What I'm Reading: Europe

By Rich Kozlovich 

You have to wonder what in the world possesses these European “leaders” to hate their nation, their culture, and their people so much?  Whether it's agricultural practices, energy production, taxes, regulations, or immigration Europe is in a downward swirling vortex of destruction.  And worse yet, what in the world possesses the citizens of the UK and the rest of Europe to vote for them?

Well, not only is Europe facing a maelstrom of demographic and social disaster, they’re all headed into the economic toilet of massive debt they can’t repay. When they default their little worlds will come tumbling down, then we’re going to see civil disobedience and violence in Europe unlike anything the world has seen since WWII.

It’s called Stage Six of this historical cycle, and it's all coming home to roost, and it's been my view for years somewhere in the political movements of these nations there's a Hitler or Mussolini style character with the rhetorical charisma to charm the populace into a massive political upset, including violence.  The difference is they're not going to be concerned with conquering the world.  Their focus will be on saving ethnic Europeans and European culture, and it's my view the violence that will ensue will leave Europe devastated turning Europe into a third rate mess.  

Europe is Doomed 

1. Europe is suicidally complacent about the Islamist threat 
2. What Was the European Dream? 
3. Freedom of Speech Dying a Slow Death in Europe 
4. The European Free Speech Crisis 
5. As Europe Becomes Increasingly Militarized, Norway Expands New Arctic Brigade, Strengthening NATO’s Northern Border
6. Can Europe be saved from itself?
7.  How Europe Grows Gas Tax Revenues Gas prices are rising again in Germany. The main culprit is the state with its towering levies. 
8. Will Illegal Immigration Be The Death Of Europe?
9.  Part II: Demographics + Entitlements = Europe’s Doom August 3, 2026 by Dan Mitchel
10. The EU and the Iron Law of Oligarchy The EU is an oligarchy governed by a small self-perpetuating ruling class that sees “the people” as impediments to its technocratic program.
11.  EU Mulls Letting Farm Drones Spray Pesticides Widely

France

Let's not be delusional.  There is no conservative movement in France as we understand conservatism.  Whether it's Canada, France, England, Germany or any other western nation their "conservatives" are more like our RINO's.   

1. Marine Le Pen Vows to ‘Combat Islamist Ideologies,’ Will Fine the Muslim Veiling of Women...
2.  France Going Right? All across Europe, anti-immigration parties are gaining ground. By convention, they are deemed “far right” by the press, regardless of what other policy positions they may hold. In several countries, legal efforts have been made to keep anti-immigration parties off the ballot, lest they win. One of those countries is France, where Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally, was charged along with her party with a crime; namely, using European Union funding for political rather than EU parliamentary duties. Among other penalties, Le Pen was barred from running for office for five years, meaning that she was preventing from running in the 2027 race for President.  But Le Pen’s sentence was reduced on appeal, and she is the National Rally’s presidential candidate. The most recent polling has her with a commanding lead:

Germany 

According to one subscription site:

 "Germany's Merz Under Pressure as AfD Heads for Record Showing in Crucial State Elections With the AfD leading by a wide margin in polls for two upcoming state elections, the parties making up the national government face heavy losses that could paralyze its reform agenda."

And the ruling class doesn't like it and is going to do all it can to prevent them from taking power.  How's that for democracy.  The peasants just don't get it so in some way the ruling elite have to correct their wrong thinking, even if it means being underhanded and corrupt.  After all, since it's done in the name of saving democracy, so that makes it okay.

1.  Bombshell Germany Election Could Mean Left-Right Populist Coalition……Berlin Vows to Use State ‘Instruments’ to ‘Defend’ Against Result Germany’s embattled Chancellor has vowed to use the “instruments” of the security state to “defend” against a potential anti-mass-migration state government after Sunday night’s bombshell election results in Saxony-Anhalt.
2.  40% of Berlin Police Applicants Can’t Speak German
3.  Diversity German Style: Berlin Pool Advertised ‘Black Only’ Swimming Hour
4.  Germany's AfD won a state election in a landslide, sounding an alarm for centrist politics
5.  The Election That Shook Germany's Political Establishment to Its Core 
6.  Europe wrestles with impact of historic regional gains for Germany’s AfD - "Seismic", "a socio-political earthquake", "a watershed moment for Germany".  This was how political analysts and many media outlets described the stunning victory of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in local elections in Germany on Sunday. Is that an exaggeration?.......

Spain

Leftism is a secular religion, and has their own Kyrie Eleison   When failure eventually strikes the chant starts: 

It's not my fault, it's not my fault, it's not my fault, it's not my fault. Amen! 

