existing political powers will stay in place and nothing will change.
There is a lot more to it, but she relied way too heavily on the US for the military. She relied way too heavily on Russia for energy. She relied way too heavily on China as a means to help the German economy. She should have made Germany much more self-sufficient
How's a Small population and not a big country could be self reliance in every aspects ? Japan can't, France no , not UK, definitely not Japan and S.korea as well
Germany is forbidden from having a strong military Has no abundance of gas like russia Has no slavery like working conditions like china So all in all, you are a genius
@@mengreat6982All those countries dependant on politicians and the State as investors when ALL those countries could have relied on their private sectors to be more independent. Guess what, the US rest on the shoulders of great entrepreneurs for almost everything but transport. Everything else is private enterprise. The real problem is their struggle to keep political internal power concentrated in a large burocratic State.
Yes, she shut down nuclear energy and took on Russia’s gas, that is what spiralled into this industrial death. Energy is a core economy and industrial driver.
But I thought those millions of cheap workers were going to power Germany into the next century. They couldn’t be having a detrimental effect could they….
Baltic states told them and told them doing deals with Russians was dumb. Americans told them. Became reliant anyways. Instead of solving their issues with nuclear power expansion they are closing them. Wish Germans well and all but this was a pretty huge own goal.
Poland also was against. We even tried to block the construction of Nord Stream and for a while we succeeded, but the Germans are stubborn. They decided to program their self-destruction mechanism. And now they want to drag everyone around them to the bottom.
Baltic States themselves have a huge reserve of oil and some gas, also have smaller economies. The US is the first oil producer in the world but still imports a lot. You could blame her on cutting back in nuclear power, but I remember the hysteria at the time, the push for greener solutions away from nuclear. Environmentalist protesting on the streets. She made the most sensible decisions at the time.
@@ngoyemichel5406 : America does import a tiny amount of oil but the export much, much more than they import. Please check your facts before commenting.
Most of America’s refineries are set up to refine heavy sour crude. The new oil produced by fracking or hydraulic fracturing can’t be refined in most of Americas refineries, so it is exported at a premium price to other countries and imports heavy sour crude at a much lower price, that is refined in American refineries. also, America exports a massive amount of finished oil products, such as, LNG, and all kinds of distilled products from oil. So America produces almost all of the oil it needs for its economy.
Because Germany is not ruled by Germans, but is ruled by Washington. Biden destroyed NS pipeline and Germany said thank you Master. - Russia will always stay the neighbour of Germany and working together was the best deal for Germany. Period!
@@unclepete100 on what planet you live? During her time we had the most prosperous German economy and peaceful time. I mean, she was not perfect and she made a lot of mistakes… but saying she was the worst chancellor post WW2 makes me question your sanity
And tell me which Gas cheaper than Russian one?As for imports they can't do anything since China is a big market and getting out of the Chinese market would be very st*pid since other countries will take that market. As for Nuclear Power Uncle Sam influenced that decision...Germany was doomed from the start
@@MrNeversweat this is the problem, the production cost is high, making them hard to face their competitor like china, is not about dependancy on china exports but the people prefer to buy goods who have almost same quality but cheaper..
If Germany would have secured their energy independence they could have still manufacture competitive products, at affordable prices and China would not have become such a dangerous competition.
Of course, she is responsible for everything that is happening in Germany at the moment. Personally, I could never understand why she was given so much support and then allowed to do so for so long, and that there are still people who follow her today. In my opinion, she is one of the most incompetent politicians. Sometimes I think she did it all on purpose to avenge the GDR, because she had a very good life there compared to the population.
She had power to say to american: u dont blow up out gas pipeline. But scholt is powerless with the american. And german are blinded by their hate and anxious.
@@walhdamaskus2408 And when would have be the time to tell putin to stop? When he had poland back under control or would you have ceded eastern germany as well? When Putin took military means to put a independent Ukrainian energy alternative out of business, anyone should have realized you can't depend on Russia. If you really wanted cheap Gas so much, then back in 2014 you should have accepted Ukraine into the EU and kicked Russia out, securing the Gas and Oil of Krim and Donbas. That is a workable plan. Risky and Costly in the short Term, but you acquire the resources under your control. Ukraine would have accepted some 100 years of you get guaranteed access deal.
i am british and have lived in cologne for 13 years. germany and the germans have a major fundamental flaw: they can't get out of their own way. this has been true for decades but now their jewel in the crown - the engineering industry - is not performing as it once did. in fact, it's in trouble. the germans have a fundamental problem: their inability to get out of their own way,which now extends into their getting into everybody else's way through the medium of pointless red tape and endless paperwork. (i suppose if everyone looks busy, then they are busy; busy producing nothing). for example, recently, stadt cologne has effectively shut my business down (which was doing quite well thank you) and there is no comeback. i am now officially unemployed at the jobcentre and relying on the state to feed me as opposed to me feeding myself. there is no sense here, just more endless bureaucracy. the whole state is monstrously top-heavy and no-one (apart from a foreigner such as myself) can see this. and as a result, the germans have become lazy, unimaginative, unmotivated, entitled, and basically dull. they give nothing and expect everything. it's about time the germans woke up and realised the good old days are gone and they have replaced it with a forest of pointless paperwork. the answer is simple: the state needs to strip back the state and invest in business development. invest in the energy of its people and the natural enterprise of the freedom of creative business thinking.
Strip back the State and make it impotent like you Brits did in the U.K.? I wonder why the state had to take such an extraordinary decision to suspend your enterprise entity? The competent authorities must have established a valid reasons which compelled them to enforce the regulations in place which you must have failed to comply with. Otherwise, Germany would end up like the U.K. which it is far from. Have you had any chances of success in appealing the suspension of your commercial operations?
This is pretty much the most accurate, straight to the point summary of the fundamental issue with germans, that I have ever read in any comment section here.
Very good comment. They also extended this bureaucratic monster to the rest of the EU. I have never understood why UK and France let Germany take control of the EU.
As someone who lives in Germany, the worst legalised scam is the „radio and television tax“ and when I ask why people are paying for an obsolete service the answer I always get is „das ist Deutschland“ that enough should tell you everything you need to know
But your country isn’t doing much better and mentality is probably similar, Germany at least still has for now a big industrial base meanwhile the uk is living of London financial hub, hoping their don’t have a British leyland moment. My perspective is that Germans are stubborn and can’t be criticized because everyone is inferior.
@hyhhy oh yeah... Very well. Recession... The CDU got handed over a working but unfair economy. And they tare it down to an unfair Recession, that they handed over to the new government with the tightest financial rules in the entire world.
That's basically Germans. They hate change & love stability even if that's disastrous. Basic German motto is anti-Darwinian. Whole Darwin believed- Change or perish, Germans believe Change & Perish
Fostering other trade relations makes sense. Cheap gas makes sense. Dependency on it with no redudansies does not. Opening the borders for unlimited people does not make sense. Being a steady hand in the EU financial crisis was good. Shutting down nuclear power that was working did not make sense. She was a mixed bag.
@@thegreatdane3627 agreed. Hence why she should had focused on redundancies instead of dependency. Not destroying your own Nuclear power plants would be one of those redundancies.
@@RaVNeFLoK I totally get why Fukushima made people worried about nuclear power. She just reintroduced an old phase out. And they have beeen phased out by the current government. Whose closure of the last one was delayed because of the gas crisis.
@@MrDisasterboy i get that too - but first of Germany does not experience earthquakes like Japan does - and it is earthquakes that made these crisis. And second of one could at least let the nuclear power plants be used until their natural expiration dates- they were built and working just fine. Having all your eggs in one Putin colored basket is a much higher risk than the risk of a major earthquakes suddenly hitting Central Europe - defying all science - for the first time in written history ;)
Germany had a big competitive advantage due to cheap gas and oil from Russia which is gone now. China is also targeting Germany’s engineering products for years.
Don't forget Germany sponged off the US for decades with low nato funding and a high trade surplus. Trump is now going to put the screws to your remaining economy.
and let's not forget, the chinese made sure that every german big investment in china was 50% chinese owned - now meaning, who do you think thought chinese to produce byd cars and quality controls, which also turned back to bite germans in the a$$
@@jotr.9786 you are wrong. so wrong. gas price was beneficial for both sides. germany got the energy it would not have otherwise, russia made profits. win-win.
At that time she don't know that there would be covid and ru vs au war. Current crisis can only ne blamed by current reigning power by prioritize other country safety over their own citizen well being.
I have this strong belief that if I were to visit a European nation or any nation, I would need legal documents for my journey, respect their native population and not be a headache to anyone. I wonder what could go wrong if I unlawfully cross the border, ask free food, shelter, money and be a nuisance to everyone.
