Did Germany just lose its government?

[@suf5802]

„which is the most interesting he‘s been since he had the eyepatch“ absolutely killed me

[@Poetyrael]

💅

[@missmoonlight7366]

Absolutely!

[@aaronwhite1786]

I'd honestly take a "RewBoss German News Update" once a week.

[@yeetyeet7070]

it inevitabely turns into what TLDR News has become, just a slightly more lib-pilled copy of what Murdoch publishes

[@soundscape26]

I'm more ambitious, I would like for him to cover non-German news too... would save me a lot of time sifting through the news 😄

[@thezaher]

Scholz reaching out for CDU is like calling your ex wife for emotional support, after breaking up with girlfriend.

[@NicolaW72]

Something like that.

[@Luetzow1]

And he's 100% going to blame the opposition for not helping with his plans he can no longer execute due to no longer having a majority. 😂 Bloody clown.

[@Luetzow1]

@@AltIng9154 He showed that he is a toddler throwing a tantrum. Scholz is the worst chancellor this great nation ever had. He is a disgrace.

[@NicolaW72]

@@AltIng9154In opposite: Probably he showed it just at the right time. He isn´t a man driven by emotions, so it needs much to bring him to the point where he´s saying: "Enough is enough". And that has when it finally happens a much stronger effect than on a choleric person. A Chancellor Friedrich Merz wouldn´t probably been able to endure Lindner as long as Scholz did it.

[@barvdw]

Except when you're in government, it's an ex who will always live in the same house, so you have to stay on somewhat friendly terms. It's more like a bunch of roommates where you hook up with everyone and try to change the rules of the roommate agreement depending on who's hooking up with who. Elections are just deciding who gets the bigger room in the house, and therefore who gets the keys to the main door.

[@StreetSurfersAlex]

As a german - thank you for summing up german politics better than most of the german channels.

[@huawafabe]

MrWissen2Go 😊

[@BellaBellaElla]

He is a German citizen:)

[@huawafabe]

@@BellaBellaElla they meant "German-speaking" I guess

[@BellaBellaElla]

@huawafabe I Wondered if that was the case

[@seafighter4]

As for German channels with good takes, I can recommend 'Geld für die Welt' and 'Jung & Naiv'. Both produce solid, well founded opinion pieces, news and interviews

[@eastfrisian_88]

What makes the whole thing even worse is that the three parties agreed on legislative proposals, often discussing them for a long time until a compromise was finally reached, which was then publicly announced (or informations has been leaked to the press), and several times afterwards Lindner said "no" and wanted to have changes or did not want not participate, this petty behavior has massively damaged the federal government and even more so the FDP, which is currently diligently flying out of all state parliaments where elections have just been or will soon be held. This damages democracy, the credibility of the federal government and makes the whole thing look like an episode from a very badly scripted soap opera

[@kapuzinergruft]

While the Greens are enjoying their dilusional weed 😅

[@dnocturn84]

Why? Touching the debt brake was the red line for the FDP right from the very start. But all of the demands by the Greens require to cross that red line - so yes, you have to negotiate a lot. You can potentially undo all of the changes by the Greens and counter the negative trend in Germany without touching the debt break - it were the Greens policies, that caused this problem after all. It's hypocrisy to violate the debt break at this point in time, while claiming the war in Ukraine being the reason for it - 3 years after the invasion by the Russians started.

[@jrgptr935]

Dieses Verhalten hat weniger der Bundesregierung und der FDP geschadet (natürlich auch dennen) als vielmehr der deutschen Bevölkerung und der "Restwelt". Lindner hat uns lächerlich gemacht. Da konnte selbst die kompetente Außenministerin nicht viel retten. This behaviour has done less harm to the Federal Government and the FDP (including them, of course) than to the German population and the "rest of the world". Lindner has made us look ridiculous. Even the competent Foreign Minister, Mrs Baerbock, could not save much.

[@aroace7913]

@@kapuzinergruft Ignoring the green bashing what is wrong with weed ?

