This next storyline needs context to understand appropriately what just happened.
In February of this year, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz travelled for the first time in his business and life to China. Merz a lawyer by training, worked in business and corporate life doing mergers and acquisitions (Blackrock), but had never been to China. Despite his upward climb in German politics, his worldview was always dominated by an internal acceptance that Germany was the industrial heart of the European Union.
Chancellor Merz believed that Germany was unrivaled within industrial manufacturing, particularly in aeronautics and mechanical engineering (auto sector). So, when Merz went to China -while he held no trade capabilities as an outcome of the EU collective controlling everything- he also had no idea what Chinese industrial capacitary actually looked like.
To say Chancellor Merz was stunned by the advancements in robotics and industrial manufacturing within China would be an understatement. Merz was shocked not only by the technological capability, but also by the Chinese industrial work ethic and capabilities of the workforce.
Merz returned to Germany and immediately began discussing how Chinese industrial capacity was far beyond anything he previously estimated. Merz was shook. His reaction was, essentially, the #1 industrial nation within the EU confronting a reality of years of industrial complacency. Immediately he began talking about how things in Germany must change; how the German workforce must immediately start to get serious about productivity and production capacity.
That was late February and early March.
Today, Friedrich Merz announced a series of reforms, radical modifications within the German industrial workforce.
German workers are no longer allowed to call in sick. The German government will now adopt a policy to make sure all workers report to their jobs, or else.
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The German workforce may not like this at all.
There is a certain, shall we say, “Fascist irony,” when you think about mandated private sector productivity compliance and the relationship with official government policy.
Germany’s coalition government has announced a wide-ranging package of pension, tax and labor reforms aimed at boosting economic growth and strengthening competitiveness. Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the measures would create jobs, reduce bureaucracy and preserve key social welfare protections.
The 34-point plan includes income tax relief for low- and middle-income households as well as a gradual increase in the retirement age.
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You vill NOT be SICK !!! Or you VILL BE DEAD !!!
😁
You vill NOT die on xie job or you VILL be fired!!!!
In 1980 I landed in Shanghai on a Pan Am flight. The Cultural Revolution was mostly all wound down. As we approached the airport at night, the runway lights came on, but as soon as we touched down they were turned off. Apparently to save power. We deplaned on stairs, and I noticed a row of a dozen biplanes (Russian?) at the edge of the runway. I took a very nice picture of them, which was observed by some young PLA soldiers originally from the countryside. This picture taking of military aircraft caused a delay in my processing and a stern warning. . In fact, there was no airport customs, immigration, agriculture etc. Just some kids in baggy green uniforms. But they were curious about the foreigner who was speaking to them in their language (rather unusual at the time) and they took turns speaking to me, asking random questions, and generally laughing. And there was a Canadian bicyclist club detained there, because of failing to report currency. The PLA kids asked me to interpret, but gosh none of the Canadians spoke English! I did the best I could with my “present tense”
French, but I fear they are still there.
From that time.
My subsequent trips to China revealed clear indications of rapid industrial and other advancements. A focus and determination on success, and a desire to embrace all that is modern.
Can Germany make up for their foolish mistakes, and compete with China? I think they will have to experience more pain before the spell is broken.
Two sides to the global geoeconomic shift underway since around 1980:
A. China strengthening.
B. The West committing hari-kari, starting with the US forced identity class “equity” movement and then expanded with the climate canard, mass immigration flood, and the bio-pharma attrition, most of this also expanded to the EU also.
Note that unlike the West, China has not self-harmed with any of B. That’s a clue.
Now the question: Can Germany (and the US / West) make up for their “foolish mistakes, and compete with China?”
This question assumes that the self-harming moves were/are mistakes, but that ignores overwhelming evidence that what is happening is part of an inexorable Plan – not mistakes, but rather responses to “nudging”. And it also assumes that the condition of the West can be righted, which also ignores profound facts.
The coming global end state is clear.
Oh, but China did make a very significant mistake: it too committed hari kari by their one child policy. The effects of that will be profound. Leftists stupidity did not overlook China.
Their ability to be evil and reckless in all things makes them a very formidable opponent for the west. Either AI technology will enable the Chinese people to break free from communism or more deeply enslave them. God willing their people win. They can then extend a hand of cooperation and remove the death threat to the US by a thousand papercuts!
Thunie and McConnell your days are numbered. Spit
Just saying Thune and McConnell points to our biggest issue – lack of term limits!!!! American voters are ignorant and our voting system is F-d. So term limits will be the only thing to protect us from
Ourselves.
Maybe McConnell saw the light while he was dead and decides to cooperate with Trump?
Oh, who am I kidding.
You mean WOULD be the only thing to protect us from ourselves.
That one child policy has left China with a 200-million man army spoken of in the last days by the Bible.