If I'm fleeing war and the threat of death, torture and starvation I don't care to stop and think what would be expedient for the people I end up next to. I think about survival
Do not place the blame solely on Merkin. Germany's decline stems partly from intensified competition, particularly from China, and partly from the diminishing competence of its own industry.
Yep. EXTREME taxes and INSANE bureacracy on every economic level. She brought in the slave immigrants to continue an inefficient system, but it collapsed anyway.
I worked in a German Engineering company. I could say Germany need to relook at their work culture. Its damn slow and process oriented. Rather than bringing the product faster and affordable for the market, Germans focus on making worlds most toughest built product which will survive a nuke attack and because of this , the manufacturing cost shoot up like himalayas. I used VW branded cars for years, which I felt so unreliable and I will never buy a German car again. I am happy with Japanese, "not so safe" but highly reliable and economical car which gives me peace of mind as long as I am not killed in accident.
@@Steeler-wg5zo i'm from romania? do you want to know where those millions of dollars from the eu went? in the pocket of corrupt politicians of the psd and pnl party
Russia’s War on Ukraine has troubled the German economy. It previously benefitted from cheap Russian gas, and good demand for its manufacturing sector. They no longer exist to any significant extent.
Did anybody asked German people do they want to pay for housing,health care and any other expense for those immigrants...????????.......Be careful who you let into your house because you can end up losing it and become a tenant in your own house
Germany in particular has long benefited from restrained military spending - Japan and Germany both. This point is understated, but can be stated as a matter of fact (and not to validate Trump). It's no coincidence these two countries are famous for their infrastructure, even if many would rather put it down to national stereotypes.
Why not validate Donald Trump on this point? While relying on the US for defense with little spending is not new, Trump is the first to seriously demand the Europeans to increase it.
In the 69 years that Germany has been in NATO, not once have they bothered to spend the minimum agreed-upon defense spending of a mere 2% of GDP. Germany has refused to do its part in helping to defend itself and other European nations. I think the term is called freeloading! Donald Trump has been spot on in bashing the Germans for their refusal to do their part in defense of democracy against the Russians and the Chinese! 😞.
But they’re the ones who are refusing to buy Russian gas in Germany so? It’s not like Russia said we won’t sell it to you anymore. and Trump has his base of support in many states that are heavy oil producers so of course he wants them to buy more expensive American crude
@@blochspin hey Reagan and Trump both warned about that because they were interested that the US was the one selling the gas. The last thing an American would care is on the wellbeing of another country.
@@docp92 its called diversification. It is not smart to be over reliant on a single source for a strategic material. Don't let your conspiracy tendencies blind your economic sense.
It always makes me laugh when lack of public spending is blamed on not borrowing enough. No, revenue should be revenue, not borrowing. If Germany doesn't have enough money for public spending the problem is wasting too much on unimportant things or they are not taxing enough. Borrowing is a temporary fix that requires repayment, it shouldn't be treated like a revenue stream.
It shouldn't be seen as revenue, but it can and should be seen as an incredibly cheap capital stock. Which Germany has refused to tap to their great detriment. And now you have the result of decades of underinvestment when borrowing money to invest was basically free and more than paid for itself.
Gouvernement spending is vastly different from private spending. For example: German Gouvernement borrows 1000 € at 2% per year. It spends the Money on new rail infrastructure and it gives the Order to a German company. That company needs to staff the new Project and hires new employees. Those employees get 60€ per year. Now assume the income tax is at ca 30%. The new German workers lead to new income tax revenues of 20€ per year. So basically the new Tax revenues pay for the cost of the loan. So if the Gouvernement invests well it basically has an infinite money glitch. That's what people need to understand. You can't compare Gouvernement spending to private spending, because Gouvernement spending can more or less automatically increase the Gouvernements revenues in many cases.
It's not taxiing enough, it's the income of the working class there is collapsed. Taxes from workers drives nations. Taxes from big companies is close to 0 Liberalism is suicide
If a country has its own sovereign currency, government spending isn't the same as household spending. Also, taxes don't fund govt. spending, which should be obvious, as they're collected afterwards, not beforehand. The purpose of govt spending is to pay for national services, such as the military (defense) and infrastructure (such as the electricity grid, roads, railways etc). In some countries this also includes healthcare, education, pensions and benefits. The purpose of taxes is to remove money from circulation to keep monetary inflation under control. Some of this is money created via govt. spending, but in capitalist economies, much of it is created by the private banking sector, when they make loans.
DW blaming Russia for invading Ukraine while it was Nato pushing for a proxywar. Germany should be thanking Russia for cheap energy, but Germany thanked Biden for destroying NS pipeline. Now Germany imports expensive energy from th US. Smart move Germany. Well played 😂😂
Closing nuclear power plants was a dumb decision. But anyways current government can revisit these which they still haven't done. They are stuck with age old stuff which is why its worsening further.
It's one side's favourite opinion, denying all her contributions to the great Germany at her time. If you don't credit her capability, can you lead Germany to be the powerhouse of the EU again? If not, please don't blame her for everything happening today.
All the decisions she has made so far was very good for Germany because Germany technically don't have any resources, the demography was going down. She managed to source for cheap product to build Germany to economic power and trade route in Europe. The present problem was being blamed on her due to incompetence and global politics champion by America government in Europe. Assuming there wasn't war in Ukraine Germany will still be enjoying it's cheap energy and the whole street in Berlin will be filled with protest about green energy as usual. We need to be talking about solutions at this point
The world and reality are not based on assumptions... It is the facts that dominate the present and write history. If it weren't for the war in Ukraine, it would be another event that would reveal the downfall of Germany and Europe. There's a great saying that goes... You can cheat or pretend for a while but you can't do it forever. I remember well in the 90s and early 2000s when many European politicians stated that "soft power" was stronger than the army and that Europe was an example for the world and a place that many nations in the world wanted to follow the example. Well....We are still at the beginning of the 21st century, 20 years later and Europe is already on its knees.
9:24 How is this her fault?? It's the German car companies that should have realised this. Man nobody would ever wanna be the head of Germany if this is how Germans treat their leaders 😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒
That's quite demonstrably wrong, most of eastern Europe started seeing jumps in income for the average worker. Poland's economy was largely built up by German investment.
Sorry that not true, yes they benefit from cheap labor and a cheaper local workforce but you didn’t made Germany thrive Its a symbiotic relationship, you think Poland (I know Central Europe) would be thriving without Germany? My own southern European country if German auto industry goes down we go down,besides petroleum products,cars and cars part are our biggest exports ,yes we also make French cars
How is Germany's economy now that it's finally FREE from russian gas? Thriving, finally Booming, blossoming. Cheap Russian gas was slowing down Germany's economic growth
Russia will ALWAYS be the neighbour of Germany! Working together was the best deal for Germany. Period! Unfortunately Germany has to follow their boss: the USA.
But could it be truly be blamed on her though? Without hindsight it seems those decisions made sense and was popular. No one could predict with full certaintity things would turn out this way.
We’re supposed to be one of the most organised countries in the world.. everything has a norm in Germany, but we lost track of immigrants.. the result was last night in Magdeburg
Interesting perspective to understand the current German situation: Debt is not necessarily only monetary. Programmers in the tech world had figured this out long ago already. They deal with "technical debt" at work (I recommend to Google the term to learn the definition) Germany out of complacency and the love for always keeping the status quo was able to create a huge debt for almost every core government function - the only thing mostly untouched and non critical is monetary debt because of the Schuldenbremse Current situation: Security debt, energy debt, education debt, infrastructure debt, transportation debt, pension system debt, ... It's a complete mismanagement and absolutely unsustainable long term
Its the same in Sweden. Closed down power plants has increased electricity costs with 800% at occasions. Plus uncontrolled mass immigration has ruined the economy of all western europe.
If her policy of not expanding NATO eastward was to be continued, there would not have been a war in Ukraine. Closing buckets plants and accepting unlimited immigrants was less wise
NATO expanding didn't cause the war. NATO presence on Russia's borders doesn't threaten the Russians, it stabilizes the borders as none of Russia's neighbours would be able to attack Russia without unanimous support from other NATO members. Putin's own paranoia has created an eternal enemy of Ukraine, that regardless of how this conflict ends, Ukrainians will be thirsting for revenge for centuries to come.
Indeed. The insane push for NATO expansion regardless of consequences is the root cause of this. The US, of course, is behind it and wanted this outcome.
You act like these countries were forced to join NATO at gun point. Eastern countries observed the reckless war-mongering behavior of Putin and rightfully chose to join an alliance that would protect their country. Everyone blames the wrong person for all of these comments. This current state of affairs can be blamed solely on dictator narcissist Putin.