Whose fault is it then? It's the Jews, it's Russia, it's Trump, it's the fault of the rest of Europe because they're prejudiced about not wanting more Muslim invaders in their countries.  Image that.  After all,  they don't have nearly enough rapist criminal Muslim immigrants of their own, so they should take Spain's.  Right?  

Considering who the Spanish voted in as their leaders this shouldn't have surprised anyone. Schadenfreude! 

1. Migrants in Ceuta catch an infant dolphin and beat it to death—because it’s fun for them Environmental conservation and third-worldism are diametrically opposed interests.
2. 70,000 in Spain Protest PM Sanchez Invasion Cover-Up Last week, I warned that the Sanchez government in Spain had been lying about managing the Muslim invasion of Ceuta and lying that it was under control. Instead, the Sanchez government is preparing to move thousands of Muslim migrants into mainland Spain.......Spain’s Ministry of Health is sending 45,000 doses of vaccines to deal with the migrant outbreaks including 10,000 polio, chickenpox, and diphtheria-tetanus vaccines and 15,000 MMR vaccines suggesting that the true number may be between 10,000 and 15,000. What the vaccine regime reveals even more than the numbers is the fact that they’re staying........People in occupied Ceuta have been protesting for a while, but now there are massive rallies in Spain against Sanchez’s invasion.
3. Ceuta Was an Invasion [Updated] If a group of people consisting mostly of women and children enter a country, it is a migration. If a group consisting overwhelmingly of young men enter a country, it is an invasion. An explosive new report by Spain’s National Police suggests that what happened a month ago in Ceuta, and still continues, was an invasion organized by the government of Morocco: The National Police has informed Judge María Tardón
4.  Ceuta’s once gorgeous beach is now a gigantic migrant slum… — Revolver
5. Women Flee Ceuta, Spain After 15 Rapes Recorded Since End Of July, 10-Year-Old Sexually Assaulted By 3 Moroccans
6. The Fog is Lifting Italy’s Giorgia Meloni is using the Ceuta disaster to strengthen the national-conservative front within the EU. Returns 
7. Ceuta invasion another step toward a Muslim Europe, And Americans Can Ill Afford To Be Smug 
8. Ceuta Struggles to Protect Migrant Girls as Hordes of Men Abuse Them on the Streets
9. Ceuta's Migration Crisis Spain's Interior Ministry Dismisses Police Warnings of Jihadis Among Ceuta Migrants
10.  Bishop of Ceuta: “Migrants are Missionaries of Hope that Widen Our Hearts”  “Typical African songs and dances filled the cathedral.”
11. ‘Enough’ — Ceuta’s Religious Communities Demand End to Migrant Invasions
12. Top Islamist Theologian Accuses Zionists of Orchestrating Spain’s Migrant Crisis
13.  ‘We Are Spanish, We Are Locked in Our Homes’ — Ceuta 2026: The Manufactured Invasion...
14. Spain’s Socialist Government Allocates €25 Million to Immigrant Minors Who Invaded Ceuta as One in Three Spanish Children Lives at Risk of Poverty
15. The Bizarre Efforts to Blame Morocco Migrant Invasion of Spain on US and Israel 
16. Italy’s Meloni Denounces Spanish ‘Regularizing’ of 500,000 Irregular Migrants
17.  Narrative-Crafting Socialist Spain Pushes ‘International Reactionary Forces’ Conspiracy Theory After Ceuta Invasion…
18. VIDEO: Moroccan Men Hide out in Ceuta’s Woods to Escape Deportation from Spain
19. Is Washington Abandoning Spain? How U.S. Policy, Israel’s Alliance with Morocco, and Pedro Sánchez’s Immigration Agenda Are Reshaping the Western Mediterranean
20. Watch: Spanish Woman’s ‘Suicidal Empathy’ on Full Display as Africans Invade City
21. SPAIN INVASION: Failing Socialist PM Sánchez Jets Out for Holiday as Authorities in Ceuta Are Still Chasing Migrants To Deport and Recovering Dead Bodies From the Sea
22.  Dune’ Star Javier Bardem Blames Israel for the Illegal Migrant Invasion of Spanish Ceuta
23.  Ceuta questions The incident in Spanish Cueta last week is quickly being memory-holed before even basic questions are answered. In the span of less than 24 hours, somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000 “migrants” stormed the border from Morocco into the tiny North African enclave, which itself has a population of only 80,000 or so. And just like that, they were immediately expelled. We were told by “authorities” that the invaders were almost
24.   Ceuta to Defy Illegal Migrant Invasion and Hold Traditional Catholic Celebration
25.  Spanish PM Accuses Europe of Prejudice for Not Wanting to be Invaded by Migrants
26.   How Spain Invited the Invasion

UK

This is coming to a head in the UK and the new Prime Minister may be even worse than Starmer.  The UK is a mess, and the PM position has become a revolving door of failure with five Prime Ministers in the last five years and seven in the last ten years.  