The one child policy was that they could only have one child IN CHINA, after One Child, they were sent to the USA to have their other Children, that way America Supported their other Children.
It’s all part of the plan for CHINA to slowly take over America.
There are billions of people who can fly to America pregnant and before long the entire family are democrat citizens.
You are so right Gen. The number of Chinese citizens is nowhere near a billion. I have seen pictures of empty houses and apartments all over their country. Emptiness everywhere. Of course, we in the west have also produced less people although not officially mandated. Except for the imported muslims of course. Their birth rates are thru the roof.
Biplanes make good crop dusters because of their low speed. They probably were Soviet since that was where the market was. At one point, the Soviets were producing a biplane with a jet engine.
That’s incredibly steampunk in every way. I love it.
The biplanes were probably Antonov An-2s.
They are paying China to build the competing EV’s.
Can Germany make up for their foolish mistakes, and compete with China?
At this time, absolutely not.
Not until they accept reality on many fronts. That CO2 is NOT a driver of “climate change.” That “fossil fuels” are NOT evil and “green energy” is neither green nor capable of driving an industrial economy. Not until they admit that having a large percentage of foreign residents that are anti-Western and do not participate in the workforce is a severe detriment to a healthy nation. Not until they accept that totalitarian government is a detriment and suppresses creativity and productivity. And the list goes on…
Does that include the Mudslime illegals/immigrants too?
Do they work?
they’re great at funding day care centers 🙂
of course not! They get to loaf around, eat and get wasted for free, have babies for free, while they laugh at you hustling to make money for them – not you!
A politician had a run-in with reality and is now experiencing shock from the unexpected. How long will it take him to recover so he can retreat back to his comfortable delusions?
The green new deal/build back better was a joint suicide pact. It only worked if we all jumped off the cliff together. Once Trump said, No way, the gig was up. Now, Germany has to backtrack fast.
If the German government (aka the EU) were serious about re-establishing the competitiveness of German industry and manufacturing, it would immediately a) stop wasting capital supporting the Zelensky crime syndicate, b) stop diverting resources towards war preparations against Russia and c) stop crippling itself by through the completely ineffective sanctions on Russia goods, particularly on Russian energy commodities.
Anything else it does or announces it intends to do, including these “reforms” are either theater and/or an expansion of Brussels’ power.
You missed the big there Keele,
Stop wasting money on windmills and unicorn dust.
restart the coal mines and nuclear power plants
I read somewhere that Germany sits atop a massive shale deposit – that could be fracked for cheap natural gas. But the greens stop them.
The removal of Russian energy from the German economy is part and parcel of forcing through the windmills and unicorn dust, but your point is taken.
Will they dare getting rid of beer in the company cafeteria at lunch? Or repealing the German Federal Holidays Act that says all employees in Germany with a 5-day week are entitled to a minimum of 20 vacation days per year?
(In addition to the six weeks allowed sick-leave per year codified in Germany’s Continued Remuneration Act (Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz, EntgFG.)
Great chart. Had no idea.
While not enshrined in law, most workers in the US have two to four weeks of paid leave (i.e. vacation) a year.
The American taxpayer footed this bill for years until President Trump pulled the plug. Now they have to pay the consequences.
Lemme guess…….he also didn’t see any “tanned Chinese”.
Hold on. You mean to say that China is somehow able to compete WITHOUT the enriching diversity that we’ve been told– over and over, many times– is our greatest strengh?
I live in Germany. Workers can still stay home if they are sick.
The way the system works now is, if a worker is sick, they can stay home a couple of days without having to get an official sick note from a doctor. And when they do get a sick note from a doctor, it is allowed to call the doctor on the phone to arrange it.
The difference now is, now Merz is removing the option of calling on the phone, and the sick note from the doctor is required from day one.
That means all the sick people will be required to immediately visit their doctor in person to get an official sick note.
All the doctors associations are calling this idiocy, because it will fill their waiting rooms with people with infectious illnesses and generate massive paperwork.
Merz wants German workers to be more productive, but German workers are becoming increasingly resentful because they see themselves funding with their high taxes a growing number of welfare recipients, many of which are migrants, who receive generous welfare benefits and do not work.
How’s that productivity going to fare when employees come to work sick because of the hassle & get everyone sick?
The Germans that I worked with would call in sick for a common cold! Three days off for a cold! Wankers.
I wonder if he has also installed nets around factories to catch the workers as they do they final jump? And how does Merz plan to supply energy for this newfound manufacturing race. With little potion for fossil fuels, does he plan to rely on solar and wind??
It’s too late for western Europe. Their Goose was cooked when they came up with the European Union. Now the chickens have come home to roost.
Sound like what corporate human resources would come up with. 🙄 🤢🤮
Leadership: ‘It’s not us, it’s you that is the problem.’