There was nothing wrong with buying Russia gas and NS 1 and 2. The pipeline was blown up by the US (that or Ukraine). Nobody is accusing Russia of having blown it up any more. NS-1 still has 1 (out of 2) functional pipeline. It is Scholz decision not to use it. In the long Germany's closing door to Russia means lost of resource access and lost of Russian markets. You'll suffer the consequences.
COmpletely agree! The decision of stop using Russian gas is a political moral decision, not an economic one. The russians have never stopped providing the gas.
Ssssttttt... you are speaking the truth here. But this is DW news, they are biased and will never admit the real truth here. Germans have to stay silent and dumb..
Why would eastern Europe allow germans to support Russian military agression? Those pipelines are near Baltic countries that have right to defend themselves.
The narrator can not be serious... 2:00 Being reliant on foriegn trade with Russia is a good thing. Russia has cheap gas, they have a demand for it. The US sponsered overthrow of the Ukrainian government resulted in ethnic russian areas that clearly, clearly, wanted independence from Kiev, while Kiev used Artillery on breakaway civillians to supress the revolt. 2:18 If anyone still thinks this lady narrator isn't full of it. Everyone know Russia didn't blowup their own pipeline. Bidman, said he would take it out, and the USA did. Finally, nuclear energy is the most dangerous of all. Each power plant, in the event of war, if breached , would end civilization for the next 20 millenium... Sooo.. Good for Angela Merkle. Immigration should have a policy, not a rubber stamp, on the other hand.
People need to understand that Gouvernement spending is vastly different from private spending. For example: German Gouvernement borrows 1000 € at 2% per year. It spends the Money on new rail infrastructure and it gives the Order to a German company. That company needs to staff the new Project and hires new employees. Those employees get 60€ per year. Now assume the income tax is at ca 30%. The new German workers lead to new income tax revenues of 20€ per year. So basically the new Tax revenues pay for the cost of the loan. So if the Gouvernement invests well it basically has an infinite money glitch. You can't compare Gouvernement spending to private spending, because Gouvernement spending can more or less automatically increase the Gouvernements revenues in many cases.
That's how it worked under Eisenhower, when 1 invested Dollar created 4 Dollars of growth. Today Not so much . Germany could Take on a 50 Billion loan, but what would be the resulting growth? 1% of GDP? That's 40billlion.
@@Vatnik_tschistilka you don't need crazy growth for these Investments to make sense. You just need enough growth to cover the additional loan cost. In your example if you take on dept of 50 billion at 2% you need to increase your revenues by more than 1 billion annually for it to make economic sense. Depending on the Tax Level that's achievable with a lot less Money than 40 billion. Probably less than 10 billion. Also don't forget: apart from Money issues you also get the new infrastructure (or something else) you paid for
All what you have mentioned are the things which enabled Germany to be a giant economy bigger that of UK, France and others in Europe. 1. Germany's building up a heavy millitary would have angered its neighbours like uk and France where by they would feel threatened by a strong Germany. Secondly the money it would waste on millitary was being used to build the economy. Thirdly if Germany had a heavy millitary it would spend much money in fighting wars in different parts of the world. So this money was saved. 2. Germany relationship with russia helped it to get gas and oil at cheaper prices, hence fostering economic growth. 3. It's trade relationship with China also helped it in that it has a small population but has technology whereby it needed market for its goods and services. And China was the best country to give that to the Germanys. Lastly Germany cannot be self reliant because it doesn't have natural resources, small in size and its population isnot big enough to offer market to its products.
are you mental? European partners angered by a strong germany? Look at poland, they keep spending more and more on their military, and everyone in europe is cheering for them... Germany's relationship with russia helped it fund a dictatorship. Germany was better off before they had made any deals with russia or china. Germany doesn't need to be self reliant.They have the entire EU ready to help them with whatever they need.
@@megarafjogos How can you compare Germany to Poland. Germany building up a strong millitary it means it will manufacturing most of the staff at home. Whereas Poland is just a buyer of weapons.
@@megarafjogos you might be a zelensky apologist .what was the problem with Germany trading with russia and China. You are the same people supporting the Israelis genocide in the Palestines and Syria .
How national economy was based on the never trusted countries? How trust and depend on Russia and China that much? Never considered having second and other option for any case? That's clear and huge failure.
If Germany did not get gas from Russia and did not sell into the Chinese market then what economic position would they have been in. Firstly less people would have been employed and that translates into less spending thus a lower GDP. Would Germany have become Europe,s paymaster ?
'Dependance' in Russia gas is a fact of geology and life for Germany. That was not the problem. The problem was playing politics with Russia and destroying the relationship and energy supply over a war that has nothing to do with Germany...
Uh huh.. so.. you're saying it's perfectly moral to do business with a country that's been trying to conquer and kill off its neighbors, so long as your own country is doing well? I don't think the other Eastern European countries...ya know, the ones that were controlled by Russia before? would find that agreeable. There's ALSO the factor that Russia could cut off Germany anyway to get what they want from them.
I hope that German misfortunes push Germany for further European integration. I believe the solution is a European Federation. Together we're strong, separate we're just another pawn in the US, China and Russia geopolitical ambitions.
Agree! Narrow-mindedness when it comes to direct neighbours - as well as intransigents like UK and Hungary - stopped the momentum. The only way to retain power on the continent is to get back to proper coordination and pooling of resources. Divided we fall.
@@WillieFungo Working hard doesn't equal having a stronger economy. On average Poland, Greece, Portugal, Estonia, Lithuania, Estonia and Romania work more hours per year than the US. I'm from Portugal. Most people I know work 13h+ per day.
@@WillieFungo there's no direct correlation between working hours and overall productivity. But you go ahead and think being worn out all the time for someone who doesn't care about you makes you morally superior somehow. Laughable.
The graph at 0:29. Pls don’t confuse the public. As if it was free falling since 2015 to the Covid 2020. Can add more tick points between 2015 and 2020?
Are you guys kidding? What broke Germany was the war in Ukraine, and in particular playing the American game. Olaf didn’t have to toe that line. America only cares about America.
If you think Germany is in a bad situation now, just wait until target two is looked at more closely and moved from the credit side of the balance sheet to the debit side. It will never ( let me say that again, NEVER) be repaid.
She became too prominent for too long, so she came to represent a whole era, which made it inevitable that should would be harshly criticized due to the abrupt end of this era. The period between the 2008 financial crisis and the pandemic was a period of general peace and prosperity, during which she became a representative of political predictability and sanity, specially during the insanity of the trump years. This being said, even at the time she was harshly criticized for nordstream 2, for the arrival of the immigrants, for the excesive austerity imposed on Southern Europe and the shutting off of the nuclear power plants, so it's not like those decisions have not aged well, they were pretty bad from the beginning.
You all blame Russian gas and China exports... the real reason is the EU regulations that destroyed car development and sanctions imposed on Russia that stopped buying German cars and started financing innovation in chinese manufacturers
Yes she was really bad... If she was still in power, Germany would still have cheap energy, German industry would still be thriving although under heavy competition from China, Ukraine would be intact, and peace would be in Europe... really horrible. Now under Scholz it is soooo much better.
So, let's recap: decided to rely on gas from an authoritarian regime and close 25 or so nuke reactors? Failing to invest in innovation? Open doors to immigrant ' doctors' and definitely not criminals? Being uncompetitive and lost on manufacturing? All of them smart ideas, o doubt. What could possibly go wrong for Germany...
Germany voted her and her party into power three times over many years, approving their extreme left wing socialist policies. Instead of complaining now they should all be proud of what they have managed to do and its consequences.
Clearly the reason is she followed Russia and Russia betrayed it, by doing something that made all cooperation with it impossible. But we can’t say Germany wasn’t warned. It was warned by everyone .
If they would follow USA there would;t get dependent on Russia gas, and there likely would be no war either. USA had made you economic superpower after WW2. and in exchange you allied with they and Europe biggest enemy. It was a massive mistake to give you democracy world would be much better if you were USA colony.
People who are crying about Angela making Germany dependent on cheap Russian oil should also be reminded that there’d have been no Wirtschaftswunder without it. Nuclear energy is not cheap and neighboring France is very good example of it. I didn’t know that the Europeans are so ignorant. Very sorry for the continent and especially for Germans. 😢
She didn't fundamentally do anything different to any of the other great power leaders during the end of history/era of globalism. She was just around longer and had her name tagged on more policies that most countries were doing. Where Germany differed was how much more reliant it was on globalism.
And now countries like Sweden and Norway ends up having to bail out Germany's energy problems. That would be fine if it wouldn't affect the citizens and companies on Sweden and Norway. Although it's more or less said jokingly, in Sweden people suggest "doing a Nordstream" to the transmission cables to Germany.
Have the nordics considered a grid separate from Europe? As a whole, all of them produce electricity reliably Norway almost entirely from hydro, Sweden and Finland from a mix in which nuclear is prominent and the Danes play with windmills.
