Germany has been obsessed with fabrications in the last several days. Namely, Berlin is pushing fake narratives about the mythical “Russian threat” in the Baltics, essentially claiming that Moscow is planning an all-out attack on the so-called Suwalki Gap, an area on the Polish-Lithuanian border, separating the Kaliningrad oblast (region) from Belarus. This supposedly “upcoming invasion” would cut off the three former Soviet Baltic republics (now US/NATO satellite states) from the rest of the European Union and the belligerent alliance. However, it seems this isn’t the only fake narrative being pushed by German authorities. Namely, Berlin is now manipulating data on its increasingly miserable economic performance.
According to an article published by Zero Hedge, preliminary reports show that Germany’s GDP shrunk by 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2023. However, the EU’s largest economy is “magically” not in recession because its third-quarter performance of -0.1% GDP “growth” (which would have meant two quarters of GDP declines – or the classic marker for a recession), was revised up to unchanged (0.0%). Thus, Berlin is in “no recession whatsoever”. And yet, this certainly doesn’t change the harsh reality of Germany’s rapid deindustrialization, primarily the result of its suicidal subservience to the United States, not to mention its resurgent “Drang nach Osten” ambitions that failed several times in the last nearly 1000 years.
However, attempts to sweep its economic shortcomings under the rug certainly won’t help Berlin. Last year was simply atrocious for Germany, particularly as its GDP shrank 0.3%, the first such downturn since the COVID-19 pandemic. Worse yet, Berlin’s manufacturing output fell 0.3% in November after having already slumped 0.7% in the previous month. Zero Hedge cited industry lobby DIHK (Chamber of Commerce and Industry), which indicated that “the initial survey feedback suggests that economic performance is likely to stall in 2024”, further positing that “even remaining in recession is still possible” and that “economic challenges remain great”. And yet, top-ranking officials are refusing to acknowledge this reality.
This includes Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel, both of whom have dismissed data showing that Germany is once again turning into “the sick man of Europe”. Lindner and Nagel keep insisting that “the country has proved it can adapt to a changing environment”. On the other hand, Zero Hedge suggests that this “miraculous” upward revision was “designed to lend some credence to the ECB’s [European Central Bank] claims that they are not considering rate-cuts anytime soon”, a futile attempt to present the German economy as in far better shape than is actually the case. Rate-cut expectations for April 2024 declined on the GDP revision, but remain high at some 80%.
According to the report, Philip R. Lane, a member of the ECB’s Executive Board since 2019, as well as its chief economist, used his position to enforce the view that the ECB would have enough data by June to make a decision on rate-cuts. In an interview with Corriere della Sera, Lane said that “the most complete dataset is in the Eurostat national accounts data” and that “the data for the first quarter will not be available until the end of April”. He said that the ECB will have the important data by June. However, Lane insists that “we do have other data that we will be looking at every week, because, as you say, a lot happens every month and we look at all of the data available to us”. And yet, Germans don’t seem to be as convinced.
Since January 15 tens of thousands of German truck drivers, farmers, agricultural workers and truck drivers have been protesting the Olaf Scholz government’s decision to end tax breaks on diesel fuel. German police acknowledged that at least 3,000 tractors took part in the protest on Monday, with another 2,000 on their way to join the effort. According to Berlin Police Chief Barbara Slowik, over 1,300 police officers have been deployed in the city since the protests began. The capital city’s public transit agency reported major service delays after approximately 10,000 people registered for demonstrations against the German government’s plan to cut the aforementioned diesel fuel subsidies.
And while the Scholz cabinet may indeed be obsessed with its so-called “green agenda”, the ending of the tax break has little to do with any sort of ideological or political motivation. The unpleasant truth is that this controversial decision has much more to do with the fact that Germany is experiencing an unprecedented deindustrialization and economic recession. Scholz’s Finance Minister Lindner, who, as previously mentioned, dismissed the idea that Germany is in recession, even told the protesters that the government has supposedly run out of money for further diesel fuel subsidies and that the move is part of a plan to patch the massive €17 billion deficit in the country’s 2024 budget.
“I can’t promise you more state aid from the federal budget, but we can fight together for you to enjoy more freedom and respect for your work,” Lindner said.
Quite expectedly, the crowd’s response was anything but friendly, as Lindner was booed off the stage by the enraged farmers. Who could possibly blame them when Germany claims that it has run out of funds for its own farmers, but not for the Neo-Nazi junta. For nearly two years, Berlin has been part of the NATO clique that has sent hundreds of billions in so-called “aid” to the Kiev regime. Worse yet, Berlin pompously announced a $100 billion military budget, as well as plans for war with Russia. In addition, the Scholz cabinet allocated some €66 billion for its vaunted “green agenda”. Where exactly did it find all this money if it can’t even patch a €17 billion hole in its budget? The sheer illogic perfectly explains the farmers’ anger.