DEI HR!
Shit Happens…..
Metz is all reaction, no intuitive leading. Good luck, Germany.
When Rockefeller/Kissinger/Nixon opened China this is and was their goal. To destroy America and the West you must destabilize the middle class in America, and the socialist utopia’s in Europe.
Look around. From that pivotal year of 1972, everything that our government and glo-bull-ist masters has done have diminished the West.
Wake up or perish in a glo-bull-ist, godless blob.
MAGA!
Not Sure it was Nixon’s idea to destroy America, but to open up the Chinese market to American made goods… the problem was it wasn’t managed properly by Carter, Clinton, Bushes, Obama, Biden… Trump is the one who has finally leveled the playing field
Nixons goal was to create separation between China and the USSR.
Merz’s labor reforms are necessary but NOT sufficient to fix Germany;-(
Energiewende must also be stopped, and damage it inflicted on the grid repaired. Repairs include putting into production tight natural gas & crude deposits in Germany & other European countries. Then, replacing wind turbines, solar panels, batteries … with AFFORDABLE, dispatchable, more environmentally respectful natural gas fueled generators.
Man, I wonder if he realizes how ‘3rd Reich-y’ he looks????? All he needs is one of their officer’s uniforms (with cap).
Vee have vays of making you verk.
Unless they abandon their insane “Green Energy” policies, Germany will be relegated to “also ran” as an industrial powerhouse…
Germany…..has always thought they were better in technology and engineering…specially in the auto industry. But let me tell you after working for years in the auto industry, specifically service……I found that German technology was ass backwards and over engineered!
They have their own heads so far up their own butts….they have no idea the world has passed them by!
Indeed. It is the truth.
I worked for a major oil company in the ’80s. If you called in sick, you were required to go to a doctor and bring some form of proof upon returning to work. It was never necessary, though, to show proof that the doctor deemed you healthy enough to return to work.
Why always the fire-drill with these communists? Just do it right from the start! If you’re ultimately willing to break and start moving toward the right way , anyway, why put yourself through all the stress and make the mountain climb so much harder in the first place?
Makes no sense! A true ideologue would never bend like Merz is! And, if you’re not a true ideologue again why ever back these stupid policies that put you here in the first place?!
We need a massive injection of logos throughout the whole world’s ruling populations.
Perhaps Merz will mandate that old-time favorite slogan, “Arbeit macht frei”, to inspire their workers.
So what happens when the next plandemic occurs? Do sick people go to work anyway so that they can infect their co-workers? At this point, I’m jaded enough to believe this would be part of the elites’ plan.
How are we going to have a new world order without slaves?
Merz: How is this all possible?
China (smiling): Workers must have doctor’s note. Seriously, though, cheap abundant energy, no bureaucratic red tape, numerous community savings & loans instead of central bank, and, most important, not being stuck in a “union” that adds external regulation and devalues our currency.
Merz: hmmm… doctor’s note. very interesting.
Always fun to see the reaction when reality intrudes upon the fantasies liberals possess.
Just need to pay attention to the paid parental leave alone.
Calling in sick has never even occurred to me as an option. I have never called in sick in my entire 40+ year working career (still working). If I had a medical issue, I scheduled time off. I once had to miss a few hours of work at the ER, but came back to work. Not kidding.
Perhaps Mertz needs to sit down with President Trump and his team and discuss the rebuilding the economy and industrialization of Germany.
I can’t imagine being this clueless. One need not travel to China to know this…
What blasphemy!
What happened to the Marxist / Globalist Green New Scam?
The ranger isn’t going to like this Yogi!
They are for sure going to pull a Trump on this guy! Merz is going to be exposed for some fabricated sex scandal, or some other indiscretion and either be imprisoned, or (if he is lucky) be allowed to retire from politics in disgrace.
If you are too sick to work, you cannot properly serve the Reich! Off to the gas chamber with you!
Reality has a tendency to interrupt fantasy. ALWAYS.
Ah, yes, “Arbeit macht frei”…translation, “work sets you free”, inscribed over the gates of Auschwitz.
Reverting to type. Hardly a surprise.
There’s one big elephant in the room and that is all those millions of Culture Enrichers that Frau Merkel encouraged to come to Germany. What happens with them?
How can they force the invaders to not call in sick and show up for work if they are all unemployed and being supported by the taxpayers of Germany?
I don’t think bringing in robots is the answer.
One other important thing he forgot. Thanks to the fake Net Zero BS Germany has destroyed most of their energy suppliers. They are so focused on “renewables” and climate change that they demolished their coal plants and other conventional dispatchable energy sources.
Merz can pretend all he wants but it may be too late at this point to save Germany’s once great economy.
Arbeit Macht Frei!
We need more Socialism to fix our Socialism so we can pay for more Socialism!