@@missano3856 Norway would be free to do how they wish (afaik) but EU regulations force Sweden to have a certain percentage of it's transmission capacity to other EU countries. A possible work-around might be to build more transmission capacity Sweden-Finland to fulfill the EU regulations. (I think that Norway don't want to cut connections to Sweden, and anyways a large part of Norway connects to SE-1 and SE-2 which are the two northernmost of the four price zones in Sweden, and those almost always have low prices while SE-3 and especially SE-4 have high prices)
They predominantly ride very well if you maintain them properly. However, most of the affected people think they can manage without the prescribed inspections. I suggest to buy French cars and do the same.
The last topic of the video barely talked about the China trade and that is because China is a positive for Germany and without China, there wouldn't be much economic growth.
Turning off 25 nuclear power stations was absolute madness and stupidity.
If her government hadn't reversed the earlier nuclear phaseout plan, the renewables infrastructure to replace it would have been built sooner. The problem wasn't phasing out nuclear. It was phasing it out in a panic after Fukushima made the mistake apparent.
Trump warned Germany
Because she wanted Germany completely rely on Russia for its energy supply. By this way, she could support her dear comrade Putin.
Do you even know that it was a decision taken in the early 2000s? Those plants are very old and need extensive maintenance. The solution would be to build new ones which is not an immediate solution. You are saying it as it they took 25 perfect nuclear power plants and decided to turn them off.
@@MrDisasterboy Wind and solar simply can't replace nuclear, for technical reasons. Wind and solar are not reliable. That is, they cannot be relied upon to produce a constant amount of energy. The wind doesn't always blow, and the Sun is not always out, especially at night. When you need more power, you need it NOW, within milliseconds. When you turn on a lamp, that extra power right away. Wind and solar can't do that. Nuclear can, but still isn't as good as fossil fuels. The Practical Engineering channel did a series of videos on the power grid, and how it works.
Closing nuclear plants was a disastrous decision. Even if Germany still had great relationships with Russia and get cheap gas it would impact diversification of the energy sources and electric grid stability. Also note that gas and oil prices can vary wildly while uranium contracts are usually fixed long-term. That should've been obvious even 15 years ago.
It's a bad decision, but the public wanted it, so why act like it was any politician's decision to make?
It’s a good case for reading news outside your country and constantly seeing what’s normal elsewhere. If you’re the outlier, like Germany on nuclear, you should take a real hard look at the issue. A lot of people said the German shutdown of nuclear was idiotic, but the people pushed it through. That along with other structural failures that reflect how too many Germans voted and well… here we are. You reap what you sow. At least you’ve got company with a whole bunch of other progressive forward democracies shitting the bed due to their feelings first policies.
@@thewingedringer Because it was? Politicians make unpopular decisions all the time.
The real funny thing is that the real reason why a lot of german politicians don't want nuclear energy is because they have personal investments in solar/wind energy. Investing in nuclear would mean less investment and market share of solar/wind, which means less money in the pockets of those politicians and their friends.
Follow the money.
I am their leader, so I must follow them...
She did not just ruined Germany as well as the rest of Europe. Then came another german - Ursula and did the rest. I am almost 70, I never, never saw Europe in the state it is, nor have I seen europeans so angry.
Germans are not angry enough and there is no real democracy in Germany. Soon the populair AFD party will be banned, so existing political powers will stay in place and nothing will change.
Man, Germany was so proud with those extreme taxes and insane bureacracy, now blame this economic model to Angela or Ursula only....? 😂
Because you have never seen a stranger bricks and emerging markets
Your memory is failing you.
странным образом, всё это оказалось на руку США😀
There is a lot more to it, but she relied way too heavily on the US for the military.
She relied way too heavily on Russia for energy.
She relied way too heavily on China as a means to help the German economy.
She should have made Germany much more self-sufficient
Lack of vision. The warning signs were there to see.
How's a Small population and not a big country could be self reliance in every aspects ? Japan can't, France no , not UK, definitely not Japan and S.korea as well
Germany is forbidden from having a strong military
Has no abundance of gas like russia
Has no slavery like working conditions like china
So all in all, you are a genius
@@mengreat6982 'more self-sufficient' not completely self-sufficient
@@mengreat6982All those countries dependant on politicians and the State as investors when ALL those countries could have relied on their private sectors to be more independent. Guess what, the US rest on the shoulders of great entrepreneurs for almost everything but transport. Everything else is private enterprise. The real problem is their struggle to keep political internal power concentrated in a large burocratic State.
Yes, she shut down nuclear energy and took on Russia’s gas, that is what spiralled into this industrial death. Energy is a core economy and industrial driver.
True, but that's what people in the comments are saying. Can you believe what nonsense these ydyots spew?
Too politicians, power and glorification is their supreme driver.
Nuclear energy is Russian uranium. 🙂
Russia was a reliable supplier until Germany stabbed Russia in the back
@@BocaoZ lol
But I thought those millions of cheap workers were going to power Germany into the next century. They couldn’t be having a detrimental effect could they….
Who said they were cheap labor? German or not they get paid the same on payroll!
You got the wrong set of immigrants who just dwell on social security and play on religious cards.
You got the wrong set of immigrants who just dwell on social security and play on religious cards.
Baltic states told them and told them doing deals with Russians was dumb. Americans told them. Became reliant anyways. Instead of solving their issues with nuclear power expansion they are closing them. Wish Germans well and all but this was a pretty huge own goal.
Poland also was against. We even tried to block the construction of Nord Stream and for a while we succeeded, but the Germans are stubborn. They decided to program their self-destruction mechanism. And now they want to drag everyone around them to the bottom.
Baltic States themselves have a huge reserve of oil and some gas, also have smaller economies. The US is the first oil producer in the world but still imports a lot. You could blame her on cutting back in nuclear power, but I remember the hysteria at the time, the push for greener solutions away from nuclear. Environmentalist protesting on the streets. She made the most sensible decisions at the time.
@@ngoyemichel5406 : America does import a tiny amount of oil but the export much, much more than they import. Please check your facts before commenting.
@@thryce82 100% correct. She was warned.
Most of America’s refineries are set up to refine heavy sour crude. The new oil produced by fracking or hydraulic fracturing can’t be refined in most of Americas refineries, so it is exported at a premium price to other countries and imports heavy sour crude at a much lower price, that is refined in American refineries. also, America exports a massive amount of finished oil products, such as, LNG, and all kinds of distilled products from oil. So America produces almost all of the oil it needs for its economy.
Merklenomic means taking advantage of cheap gas from Russia.
Everyone knows who broke Nordstream
yup. russian war crimes broke nordstream.
She could have secured gas elsewhere. Trump offered gas for 300 usd. And he was laughed at.
which we all know now... was intended as a weapon.
And cheap labour in China until Chinese ev car stole German market
Trump was right on Germany's energy dependencies on Russia and on the foolishness of the open border policy.
Absolutely true.
Obama said the same thing. lol You act like he is brilliant.
German complains about cheap gas from Russia but is addicted to expensive gas from the USA.😂
@@Manny-ee6glthe difference being Obama reading something that someone else wrote off of a teleprompter, versus actually comprehending the situation.
Imagine knowing you need cheap energy to run your economy and intentionally cutting yourself off from it.
Turns out that energy had a hidden cost all the time. And we all just ignored it.
Because Germany is not ruled by Germans, but is ruled by Washington. Biden destroyed NS pipeline and Germany said thank you Master. - Russia will always stay the neighbour of Germany and working together was the best deal for Germany. Period!
@@DommTomthis is basic stuff.
@@rettro6578 What's basic stuff?
Biden said, We have ways to end the project, I promise you.
She is/was the most disastrous Chancellor during the whole post WW2 era.
Agree. But I'd say it's close to a tie with Schröder.😉 I'm German btw.
@AlgeistNydream fair call...
Maybe so but everyone went along with it
Well, it is a democracy. Obviously, she kept getting the votes for a long time. So who is really at fault?
@@unclepete100 on what planet you live? During her time we had the most prosperous German economy and peaceful time. I mean, she was not perfect and she made a lot of mistakes… but saying she was the worst chancellor post WW2 makes me question your sanity
is that not the tradition. Destroy Europe every 50 to 100 years?
Reasons: 1. Dependancy on Russian gas 2. Dependancy on China exports 3. shutting down nuclear power
nope... the reason is simple you stop the cheap energy from russia, stop turning around the fact...
Now that they don't depend on Russian gas but American gas, how powerful are they?
And tell me which Gas cheaper than Russian one?As for imports they can't do anything since China is a big market and getting out of the Chinese market would be very st*pid since other countries will take that market.