1.  Warning: Britain on Brink of ‘Serious Civil Disturbance’ over Migrant Crisis
2. UK Woman Working to Help Afghan Refugees… Murdered by Afghan Refugee
3. U.K. government condemns anti-immigrant demonstrators at port city

What I'm Reading: Europe

Life is about patterns and circles. Patterns of behavior, and the social circles prompting that behavior. Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Europe as a whole is Bending to Islam!

  By Rich Kozlovich Tags: The World's Nine Orders 

 Denmark

1.   Denmark to Ban Islamic Call to Prayer in Fight Against Creeping ‘Islamization

Germany

1. German Voters Favor Conservatives; Leftists Resort To Guerrilla Tactics 
2. Police Officers: ‘Open Season For Rape’, ‘This Country is Finished’
3. Number of Refugees in Germany Hits Record 4M…
4. $43 Billion Per Year Burden: Migration Costs Hammer German Taxpayers   
5. NO PENSIONS, NO WARSHIPS: Broken Germany To Raise Retirement Age to 70, as Plans Are Scrapped for Its Frigate Program That Already Cost Taxpayers $2.6 Billion
6. German Leftists Meet Jihad Attack With Denial and Fantasy 

 Switzerland 

1. Swiss ‘terrorist’ who shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ before stabbing 3 men in crowded train station had ties to ISIS: police 
2. Swiss Stabbing by Muslim Terrorist Who Supported ISIS Blamed on ‘Mental Illness”

 Netherlands

1. Justice in a Dutch Girl’s Death Takes Six Years - Why? Because police and prosecutors wanted to protect Muslim asylum seekers.

Norway

1. Now, a Boy Victim in Norway

Sweden

1.   25-Year-Old Autistic Woman Raped by Her Iraqi Ambulance Transporter in Sweden

France, Germany, and and the 17th Theorem of Government

October 7, 2025 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

I have a three-part series (here, here, and here) about a likely fiscal crisis hitting Europe.

As a matter of fact, I don’t actually think it is “likely.”

 

It’s a given at this point. The only mystery is which domino falls first.

My pessimism is based on the fact that European nations already suffer from staggering fiscal burdens.

And because of aging populations, government spending is projected to consume ever-larger shares of economic output in the future.

It seems more people are now aware of the problem.

Here are some excerpts from a report in the Washington Post by Annabelle Timsit, Anthony Faiola, and Aaron Wiener. They focus on France and Germany and the news is grim.

Across Europe, and especially in France, the bill is coming due. The cost of…the so-called European way of life, offering health care, affordable education and a dignified retirement to all, through high social spending — is becoming unbearably high. …In France, …the nation’s debt soars, its credit rating slips, incomes stagnate, prime ministers fall and the country stumbles into ungovernability… 

Related challenges loom in neighboring Germany, where the economy is flat after two consecutive years of decline, companies are shedding jobs, infrastructure has crumbled, and the government is bracing the populace for tumultuous cuts… For France and Germany, long the pillars of the European Union, it is unclear that they can still afford to be the West’s guiding lights of economic justice.

Here are some passages showing the dependency mindset in France.

Anastasia Blay, 31, a camera assistant in Paris, does not believe her generation should…sacrifice benefits. For years, Blay survived with the help of a government subsidy for entertainment workers…which she and others view as an unbreakable social contract… A monthly social welfare payment for low-income workers now supports her during periods of unemployment… 

She has joined a string of street protests aimed at paralyzing the country. Even with government aid and a family apartment that allows her to live rent-free, she says it’s hard to make ends meet. “For me, the problem is injustice, the gap between the poor and the rich, and the rich who, in reality, are barely taxed compared to what they earn,” she said. While she said she feels “a bit ashamed” to rely on welfare and fears people’s judgment, the payments help her “keep my dignity and … live decently.” “It’s a right and not a privilege, in my opinion,” she said.

Ms. Blay obviously does not understand economics, as shown by her views that upper-income people are under-taxed.

 

But the biggest problem with the above is that she thinks mooching off taxpayers is “a right and not a privilege.”

She could be the poster child for my 17th Theorem of Government.

Makes me wonder if she is friends with Olga and Natalija.

Let’s shift to Germany. Here’s an excerpt showing fiscal extravagance – and fiscal delusion – in Germany.

