Observing German(s)…

Meanwhile, Chancellor Merkel is once again annoying everyone around her by spreading her upbeat, optimistic, light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel view on the German economy to anybody who will listen and most who won’t.

“Maybe the Hanover Fair is a little signal that we’ve hit the trough.”

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Up until recently unsure as to whether they even had expectations or not, German investor “expectations are now getting ahead of themselves,” said one Lloyds Banking Group expert. But the key word in this sentence is “banking”, people. We all trust what bankers have to tell us these days, right?

At least we used to be able to trust what the Germans had to say, it was always negative. Now we can’t even rely on that anymore.

“Germany’s benchmark DAX share index has gained 8 percent this month, paring its decline this year to 17 percent.”

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Buffett believes, among other things, that the upwards trend will come soon enough, that the United States has mastered bigger economic problems than this in the past, that the American economic system is an extremely resilient one and that America’s best days still lie ahead of us, as in US. Like I said, they were dumbfounded.

„Der Multimilliardär gilt als reichster Mann der Welt. Er gehörte zu den gelegentlichen Beratern von Barack Obama und wurde zwischenzeitlich sogar als möglicher Finanzminister gehandelt.“

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Check these out:

What do you call a Lehman banker? Waiter!

What’s the capital of Iceland? I don’t know. About five euros?

What’s the difference between a banker and a pizza? A pizza can feed a family.

Or there’s this cartoon showing this kid telling his father about how he wants to become a banker and the father starts chewing him out about how he should be getting a proper education instead.

Or this one: German families seem to finally be returning to their Christian roots, this comic said on TV the other night. Ever more of them are celebrating Christmas in a manger (place rim shot here).

And then there’s Chancellor Merkel herself. She said recently “We believe that, if it is enough for America to create a big program when the new president takes office, then it will also be right for Germany to create a new package.” Man oh man. Did she ever have them on the floor with that one.

And PS already: Merry Christmas or something (the same procedure as last year?).

So what do the Germans do these days when they’re supposed to stay home and cower in the corner with fear and loathing? They go out and consume at Christmas time like they are supposed to do, as if everything were normal. You know, like Americans used to do. Well no, maybe not that much, but pretty much, at least by German standards.

What’s going on here? I think this smart guy here might be right on the money somehow. Like he implies, the name of the movie we find ourselves in right now isn’t Apocalypse Now, it’s Apocalypse Normal. We have been bombarded with devastating news reports and horror scenarios for so long and so frequently and so thoroughly that nothing really bothers us (or at least not the Germans) anymore. We Americans, on the other hand, we haven’t been as lucky it seems. Our bombardment is just beginning, I guess.

„Aus, vorbei, alles zu spät. Der Eisschwund im Nordmeer, so meldeten Geowissenschaftler dieser Tage, ist nicht mehr rückgängig zu machen, und wenn kein Wunder geschehe, dann verwandele sich das Eismeer in eine warme Brühe. Erstaunlich nur: Die Katastrophenmeldung vom Wärmeschock im Arktischen Ozean verschwand ebenso schnell aus den Schlagzeilen, wie sie hineingeraten war. Andere Weltnachrichten überlebten deutlich länger. Zum Beispiel die neue Eiszeit zwischen Boris Becker und seiner entflohenen Verlobten. Oder noch ein Dauerbrenner: Die glücklich abgeschmolzenen Pfunde der Sängerin Mariah Carey.“

To be fair though, the Germans have had a lot more practice than we have had when it comes to staying home and cowering in the corner with fear and loathing. They’ve been doing this kind of stuff for decades. That’s why it’s so easy for them to master this situation now, see? Damn, I wish we were as normal as they are. Must be nice to be that, uh, indifferent or something.

„Vom Untergang bedrohte Eisbären haben wir schon so oft gesehen, dass über ihr Ende niemand mehr erschrickt.“

Kommentare auf Deutsch? Logisch.

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“The watered-down climate deal epitomizes the onset of a cooling period in Europe’s hitherto overheated climate debate.”

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PS: I know, Christina. He just can’t keep his hands off her. And she’s not that way, you know. More the cool, distant  type from the north.

“This is a matter of internal German politics.”

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“Voll krass, Alter!”

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„Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel erhielt dagegen keine Einladung zu dem Treffen, an dem auch führende Wirtschaftsvertreter teilnehmen.“

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