As for Nuclear Power Uncle Sam influenced that decision...Germany was doomed from the start
@@MrNeversweat this is the problem, the production cost is high, making them hard to face their competitor like china, is not about dependancy on china exports but the people prefer to buy goods who have almost same quality but cheaper..
If Germany would have secured their energy independence they could have still manufacture competitive products, at affordable prices and China would not have become such a dangerous competition.
Of course, she is responsible for everything that is happening in Germany at the moment. Personally, I could never understand why she was given so much support and then allowed to do so for so long, and that there are still people who follow her today. In my opinion, she is one of the most incompetent politicians. Sometimes I think she did it all on purpose to avenge the GDR, because she had a very good life there compared to the population.
She was also known for not supporting term limits in office.
She got support mostly from east germany.
An while she was in power DW supported her 100%. Never a peep against her.
She had power to say to american: u dont blow up out gas pipeline.
But scholt is powerless with the american. And german are blinded by their hate and anxious.
@@walhdamaskus2408 And when would have be the time to tell putin to stop? When he had poland back under control or would you have ceded eastern germany as well?
When Putin took military means to put a independent Ukrainian energy alternative out of business, anyone should have realized you can't depend on Russia. If you really wanted cheap Gas so much, then back in 2014 you should have accepted Ukraine into the EU and kicked Russia out, securing the Gas and Oil of Krim and Donbas. That is a workable plan.
Risky and Costly in the short Term, but you acquire the resources under your control. Ukraine would have accepted some 100 years of you get guaranteed access deal.
i am british and have lived in cologne for 13 years. germany and the germans have a major fundamental flaw: they can't get out of their own way.
this has been true for decades but now their jewel in the crown - the engineering industry - is not performing as it once did. in fact, it's in trouble.
the germans have a fundamental problem: their inability to get out of their own way,which now extends into their getting into everybody else's way through the medium of pointless red tape and endless paperwork. (i suppose if everyone looks busy, then they are busy; busy producing nothing).
for example, recently, stadt cologne has effectively shut my business down (which was doing quite well thank you) and there is no comeback.
i am now officially unemployed at the jobcentre and relying on the state to feed me as opposed to me feeding myself. there is no sense here, just more endless bureaucracy.
the whole state is monstrously top-heavy and no-one (apart from a foreigner such as myself) can see this. and as a result, the germans have become lazy, unimaginative, unmotivated, entitled, and basically dull. they give nothing and expect everything. it's about time the germans woke up and realised the good old days are gone and they have replaced it with a forest of pointless paperwork.
the answer is simple: the state needs to strip back the state and invest in business development. invest in the energy of its people and the natural enterprise of the freedom of creative business thinking.
Strip back the State and make it impotent like you Brits did in the U.K.?
I wonder why the state had to take such an extraordinary decision to suspend your enterprise entity? The competent authorities must have established a valid reasons which compelled them to enforce the regulations in place which you must have failed to comply with.
Otherwise, Germany would end up like the U.K. which it is far from.
Have you had any chances of success in appealing the suspension of your commercial operations?
This is pretty much the most accurate, straight to the point summary of the fundamental issue with germans, that I have ever read in any comment section here.
Very good comment. They also extended this bureaucratic monster to the rest of the EU. I have never understood why UK and France let Germany take control of the EU.
As someone who lives in Germany, the worst legalised scam is the „radio and television tax“ and when I ask why people are paying for an obsolete service the answer I always get is „das ist Deutschland“ that enough should tell you everything you need to know
But your country isn’t doing much better and mentality is probably similar, Germany at least still has for now a big industrial base meanwhile the uk is living of London financial hub, hoping their don’t have a British leyland moment.
My perspective is that Germans are stubborn and can’t be criticized because everyone is inferior.
Same analysis for Olaf and URSULA please. Will you dare?
Free speech isn't work like that bro
They literally have another video with Olaf's face on it talking about how Germany's not doing enough for the economy
Whataboutism much?
Yes, we want to hear that!
DW is shietleftist
The problem are yesterday-people who want to keep the status quo.
Like Russians who long for the days of the Soviet Union. lol
With status quo you mean a well-performing economy, I guess.
@hyhhy oh yeah... Very well. Recession...
The CDU got handed over a working but unfair economy. And they tare it down to an unfair Recession, that they handed over to the new government with the tightest financial rules in the entire world.
That's basically Germans. They hate change & love stability even if that's disastrous. Basic German motto is anti-Darwinian. Whole Darwin believed- Change or perish, Germans believe Change & Perish
Don’t try to find excuses. You know Your biggest problem is not realizing your biggest ally is your worst enemy
@@kennie0325 How's the weather in Moscow?
@ALFarrell-kv6ok I’m in Lisbon and it’s fantastic☺️🥂
@ALFarrell-kv6okhow’s the economy in Germany?
@ALFarrell-kv6okhow’s the weather in USA?
Immigrants post ww2 and modern immigrants are not of the same foundational European culture.
or racial group either. Race does matter if you want a homogeous safe functioning country.
def doesnt work - totally different cultures
@@bobby5678-ck2tc
reported.
@@Gravitatis cool story bro science is on my side on this one it's facts.
@@Gravitatisdon’t report him for his opinion , he hasn’t said anything inciting violence
Fostering other trade relations makes sense. Cheap gas makes sense. Dependency on it with no redudansies does not.
Opening the borders for unlimited people does not make sense.
Being a steady hand in the EU financial crisis was good.
Shutting down nuclear power that was working did not make sense.
She was a mixed bag.
Making Germany reliant on russian gas was a bad idea. It was always clear that russia would use it as leverage sooner or later.
@@thegreatdane3627 agreed. Hence why she should had focused on redundancies instead of dependency. Not destroying your own Nuclear power plants would be one of those redundancies.
@@RaVNeFLoK I totally get why Fukushima made people worried about nuclear power. She just reintroduced an old phase out. And they have beeen phased out by the current government. Whose closure of the last one was delayed because of the gas crisis.
@@MrDisasterboy i get that too - but first of Germany does not experience earthquakes like Japan does - and it is earthquakes that made these crisis.
And second of one could at least let the nuclear power plants be used until their natural expiration dates- they were built and working just fine. Having all your eggs in one Putin colored basket is a much higher risk than the risk of a major earthquakes suddenly hitting Central Europe - defying all science - for the first time in written history ;)
It has everything to do with Russian cheap oil to Germany
Its cheap Russian natural gas (LNG)
Germany has some of the largest coal reserves on the planet, nothing to do with net zero restrictions?
The us sabotaged Germany
Yep they should keep buying Russian gas
Germany had a big competitive advantage due to cheap gas and oil from Russia which is gone now. China is also targeting Germany’s engineering products for years.
that gas was cheap for a reason... it would have been putins way or no gas.
@ Yes it is was a Faustian bargain and as usual there are consequences
Don't forget Germany sponged off the US for decades with low nato funding and a high trade surplus. Trump is now going to put the screws to your remaining economy.
and let's not forget, the chinese made sure that every german big investment in china was 50% chinese owned - now meaning, who do you think thought chinese to produce byd cars and quality controls, which also turned back to bite germans in the a$$
@@jotr.9786 you are wrong. so wrong. gas price was beneficial for both sides. germany got the energy it would not have otherwise, russia made profits. win-win.
Easy answer, Yes. Momma Merkle looked at the short view and changed their culture forever with crazy imagration.
At that time she don't know that there would be covid and ru vs au war. Current crisis can only ne blamed by current reigning power by prioritize other country safety over their own citizen well being.
She islamized Germany
@@TruthTeller8888 Islam is good for you germans.
@@TruthTeller8888 You bots need to get better.
@@IliassRacing ok abdul
Go Woke, Go Broke.
Wake up bro! 😉
The real reason is what she's left out😊
True
Everything that is officially unresolved
Which is?
She’s a WEF neo Marxist puppet.
I have this strong belief that if I were to visit a European nation or any nation, I would need legal documents for my journey, respect their native population and not be a headache to anyone. I wonder what could go wrong if I unlawfully cross the border, ask free food, shelter, money and be a nuisance to everyone.
Then don't do it
If I'm fleeing war and the threat of death, torture and starvation I don't care to stop and think what would be expedient for the people I end up next to. I think about survival
Popular sentiment obviously but not very relevant to this video
@@MrTohawk the problem is the day u become stable ,u start supporting the thing that u were fleeing from
Becoming energy self-sufficient is the ultimate goal for every country. The more you rely on others, the more dangerous your future is.
Do not place the blame solely on Merkin. Germany's decline stems partly from intensified competition, particularly from China, and partly from the diminishing competence of its own industry.
Yep. EXTREME taxes and INSANE bureacracy on every economic level. She brought in the slave immigrants to continue an inefficient system, but it collapsed anyway.