Today, between basic welfare and housing assistance, a German family of four on welfare can receive as much as 5,000 euros a month — roughly $5,873, or $70,476 a year, an unthinkably high amount in the United States. …Labor Minister and co-SPD chief Bärbel Bas responded curtly to Merz’s claim that Germany can’t afford its social programs. “That is bulls—,” Bas said.

At the risk of understatement, Miniser Bas is wrong. And interest rates of long-term German government bonds suggest financial markets agree with me.

I’ll close with a chart, based on IMF data, showing that the problem in much of Europe is excessive government spending. As you can see, both taxes and spending consume much greater shares of economic output in Germany and France than Switzerland.

I also included Italy to show that France and Germany are just as bad – or even worse – on fiscal policy.

Actually, I’ll include one more chart. It’s no coincidence that Switzerland is much richer than its neighbors – more than $22,000 of additional economic output per year compared to the average of Germany, France, and Italy!

Maybe, just maybe, there’s a lesson to be learned about the relationship between the size of government and national prosperity.

P.S. I should have written “Medium-Sized Government Switzerland” since the East Asian tiger economies have significantly smaller spending burdens.

Germany and the 20th Theorem of Government

August 27, 2025 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty 

In 2023, I wrote about Germany’s fiscal decay, noting that the burden of government spending had been increasing faster than the productive sector of the economy. 

This violated my Golden Rule.

In the accompanying chart, I noted that government was consuming 48.7 percent of economic output, up from 44.1 percent of GDP in 2015.

And, for those who fixate on red ink and fiscal balance, I also noted that Germany’s 8-year experiment in profligacy turned a budget surplus into a budget deficit.

My message was simple. Germany needed to change direction.

The good news is that politicians in Berlin did shift policy.

The bad news is that they decided to make a bad situation even worse. Following elections earlier this year, new Prime Minister Friedrich Merz decided to make government even bigger.

Even the Washington Post has noticed, as illustrated by the headline from this story from last month.

Though I can’t help but point out that it has been about 20 years since Germany budget could be described as “tightfisted.”

But the story was largely accurate even if the title had an error. Merz and the other politicians in Berlin are increasing the fiscal burden of government.

So I was flummoxed to see that Germany’s Prime Minister has suddenly realized that his country is in a fiscal ditch. Here are some excerpts from an editorial in the Wall Street Journal.

Friedrich Merz, the German Chancellor, said at a Christian Democratic Union conference on Saturday that “the welfare state that we have today can no longer be financed with what we produce in the economy.” Thank you, Chancellor, for this burst of candor. …Nations have built welfare and entitlement states that are so large they have outstripped the ability of slow-growing economies to pay for them. …there’s no more difficult challenge in politics than reforming government handouts—whether in pensions, jobless benefits, government healthcare, or income subsidies. It will be worth watching what Mr. Merz and his coalition propose. But the first step toward solving the problem is admitting it exists.

In my not-so-humble opinion, the WSJ‘s editorial writers are being too kind.

They are praising Merz for acknowledging the problem when they should have been condemning him for making the problem worse.

 

Merz reminds me of the old joke about the kid who murders his parents and then asks for mercy because he’s an orphan.

I’ll close by observing that Germany is another example of my 20th Theorem of Government.  It’s running out of other people’s money because government is too big and it’s been growing too fast. Maybe Merz has had an epiphany and will now do what’s right, but I’m not holding my breath.

P.S. When I did the chart in 2023, I noted that the burden of government spending had increased by 4.6 percentage points of GDP since 2015. The latest numbers show that government is now consuming an additional 5.3 percent of GDP.

P.P.S. Predictably, the IMF is pushing the wrong advice for Germany.

Events From Around the World

By Robin Itzler

Editor's Note:    This is one of the commentaries selected from Robin's weekly newsletter Patriot Neighbors.  Any cartoons will have been added by me.   If you wish to get the full edition, E-mail her at PatriotNeighbors@yahoo.com to get on her list, it's free. RK 

Germany: According to a poll by the Forsa Institute for Social Research and Statistical Analysis if a national election was held today, Alternative for Germany (AfD) would receive 26 percent of the vote. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative bloc, was in second place.

Israel: Energy company Leviathan just signed a $35 BILLION deal to supply natural gas to Egypt. This is Israel’s largest export deal in the nation’s young history.   After several years, a luxury eco-hotel that international film star Leonardo DiCaprio has 10 percent ownership, has been approved. The 365 rooms on 14 floors will be built at the Herzliya Marina near Tel Aviv.

 Spain: On August 3, beach goers were enjoying the sand, sun and water at Sotillo Beach in the Granada town of Castell de Ferro. Suddenly, a boat came close to shore and several migrants (believed to be from North Africa) jumped out fully clothes to illegally enter Spain. Organically, Spaniards rose up to stop the invasion, beating and holding the men until police arrived per the Spanish paper El Mundo. 