中国一直在像德国学习。十年前德国提出工业4.0，中国当时机具紧迫感，因为中国工业还很落后，根本无从跟进工业4.0。今天，德国工业每百人的工业机器人数量被中国超过，中国绝大多数汽车生产都是黑灯工厂，不需要人工，而当年提出工业4.0的德国却不见踪影。我认为这不仅仅是德国政府的错，这是整个德国人民的错。你们太懒散，不思进取了。
Sanctioning your own supplier is the dumbest $hit someone can do!
foools, they then wsted money supporting zelensky , zero economic benefit!
being dependent on 1 unreliable supplier is the dumbest $hit someone can do!
@@spacecube8561. Unreliable? Gss through a pipeline is unreliable?
@@spacecube8561Yeah so unreliable that supplied Germany for 31 consecutive years until Germany itself sanctioned Russia
@@spacecube8561 oh really?, now look at german economy LOL
I worked in a German Engineering company. I could say Germany need to relook at their work culture. Its damn slow and process oriented. Rather than bringing the product faster and affordable for the market, Germans focus on making worlds most toughest built product which will survive a nuke attack and because of this , the manufacturing cost shoot up like himalayas. I used VW branded cars for years, which I felt so unreliable and I will never buy a German car again. I am happy with Japanese, "not so safe" but highly reliable and economical car which gives me peace of mind as long as I am not killed in accident.
one could ask the question as well, where would germany stand now without cheap russian gas, chinese export and us security umbrella
and where would be Europe? No money from Germany for decades for all the Economic experts here in this vlog.
O, jemand aus Steele.😁
@@Steeler-wg5zo then don't cry about the current situation...
@@jotr.9786 Not me, but Europe, if certain countries could no longer hold out their hands...compris?
@@Steeler-wg5zo i'm from romania? do you want to know where those millions of dollars from the eu went? in the pocket of corrupt politicians of the psd and pnl party
Yes. she rode the wave of the good times and failed to prepare for any downturns. that’s bad planning, period.
She started the end of Europe
Russia’s War on Ukraine has troubled the German economy.
It previously benefitted from cheap Russian gas, and good demand for its manufacturing sector. They no longer exist to any significant extent.
Wake up, its almost 2025! There is no Russian war with Ukraine. Its a proxy war between Nato with Russia in playground Ukraine.
Yet no one is blaming Putin?
Did anybody asked German people do they want to pay for housing,health care and any other expense for those immigrants...????????.......Be careful who you let into your house because you can end up losing it and become a tenant in your own house
Actually yes, the majority of the country is actually very supportive of the Syrians and the Ukrainians.
WEF lust for war.
Germany shouldn’t have built such close connections with Russia?
@@edc1569shouldn't have built so strong ties with the USA a country that only cares about its self
Germany in particular has long benefited from restrained military spending - Japan and Germany both. This point is understated, but can be stated as a matter of fact (and not to validate Trump). It's no coincidence these two countries are famous for their infrastructure, even if many would rather put it down to national stereotypes.
Why not validate Donald Trump on this point? While relying on the US for defense with little spending is not new, Trump is the first to seriously demand the Europeans to increase it.
@@thomHD so instead of having 1000 tanks they now have 1000000 Syrians to feed. That is where underinvestment to army went
In the 69 years that Germany has been in NATO, not once have they bothered to spend the minimum agreed-upon defense spending of a mere 2% of GDP. Germany has refused to do its part in helping to defend itself and other European nations. I think the term is called freeloading! Donald Trump has been spot on in bashing the Germans for their refusal to do their part in defense of democracy against the Russians and the Chinese! 😞.
She runid everything, and so did Schulz
Trump warned germany and EU about russia and was laughed at. you reap what you sow
But they’re the ones who are refusing to buy Russian gas in Germany so? It’s not like Russia said we won’t sell it to you anymore. and Trump has his base of support in many states that are heavy oil producers so of course he wants them to buy more expensive American crude
its worse than that. Reagan was the first to oppose the pipeline from the then soviet union but Kohl just ignored him.
@@blochspin hey Reagan and Trump both warned about that because they were interested that the US was the one selling the gas. The last thing an American would care is on the wellbeing of another country.
@@docp92 its called diversification. It is not smart to be over reliant on a single source for a strategic material. Don't let your conspiracy tendencies blind your economic sense.
The US will sell energy even if Germany doesn’t buy a drop. It is crazy to be dependent on Russia.
It always makes me laugh when lack of public spending is blamed on not borrowing enough.
No, revenue should be revenue, not borrowing. If Germany doesn't have enough money for public spending the problem is wasting too much on unimportant things or they are not taxing enough. Borrowing is a temporary fix that requires repayment, it shouldn't be treated like a revenue stream.
It shouldn't be seen as revenue, but it can and should be seen as an incredibly cheap capital stock. Which Germany has refused to tap to their great detriment. And now you have the result of decades of underinvestment when borrowing money to invest was basically free and more than paid for itself.
Dept doesn't work the same way for countries and the average person. Its close to how dept works for billionaires.
Gouvernement spending is vastly different from private spending.
For example:
German Gouvernement borrows 1000 € at 2% per year. It spends the Money on new rail infrastructure and it gives the Order to a German company. That company needs to staff the new Project and hires new employees. Those employees get 60€ per year. Now assume the income tax is at ca 30%. The new German workers lead to new income tax revenues of 20€ per year. So basically the new Tax revenues pay for the cost of the loan.
So if the Gouvernement invests well it basically has an infinite money glitch. That's what people need to understand.
You can't compare Gouvernement spending to private spending, because Gouvernement spending can more or less automatically increase the Gouvernements revenues in many cases.
It's not taxiing enough, it's the income of the working class there is collapsed.
Taxes from workers drives nations.
Taxes from big companies is close to 0
Liberalism is suicide
If a country has its own sovereign currency, government spending isn't the same as household spending.
Also, taxes don't fund govt. spending, which should be obvious, as they're collected afterwards, not beforehand.
The purpose of govt spending is to pay for national services, such as the military (defense) and infrastructure (such as the electricity grid, roads, railways etc). In some countries this also includes healthcare, education, pensions and benefits.
The purpose of taxes is to remove money from circulation to keep monetary inflation under control. Some of this is money created via govt. spending, but in capitalist economies, much of it is created by the private banking sector, when they make loans.
Thank you for this honest assessment which is rare in German media.
Honest? 😂😂😂😂😂😂 OMG
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
@ pretty much. Whats your problem exactly?
DW blaming Russia for invading Ukraine while it was Nato pushing for a proxywar. Germany should be thanking Russia for cheap energy, but Germany thanked Biden for destroying NS pipeline. Now Germany imports expensive energy from th US. Smart move Germany. Well played 😂😂
That's way too cheap for blaming just one person.
She was calling all the shots. It’s on her.
Many, many people voted for her and her policies.
@@wtfroflffs true. The naive reliance on others.
@@wtfroflffs and people benefitted from most of her policies. It’s when they break away from her policy, economy started suffering
Don't forget that she was chancellor for 18(!) years, longer than anybody else in the German history
nobody is talking about the dependency on the military alliance with United States through NATO
Doesn't make up for the $200 billion trade surplus from the US winch is keeping the lights on.
We should leave nato. Let Europe fend for themselves.
😂 West Germany joined Nato in 1955 and Reunified Germany in 1990.
@@_ata_3 Cool and fascinating. I'm American though and I feel we should leave NATO. Thanks for the German lesson though. Bayer Leverkusen!
@@xagonent4942 Agreed. The US gains nothing from this relationship.
Closing nuclear power plants was a dumb decision. But anyways current government can revisit these which they still haven't done. They are stuck with age old stuff which is why its worsening further.
Current government is a coalition of Greens and Socialists. Of course they won't fix anything.
No, she could only be a scapegoat in this case. The truth is, sanctions backfired on German economy. But the effects are also felt elsewhere.
Effects will be felt through the whole of Europe if Germany has a financial crisis. It will be very bad for the EU.
you summarise the whole video.
It's one side's favourite opinion, denying all her contributions to the great Germany at her time. If you don't credit her capability, can you lead Germany to be the powerhouse of the EU again? If not, please don't blame her for everything happening today.
Maybe get German women to have more children by having more apartments available for native Germans?
The little guy with the mustache said that, too.
Dependent on Russia for energy. Dependent on China for manufacturing. Dependent on the United States for military. What could go wrong?
All the decisions she has made so far was very good for Germany because Germany technically don't have any resources, the demography was going down. She managed to source for cheap product to build Germany to economic power and trade route in Europe. The present problem was being blamed on her due to incompetence and global politics champion by America government in Europe. Assuming there wasn't war in Ukraine Germany will still be enjoying it's cheap energy and the whole street in Berlin will be filled with protest about green energy as usual. We need to be talking about solutions at this point
Ppls always forget the good lives then ...
The world and reality are not based on assumptions... It is the facts that dominate the present and write history.
If it weren't for the war in Ukraine, it would be another event that would reveal the downfall of Germany and Europe.
There's a great saying that goes... You can cheat or pretend for a while but you can't do it forever.
I remember well in the 90s and early 2000s when many European politicians stated that "soft power" was stronger than the army and that Europe was an example for the world and a place that many nations in the world wanted to follow the example.
Well....We are still at the beginning of the 21st century, 20 years later and Europe is already on its knees.
Brazilian here and I think the energy deal back in 2005 was good, cutting it in 2022 and paying more was one the problems.
Definetly one of the 3 worst chancellors along with Olaf and Gerd.
let's not forget the number one worst chancellor
9:24 How is this her fault?? It's the German car companies that should have realised this. Man nobody would ever wanna be the head of Germany if this is how Germans treat their leaders 😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒
Germany traded it's national interest and thrived at expense of Eastern Europe
That's quite demonstrably wrong, most of eastern Europe started seeing jumps in income for the average worker. Poland's economy was largely built up by German investment.
Germany was a powerhouse long before Eastern Europe was freed of the Soviet Union...
Sorry that not true, yes they benefit from cheap labor and a cheaper local workforce but you didn’t made Germany thrive Its a symbiotic relationship, you think Poland (I know Central Europe) would be thriving without Germany? My own southern European country if German auto industry goes down we go down,besides petroleum products,cars and cars part are our biggest exports ,yes we also make French cars
How is Germany's economy now that it's finally FREE from russian gas?
Thriving, finally Booming, blossoming.
Cheap Russian gas was slowing down Germany's economic growth
They should never have relied on russian gas to begin with. Natural gas is not the only source of energy, there are many other options.
Russia will ALWAYS be the neighbour of Germany! Working together was the best deal for Germany. Period! Unfortunately Germany has to follow their boss: the USA.
But could it be truly be blamed on her though? Without hindsight it seems those decisions made sense and was popular. No one could predict with full certaintity things would turn out this way.
US if you knowing the complete truth
It could totally be blamed on her, those decisions never made sense.
We’re supposed to be one of the most organised countries in the world.. everything has a norm in Germany, but we lost track of immigrants.. the result was last night in Magdeburg
Interesting perspective to understand the current German situation: Debt is not necessarily only monetary. Programmers in the tech world had figured this out long ago already. They deal with "technical debt" at work (I recommend to Google the term to learn the definition)
Germany out of complacency and the love for always keeping the status quo was able to create a huge debt for almost every core government function - the only thing mostly untouched and non critical is monetary debt because of the Schuldenbremse
Current situation:
Security debt, energy debt, education debt, infrastructure debt, transportation debt, pension system debt, ...
It's a complete mismanagement and absolutely unsustainable long term
I agree with you. And a basic controversial debt: population debt 😅
Its the same in Sweden.
Closed down power plants has increased electricity costs with 800% at occasions.
Plus uncontrolled mass immigration has ruined the economy of all western europe.
Canada, too. GDP has remained constant, but we import ~1M a year which means lower standards of living.
No,the Old economy breaks itself,no Innovation no future😂
6:12 imported Afrikaans like 14 Tory years in UK in londistan = Afrikaans slum
is there a hidden message? she did admit about minsk objective and failure, right?
Doing deals with Russia was incredibly selfish. And now Germany paid the price to ignore Russia’s victims for cheap gas
Yes, we are now at 55% renewable energy, and the trend is still rising.
Believing that the threat of Russia was gone once the Soviet Union fell was the collective fault of the West.
If her policy of not expanding NATO eastward was to be continued, there would not have been a war in Ukraine. Closing buckets plants and accepting unlimited immigrants was less wise
Ukraine was not about to join NATO when the war started.
Of course there would be, of course. There is no reason to believe otherwise
NATO expanding didn't cause the war. NATO presence on Russia's borders doesn't threaten the Russians, it stabilizes the borders as none of Russia's neighbours would be able to attack Russia without unanimous support from other NATO members. Putin's own paranoia has created an eternal enemy of Ukraine, that regardless of how this conflict ends, Ukrainians will be thirsting for revenge for centuries to come.
Indeed. The insane push for NATO expansion regardless of consequences is the root cause of this. The US, of course, is behind it and wanted this outcome.
You act like these countries were forced to join NATO at gun point. Eastern countries observed the reckless war-mongering behavior of Putin and rightfully chose to join an alliance that would protect their country. Everyone blames the wrong person for all of these comments. This current state of affairs can be blamed solely on dictator narcissist Putin.
There was nothing wrong with buying Russia gas and NS 1 and 2. The pipeline was blown up by the US (that or Ukraine). Nobody is accusing Russia of having blown it up any more. NS-1 still has 1 (out of 2) functional pipeline. It is Scholz decision not to use it. In the long Germany's closing door to Russia means lost of resource access and lost of Russian markets. You'll suffer the consequences.
COmpletely agree! The decision of stop using Russian gas is a political moral decision, not an economic one. The russians have never stopped providing the gas.
@@docp92 Exactly, and it doesn't help that Germany is a US vassel. The country has been occupied since 1945.
Germany close nuclear plants and they needed more cheap energy source, so yeah, why not bloody oil and gas from Russia and U.S companies 🤦
Ssssttttt... you are speaking the truth here. But this is DW news, they are biased and will never admit the real truth here. Germans have to stay silent and dumb..
Why would eastern Europe allow germans to support Russian military agression? Those pipelines are near Baltic countries that have right to defend themselves.
The current government incompetence can't just be blamed on previous era. They are also handling the difficult circumstances poorly.
All I remember the current Green and Socialist government did was increase welfare payments by +25%. Not even a joke.
The narrator can not be serious...
2:00 Being reliant on foriegn trade with Russia is a good thing. Russia has cheap gas, they have a demand for it.
The US sponsered overthrow of the Ukrainian government resulted in ethnic russian areas that clearly, clearly, wanted independence from Kiev, while Kiev used Artillery on breakaway civillians to supress the revolt.
2:18 If anyone still thinks this lady narrator isn't full of it. Everyone know Russia didn't blowup their own pipeline. Bidman, said he would take it out, and the USA did.
Finally, nuclear energy is the most dangerous of all. Each power plant, in the event of war, if breached , would end civilization for the next 20 millenium...
Sooo..
Good for Angela Merkle.
Immigration should have a policy, not a rubber stamp, on the other hand.
The US did not sponsor the overthrow of the Ukrainian government. Rather Russia did, but go on spreading disinformation.
People need to understand that
Gouvernement spending is vastly different from private spending.
For example:
German Gouvernement borrows 1000 € at 2% per year. It spends the Money on new rail infrastructure and it gives the Order to a German company. That company needs to staff the new Project and hires new employees. Those employees get 60€ per year. Now assume the income tax is at ca 30%. The new German workers lead to new income tax revenues of 20€ per year. So basically the new Tax revenues pay for the cost of the loan.
So if the Gouvernement invests well it basically has an infinite money glitch.
You can't compare Gouvernement spending to private spending, because Gouvernement spending can more or less automatically increase the Gouvernements revenues in many cases.
"So if the Gouvernement invests well it basically has an infinite money glitch."
...
Anyone can have infinite money glitch, if one invests well.
@urbansenicar81 Well Sure, but for Gouvernements its much easier than for everybody else
That's how it worked under Eisenhower, when 1 invested Dollar created 4 Dollars of growth. Today Not so much . Germany could Take on a 50 Billion loan, but what would be the resulting growth? 1% of GDP? That's 40billlion.
@@Vatnik_tschistilka you don't need crazy growth for these Investments to make sense. You just need enough growth to cover the additional loan cost. In your example if you take on dept of 50 billion at 2% you need to increase your revenues by more than 1 billion annually for it to make economic sense. Depending on the Tax Level that's achievable with a lot less Money than 40 billion. Probably less than 10 billion.
Also don't forget: apart from Money issues you also get the new infrastructure (or something else) you paid for
Never mind that, she broke German society.
All what you have mentioned are the things which enabled Germany to be a giant economy bigger that of UK, France and others in Europe.
1. Germany's building up a heavy millitary would have angered its neighbours like uk and France where by they would feel threatened by a strong Germany. Secondly the money it would waste on millitary was being used to build the economy. Thirdly if Germany had a heavy millitary it would spend much money in fighting wars in different parts of the world. So this money was saved.
2. Germany relationship with russia helped it to get gas and oil at cheaper prices, hence fostering economic growth.
3. It's trade relationship with China also helped it in that it has a small population but has technology whereby it needed market for its goods and services. And China was the best country to give that to the Germanys.