UK: According to a recent Ipsos survey, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has taken a nine-point lead over Labour: 34 to 25 percent. Conservatives only had 15 percent. If the general election were held now, Farage would be elected prime minister. 

“Free speech has NOT been abolished in the UK. And we’ll jail anyone who says it has been.” Keir Starmer, United Kingdom Prime Minister

UK Trans Judge Appeals to European Court to Challenge ‘Sex Is Biological’ Ruling - Britain’s “first transgender judge” is attempting to go over the head of the UK Supreme Court, appealing to European judges in Strasbourg in a bid to overturn a ruling earlier this year affirming biological sex.....

British Government 'Lost Track' of over 150,000 Migrants - The British government has admitted that it has no idea whether over 150,000 legal migrants who entered the country on social care visas are still in the UK or not.......

UK’s Starmer Regime Creates National Internet Intelligence Team to Monitor Anti-Migrant Speech - This is what a police state looks like......

Warning From The United Kingdom For American Christians We cannot allow our nation to go the way of the UK. It's time to stop being passive and actively and unabashedly further the relevant teachings of Jesus in the public square .........

Why Doesn't the World Care About Christians?

 Per a United Nations report on global humanitarian aid, in 2024 Gaza received approximately $1.8 BILLION out of a $4 BILLION total. However, according to the American Jewish Congress, only 30-40 percent reached civilians in Gaza, the rest went in Hamas’s pockets.

Why aren’t Christians receiving the billions of dollars in aid?

Christian singer prevented from holding planned concerts in Canada  - Christians are one of the most persecuted religious groups worldwide (perhaps the most persecuted), and hatred of Christians fluorishes in postmodern Canada. More than one hundred churches have been torched since 2021, following the unfounded claim that “soil disturbances” on the grounds of the former Indian Residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia were the remains of 215 First Nations children who attended that school. Four years have passed, and still no excavations, perhaps because authorities fear being caught in a lie(?). 

Meanwhile, churches continue to burn, and there is seemingly no will to prosecute arsonists. Of course, we must be fair to the Canadian justice system. They are much too busy persecuting and prosecuting peaceful protesters and seeking seven- and eight-year jail terms for Freedom (Trucker) Convoy organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber respectively. For good measure, they are even seeking to impound Barber’s truck, thereby depriving him of his livelihood should he avoid jail time. You can’t make this up................Since when does religious freedom require a permit from government?..............

Over 40 Christians Murdered in Catholic Church by Islamists in Congo, July 27, 2024:  Over 40 Christians were murdered today while they worshiped during Holy Mass at a Catholic Church in Komanda, Congo.  There have been varying reports of the death toll, but whether it’s under or over 40, it’s absolutely horrific:

 

 Islamic State-Backed Rebels Attack Catholic Church in Congo, Nearly Three Dozen Dead - The death toll has risen to at least 34 people in a savage attack by Islamic State-backed rebels on a Catholic church in the eastern Congo on Sunday, according to a local leader.........

 

Germany Incentivizes Sickness by Subsidizing Sick Days

January 24, 2025 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

Back in 2019, I compared OECD nations based on the total burden of social welfare spending as a share of economic output.

France was the worst of the worst, unsurprisingly, followed by Finland and Belgium.

That column also differentiated by types of spending.

• Greece had the biggest burden of pension spending.
• France had the biggest burden of heath spending.
• Belgium had the biggest burden of redistribution spending.

Today, let’s look at an even narrower slice of the social welfare state.

According to a new article in the Economist, Germany arguably has the most lavish sickness benefits in Europe. Maybe the most extravagant in the world.

That sounds very kind and compassionate, but it seems this policy is creating perverse incentives and undermining national prosperity.

Here are some excerpts from the article.

Germany is now “the world champion when it comes to sick days,” according to Oliver Bäte, the boss of Allianz, Europe’s biggest insurer. …Ola Källenius, the boss of Mercedes, agrees with Mr Bäte. He warns of the “economic consequences” of a sickness rate in Germany that is often twice as high as in other European countries. …Germany has one of the most generous sick-leave regimes in the world and it is costing businesses dearly. …

“It’s very hard to police,” says Jochen Pimpertz of the German Economic Institute (iw). In a study he found that the total nominal cost of sick pay for employers rose from €36.9bn to €76.7bn between 2010 and 2023 (a 57% increase, adjusted for inflation). …There is clear correlation between the generosity of the system and the number of sick days, says Nicolas Ziebarth of the Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research. Germany’s arrangements are lavish compared with elsewhere in Europe and have become easier to manipulate.