Lastly Germany cannot be self reliant because it doesn't have natural resources, small in size and its population isnot big enough to offer market to its products.
are you mental? European partners angered by a strong germany? Look at poland, they keep spending more and more on their military, and everyone in europe is cheering for them...
Germany's relationship with russia helped it fund a dictatorship. Germany was better off before they had made any deals with russia or china.
Germany doesn't need to be self reliant.They have the entire EU ready to help them with whatever they need.
@@megarafjogos How can you compare Germany to Poland. Germany building up a strong millitary it means it will manufacturing most of the staff at home. Whereas Poland is just a buyer of weapons.
@@megarafjogos you might be a zelensky apologist .what was the problem with Germany trading with russia and China. You are the same people supporting the Israelis genocide in the Palestines and Syria .
My understanding is that Germany could produce more gas than it does, not like Russia, Qatar or the US but some.
How national economy was based on the never trusted countries? How trust and depend on Russia and China that much? Never considered having second and other option for any case? That's clear and huge failure.
If Germany did not get gas from Russia and did not sell into the Chinese market then what economic position would they have been in. Firstly less people would have been employed and that translates into less spending thus a lower GDP. Would Germany have become Europe,s paymaster ?
'Dependance' in Russia gas is a fact of geology and life for Germany. That was not the problem. The problem was playing politics with Russia and destroying the relationship and energy supply over a war that has nothing to do with Germany...
Uh huh.. so.. you're saying it's perfectly moral to do business with a country that's been trying to conquer and kill off its neighbors, so long as your own country is doing well? I don't think the other Eastern European countries...ya know, the ones that were controlled by Russia before? would find that agreeable. There's ALSO the factor that Russia could cut off Germany anyway to get what they want from them.
I hope that German misfortunes push Germany for further European integration. I believe the solution is a European Federation. Together we're strong, separate we're just another pawn in the US, China and Russia geopolitical ambitions.
Agree! Narrow-mindedness when it comes to direct neighbours - as well as intransigents like UK and Hungary - stopped the momentum. The only way to retain power on the continent is to get back to proper coordination and pooling of resources. Divided we fall.
Europe absolutely has to become one country. Could not agree more. But sadly people don’t agree
Or maybe you guys should stop bragging about your vacation times on the internet and actually work as hard as the Americans and Chinese.
@@WillieFungo Working hard doesn't equal having a stronger economy.
On average Poland, Greece, Portugal, Estonia, Lithuania, Estonia and Romania work more hours per year than the US.
I'm from Portugal. Most people I know work 13h+ per day.
@@WillieFungo there's no direct correlation between working hours and overall productivity. But you go ahead and think being worn out all the time for someone who doesn't care about you makes you morally superior somehow. Laughable.
The graph at 0:29. Pls don’t confuse the public. As if it was free falling since 2015 to the Covid 2020. Can add more tick points between 2015 and 2020?
Yeah, covid fanaticism did them no favors either. Only Sweden comes out smelling like a rose on that one.
Are you guys kidding?
What broke Germany was the war in Ukraine, and in particular playing the American game. Olaf didn’t have to toe that line.
America only cares about America.
Russia is the biggest threat to peace and stability in Europe.
As an American, I agree 100%.
She ruined her country when she play the game of greenpeace , yeah, closed all nuclear plants, genius😂
What is the American Game?
Don't blame America, we like Germany
If you think Germany is in a bad situation now, just wait until target two is looked at more closely and moved from the credit side of the balance sheet to the debit side. It will never ( let me say that again, NEVER) be repaid.
She became too prominent for too long, so she came to represent a whole era, which made it inevitable that should would be harshly criticized due to the abrupt end of this era. The period between the 2008 financial crisis and the pandemic was a period of general peace and prosperity, during which she became a representative of political predictability and sanity, specially during the insanity of the trump years. This being said, even at the time she was harshly criticized for nordstream 2, for the arrival of the immigrants, for the excesive austerity imposed on Southern Europe and the shutting off of the nuclear power plants, so it's not like those decisions have not aged well, they were pretty bad from the beginning.
You all blame Russian gas and China exports... the real reason is the EU regulations that destroyed car development and sanctions imposed on Russia that stopped buying German cars and started financing innovation in chinese manufacturers
Yes she was really bad... If she was still in power, Germany would still have cheap energy, German industry would still be thriving although under heavy competition from China, Ukraine would be intact, and peace would be in Europe... really horrible.
Now under Scholz it is soooo much better.
Ukraine would not exist, yes.
Would you accept your country was just annexed by Russia?
Put the blame on her? What a joke!
Germany relaying on Russian Energy vs Germany relaying on US everything.
And what exactly would that be you ydyot?
You do know that there are more countries in the world besides russia and the US? don't you?
Relay???
So, let's recap: decided to rely on gas from an authoritarian regime and close 25 or so nuke reactors? Failing to invest in innovation? Open doors to immigrant ' doctors' and definitely not criminals? Being uncompetitive and lost on manufacturing? All of them smart ideas, o doubt. What could possibly go wrong for Germany...
Germany voted her and her party into power three times over many years, approving their extreme left wing socialist policies. Instead of complaining now they should all be proud of what they have managed to do and its consequences.
Energy problem - dependence of green electricity, closure of atomic power plant
The ultimate reason : Following US
Clearly the reason is she followed Russia and Russia betrayed it, by doing something that made all cooperation with it impossible. But we can’t say Germany wasn’t warned. It was warned by everyone .
Germany is no sovereign country. Its still occupied and ruled by the USA.
We had nothing to do with this. Good luck
If they would follow USA there would;t get dependent on Russia gas, and there likely would be no war either. USA had made you economic superpower after WW2. and in exchange you allied with they and Europe biggest enemy. It was a massive mistake to give you democracy world would be much better if you were USA colony.
Oh.. it seems that our problem in Germany was not savign the planet using bikes and eating no meat? Oh.. really?
People who are crying about Angela making Germany dependent on cheap Russian oil should also be reminded that there’d have been no Wirtschaftswunder without it. Nuclear energy is not cheap and neighboring France is very good example of it. I didn’t know that the Europeans are so ignorant. Very sorry for the continent and especially for Germans. 😢
with the little detail that germany would have been putins puppet
Without American style over-regulation nuclear energy is quite cost competitive.
I was damn waiting for this.. I have been analysing for the past year and this is spot on!
Ohhh so Germany get to replace there population. Almost feels like it shouldn't be called Germany then though?
We should make it official and ask UAE to become a member state.
She didn't fundamentally do anything different to any of the other great power leaders during the end of history/era of globalism. She was just around longer and had her name tagged on more policies that most countries were doing.
Where Germany differed was how much more reliant it was on globalism.
She was a practitioner of very selective “globalism” that was naive and put Germany in a very vulnerable position
Stability but no progress = faillure.
And now countries like Sweden and Norway ends up having to bail out Germany's energy problems. That would be fine if it wouldn't affect the citizens and companies on Sweden and Norway.
Although it's more or less said jokingly, in Sweden people suggest "doing a Nordstream" to the transmission cables to Germany.
Fair faced fair weather friends.
Have the nordics considered a grid separate from Europe? As a whole, all of them produce electricity reliably Norway almost entirely from hydro, Sweden and Finland from a mix in which nuclear is prominent and the Danes play with windmills.
@@missano3856 Norway would be free to do how they wish (afaik) but EU regulations force Sweden to have a certain percentage of it's transmission capacity to other EU countries. A possible work-around might be to build more transmission capacity Sweden-Finland to fulfill the EU regulations.
(I think that Norway don't want to cut connections to Sweden, and anyways a large part of Norway connects to SE-1 and SE-2 which are the two northernmost of the four price zones in Sweden, and those almost always have low prices while SE-3 and especially SE-4 have high prices)
Well it could have something to do with the quality of German cars.
We have great cars. It just became too expensive to make them
@@Clarahalfstone77
your cars are 4x more expensive than what they are worth
They predominantly ride very well if you maintain them properly. However, most of the affected people think they can manage without the prescribed inspections. I suggest to buy French cars and do the same.
@@Clarahalfstone77 they don't hold up in Australia. Very expensive to repair. The electric cars are also not worth the price.
@@Steeler-wg5zo in Australia, the best cars to get are from Japan, South Korea, and more recently China (electric). They last forever when serviced.
Why we blame her, not only Germany relies on RU.
The way people tries to blame others are incredible...
Always looking for someone or something to blame. New disease
Her policies also harmed the safety of the German and European people, especially women and girls.
If only she can be a time traveler. 😉
The last topic of the video barely talked about the China trade and that is because China is a positive for Germany and without China, there wouldn't be much economic growth.
The real big problem is that politicians are not held accountable for bad decisions.
Unfortunately she invested in everyone, except the EU. Even as far as undermining EU members for the benefit of her own country.