The article mentions that there used to be similar problems in some Scandinavian nations, and that reminded me that Sweden enacted some good reforms a few decades ago.

So I did a search for “sick days Sweden” and found a study published by the OECD in 2020.

Authored by Philip Hemmings and Christopher Prinz, it included this chart showing that spending on sick days was dramatically reduced over a 20-year period, dropping from 5  percent of GDP in the late 1980s to 2 percent of GDP about 20 years later.

How did Sweden get these remarkable results?

The answer was simple. They reduced, in two stages, the amount of money people got for being sick (or, in many cases, for pretending to be sick). Here are a few excerpts from the study.

Sick-leave compensation reform (1990s). Pushed by a major economic downturn in the early 1990s, Sweden embarked on a series of sickness benefit reforms as part of a broader attempt to curb public spending. This included the introduction of a 14-day sick-pay period covered by employers (1992). In addition there were significant changes to compensation:  Before 1991, sickness benefits replaced 100% of earnings for 90 days and 95% thereafter, with no time limit. As of 1993, there was no payment on the first day of sickness absence (i.e. one “waiting day”), compensation then varied over time: 75% of previous earnings (days 2 and 3 of absence), 90% (until day 90), 80% (to the end of first year) and 70% thereafter.

This reform promoted a sharp drop in absence spells, especially in short-term absences… When the economy recovered in the late 1990s, sick-pay rates were increased, to 90% of the previous wage until the end of the first year and 80% thereafter. This led to a significant rise in absence rates, especially longer-term absences… Overall, the cost of being absent significantly affected absence behaviour. …

Starting in 2006, Sweden undertook a series of reforms to sickness and disability policies, which contributed to further considerable drops in both sickness absence rates and disability claims. These reforms included (Economic Survey of Sweden, OECD 2012b) among other things the introduction of…more rigorous implementation of existing regulations… Requirements for individuals on sick leave to consider a wider scope of jobs… A 2.5-year ceiling on the duration of sick leave compensation… More stringent disability-pension entitlement criteria.

The broader lesson from Sweden’s successful reforms is that Ronald Reagan was right.

As was Thomas Sowell.

The more you subsidize of something, the more you get of it.

And, at the risk of stating the obvious, it’s not a good idea to subsidize dependency and idleness.

P.S. Sweden has implemented a lot of good reforms in recent decades. What happened with sickness benefits is laudable, but I’m even more impressed by the country’s partially private Social Security system and the impressive 1992-2001 period of spending restraint. Though a lot more needs to be done.

America and Around the World

By Robin Itzler

Editor's Note:  This is one of the commentaries selected from Robin's weekly newsletter Patriot Neighbors. Any cartoons appearing will have been added by me.  If you wish to get the full edition, E-mail her at PatriotNeighbors@yahoo.com to get on her list, it's free. RK

Some events from around the nation:

Women Vs Womym - The Scripps National Spelling Bee announced that it is acceptable to spell “women” as “womyn.” Both spellings are on their 2024-2025 list. Both versions are proper spelling according to the woke organization. To share your thoughts with Scripps: Write: 312 Walnut Street, #2800, Cincinnati, OH 45202

Texas - The state has more than five million public school students. The Texas State Board of Education voted 8-7 to allow OPTIONAL Bible-related teachings in elementary schools (kindergarten through fifth grade) under a new curriculum called Bluebonnet Learning.

Minnesota - The Minnesota Satanists put up its holiday display at the St. Paul state capitol. Leftist Governor Tim Walz claims he can’t take it down since it’s protected by the First Amendment.

New Hampshire - The New Hampshire Satanists erected an occult statue on Concord city property new the state capitol. Vandals destroyed it, which upset some Democrats. Would these Democrats have been as upset if vandals had destroyed a nativity scene? 

California - So, Newsome thinks he's just the man to be the 2028 Democrat nominee for President, and this is the kind of leadership he wants to bring to the nation? 

• California’s Debt to US Government for Unemployment Loan Default Tops $21 Billion.  Businesses are set to pay higher payroll taxes that increase annually until the debt is repaid. 
• California Defaults on $18.6 Billion Debt, Now Businesses Have to Pay - California borrowed approximately $20 billion from the federal government to cover unemployment benefits during the pandemic, and with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent decision to not pay it back, employers are now saddled with the expense, according to experts.
•  Newsom's Housing Goal Falls Short As Homelessness Increases - Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (CA) ambitious housing agenda has hit a significant roadblock, falling two-thirds short of the targets he set in 2019 as homelessness spirals out of control. Despite billions in state funding and a flood of regulations meant to tackle the crisis, Newsom’s failure to deliver on his promises is apparent. Meanwhile, the number of people living on the streets has surged, raising serious questions about the governor’s ability to address the root causes of the state’s housing and homelessness crisis. His administration's inability to meet its goals is a stark reminder that significant government initiatives often struggle to produce real solutions, leaving the state's most vulnerable citizens with little more than empty promises.

The question is can he under perform better than OAC for the job?

Events from around the globe

Germany: Germany is completing its second year of recession. Signature businesses are struggling. Ford, Audi and Tesla have announced layoffs. Volkswagen, with 300,000 employees in Germany, plans to shut down manufacturing sites and lay off thousands of workers. The major steel manufacturer ThyssenKrupp has also announced layoffs are coming.

There are multiple reasons for the economic downturn, but immigration is at the top of the list. Millions have immigrated to the country in the last ten years, including about one million Ukrainians.

The right-leaning Alternative for Germany is currently the second-most-popular party. Recently, the pro-Russia Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance was formed. We will watch how all this plays out in 2025.

Canada:Since 2016, Canada has allowed “medically-assisted dying.” The BBC reports that in 2023 about 15,300 Canadians underwent assisted suicide.

Israel: Israeli Minister for Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli said that Tucker Carlson provides the “leading platform” for Jew-hatred. “Congratulations to Tucker Carlson for becoming the leading platform for fringe Holocaust deniers, conspiracy theorists and blood libel enthusiasts who oppose the State of Israel.”

 Recently Carlson had a two-hour interview with Jeffrey Sachs, an economist at Columbia University and director of its Earth Institute’s Center for Sustainable Development. Among Sachs delightful comments is that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu created Hamas and Hezbollah so that the Jewish state can expand its borders. Breibart News Senior Editor-at-Large Joel Pollak said that this was Tucker’s: “...third rabidly anti-Israel interview Tucker has done, and at this point it is fair to ask why.”

Cuba: 6 Decades of Communism Leave a Third of Island’s Housing in Ruins - The ongoing collapse of Cuba caused by decades of disastrous communist policies has left a significant portion of the nation’s housing in a derelict state, posing a high risk to its impoverished inhabitants, who live in buildings that could collapse at any time.  Cuban communists fumble economy so badly that they now import sugar—at $25 a pound - For the better part of a century, Cuba has been under the control of communists and their ideologies, and the previously inconceivable has finally happened—they’ve run out of sugar. Like John Hinderaker at Powerline quipped, “This is like Libya running out of sand.” Or…like Alabama running out of cotton. Like Costa Rica running out of pineapples. Like Russia running out of vodka. Like Saudi Arabia running out of oil. Like China running out of rice. Like the Midwest running out of corn. Like Afghanistan running out of opium.

And Fidel's brother bangs his fist, yells at the nitwits he put in charge for their incompetence,  and demands to know why, and then blames America.  Another failed idiot leftist who thinks all the failures are not his fault.  Imagine that.

In Germany, The Energy Transition Situation Only Gets Worse

September 07, 2024 By Francis Menton @ Manhattan Contrarian

Plenty of virtuous places (New York, California, UK, Australia) want to compete for the mantle of “climate leader.” But let’s face it, at least among places with significant population, nobody can top Germany. In Germany, they got started on a massive build-out of wind and solar electricity generation way back in the early 1990s. By year-end 2023, they had total wind and solar nameplate electricity generation capacity of 148 GW, which is about 2.5 times average demand (of about 60 GW) and about 1.5 times peak demand (of about 100 GW). So surely, the days of fossil fuels in Germany must be numbered.

Time for another update on Germany’s progress toward energy nirvana. The bottom line is that, like the Red Queen, Germany is running faster and faster to stay in place. In the meantime, it is destroying its economy.

My last update from Germany was on June 15, and covered the then-latest data for the full year 2023. The news was that Germany had finally surpassed the benchmark of getting more than 50% of its electricity from “renewables.” That news had been excitedly announced at multiple news outlets, including Reuters, which had the headline “Renewable energy's share on German power grids reaches 55% in 2023.” Did you get fooled by that headline into thinking that the 55% was from wind and solar? Actually, as I noted in the June 15 post, of the 55%, 8.4% came from “biomass” (i.e., wood chips imported mostly from the U.S.), and 3% from “hydro” and “other,” leaving only 43.6% from the wind and solar. The capacity of the biomass and hydro generation facilities, by the way, was only 12.9 GW, meaning that they produced about 25% as much electricity as the wind and solar facilities with less than 10% of the capacity. No surprise there.

Well, now figures are out for Germany for the first half of 2024; plus other related economic news continues to pour in. Let’s check in for an update.

Clean Energy Wire on July 18 has first-half 2024 electricity consumption data sourced from Germany’s UBA (Federal Environmental Agency). The percent from “renewables” has gone up again, now to 57%!

Renewable power sources covered around 57 percent of Germany's gross electricity consumption in the first half of 2024, preliminary figures published by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) have shown. Generation from renewable sources reached 147 terawatt hours (TWh), rising by nine percent compared to the same period of the previous year.

Once again, of course, they have mixed “biomass” and hydro in with the “renewables.” Should we back those out?

In the first six months of 2024, wind power accounted for the largest share of renewable electricity generation (around 51%), followed by PV (24%), biomass (15%) and hydropower (8%).

So biomass and hydro came to 23% of the 57%, or 13.1%. That leaves at most 43.9% that came from wind and solar, up from the 43.6% for 2023. Basically, the percent from wind and solar was up by a rounding error.

The problem is that in the meantime Germany had added greatly to wind and solar generation capacity. According to a chart at this page, also from Clean Energy Wire and sourced to the UBA, Germany’s solar generation capacity went from 67.6 GW at year-end 2022 to 79.2 GW at year-end 2023 — an increase of more than 17%; and its wind generation capacity went from 66.1 GW to 68.8 GW, an increase of over 4%. That’s rather an enormous amount of additional capital invested in wind and solar to achieve an additional 0.3% market share in electricity generation.

And now let’s look at the big economic picture for Germany. First, how do its electricity prices compare to other places? Here is a very useful chart from the Energy Policy Research Foundation, comparing second-half 2023 consumer electricity prices among EU countries and U.S. states:

There’s Germany way at the top of the list, over 38 cents per kWh, well over double the U.S. average.

Next up, here’s data on German GDP from the St. Louis Fed. The peak was in Q3 2022 at $770.6 billion, with small declines since then. Some might call it a recession, and a rather long one. The most recent quarterly figure (Q2 2024) was $766.4 billion. This is serious stagnation. By contrast, the U.S. GDP in the mediocre Biden-Harris economy has been growing in the range of 2-3% annually. If Germany’s economy had been growing just 2% for the last two years it would now be around $800 billion per quarter, rather than the $766 billion reported.

Let’s say that high energy prices may not be good for an economy known for its large manufacturing sector. You may have seen the recent news about Volkswagen. From Reuters, September 2:

Volkswagen . . . is considering closing factories in Germany for the first time, in a move that shows the mounting price pressure Europe's top carmaker faces from Asian rivals. . . . VW considers one large vehicle plant and one component factory in Germany to be obsolete, said its works council as it vowed "fierce resistance" to the executive board's plans.

In related news, a German-speaking friend sends along an English translation of this August 12 piece from Die Welt. The headline is “Germany's electrical fallacy.” Excerpt:

Clean and cheap electricity was the great promise of the energy transition. It was said for years that there would be a “job miracle” for free. But now demand is collapsing. . . . [In the first half of 2024], the Central Association of the German Motor Vehicle Industry reports a decline of 47 percent in orders for electric cars. A drop of 54 percent in sales of heat pumps, reports the Federal Association of the German Heating Industry. What, on the other hand, is increasing: the demand for combustion cars and oil heaters.

“Will the energy transition now be cheap? Yes. Period,” promised Patrick Graichen, later the federal government’s chief planner and head of the Agora Energy Transition think tank, in an interview with WELT in 2017: “The harvest years of the energy transition are now in sight.” Fossil fuels would soon become unaffordable, while green electricity is becoming cheaper and cheaper. . . . But the narrative that has been circulating for many years is increasingly met with skepticism - and not just by consumers. . . . “The supposed certainties of older forecasts, according to which electrification of the industrial, transport and building sectors are economically preferable and that a constant increase in renewable energies would drive down end customer prices, are now fragile,” says Constantin H. Alsheimer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Thüga Public company.

“Fragile”? I would say that those old “certainties” have been completely shattered. But maybe that’s just an issue of the translation.

Let me end with the message from Dirk Messner, head of the UBA, as quoted in the July 18 Clean Energy Wire piece (emphasis added):

"It is a success that the share of renewables in electricity production continues to grow," UBA head Dirk Messner said. However, Germany still needs to accelerate renewable expansion capacity to meet its climate and energy targets, especially in the solar photovoltaics (PV) sector, he warned. Messner called for planning security and for the careful further development of subsidy mechanisms, as well as for a way to keep grid fees in check in areas of high renewable expansion.

Build more and more wind and solar, increase the subsidies yet again, and drive Germany over the economic cliff. It will continue until the voters finally wake up. I have no idea when that will be.