[@uamsnof]

@@kapuzinergruftyou’re sober but still can’t spell, or use the word “delusional” correctly. Anyways, Lindner seems like such a typical edgy finance guy. “If they can’t take the train, Let them drive Porsche”

[@Astro-Markus]

Perhaps, you should have mentioned that the FDP was on a heavy decline in popularity and tried to gain support again by driving a hard bargain with the other two parties and effectively acting like an opposition in the coalition. Rumours had it that the FDP was actually looking for a way out without being the one striking the dagger. Then Lindner (head of the FDP) leaked a paper that basically turned around most of the major policies they already had agreed on. His policy would have led to huge tax cuts for the rich and demolished much of the social security system to finance that. That was the point when the chancellor finally had enough.

[@hypernewlapse]

lol what a biased take. SChulz wanted Lindner to not follow the law saying budgets should equate spending and earning

[@IsomerSoma]

@@hypernewlapse Well and that's the fdp biased take.

[@johannageisel5390]

@@hypernewlapse Because that is a stupid law and the last rule we should follow in our current situation.

[@Zangozz]

Why talk about rumors and such that aren't facts

[@JblackSupportTeam]

@@hypernewlapse ... but there's the exception in a case of emergency which - at least in my opinion - perfectly describes the situation when *Russia all of a sudden attacks its Western neighbour* who in turn depends on our support so those Russian tanks won't be rolling towards our direct neighbour, EU and NATO member Poland, while the Russian leadership openly mulls the idea of reinstating a greater Russian empire which would also consist of other currently independent states (and EU and NATO members) like the Baltic states ... not to mention the direct threats aimed at Germany. In hindsight, the firing of Lindner came too late.

[@dbenzhuser]

Collapse of the government in Germany is basically the "Anyway" meme from Top Gear.

[@MartinBrenner]

The Vote of Confidence has been used several times in the history of (West) Germany. We survived. Because of the mistakes made in the Weimar Republic the new constitution makes it intentionally difficult to just announce new elections at will, but if a Vote of Confidence fails the chancellor can ask the German president to dissolve the Bundestag followed by an election.

[@Llortnerof]

Which also renders all those calls for haste a bit silly. At this point, the time till the next election will at most be shortened by a few months if that happens.

[@ravanpee1325]

@@Llortnerof There is no Budget for the next year, so of course it's important

[@uamsnof]

Considering the elections in the US, I’m happy that our government has measures to deescalate craziness

[@KasumiRINA]

Olaf Scholz has to resin after news broke up he collapsed the government for trying to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine. He's the new fuhrer. Depose him by any means necessary.

[@theaureliasys6362]

The biggest problem is the current polls. It's basically enough for black blue catastrophe. Being part of a targeted minority (trans girl), this is really scary

[@garybratton7756]

Fantastic, concise explanation.. As an American living in Germany, I’ve been in a Trump-induced media black hole and haven’t been following local politics…I got a lot more out of this than I would have from Tagesschau. Thank you!

[@inyobill]

Greetings from this expat in the Swisttal. Looking to start working to get out the vote for the '26 midterms.

It's like in Belgium : we had "no government for 589 days"... but more correctly, we just lost *one* of our *nine* governments, still eight up and running ;-)

[@davianthule2035]

Yeh people dont realise Belgium is a federation and it was federal that failed, the semi sovereign governments in belgium already take care of most stuff day to day .

[@Ned-Ryerson]

@@davianthule2035 I love the fact that even Eupen and Malmedy have their own little community parliament. The Belgian system is terribly convoluted, but I like it for exactly that reason.

[@barvdw]

And even on the federal level, there was still a caretaker government in place, just like there is now in Belgium. Alexander De Croo is still Prime Minister, even Georges Gilkinet, who wasn't reelected, is still Minister of Transport. They can't make big decisions (Parliament can, though), but they can keep the country running in the meantime.

[@pxndxbxxr5297]

Great summary, thank you.

[@_LBH_]

You haven't watched the video yet

[@Lenni-yw8uh]

Just that this guy would never admit the treason that lies within ignoring blown up pipeline. All these parties couldnt get to not talking about it fast enough.

[@melchiorvonsternberg844]

As a somewhat older German, I still remember Helmut Schmidt's time in government well. When he was forced to throw the FDP out of the government in 1982 with such an absurd "economic paper" by an FDP minister, that was the end of 13 years of cooperation as a federal government. However, since the FDP still carries around its neo-liberal waste baggage from that time, ideologically, there was a danger from the beginning that it could end like that. Lindner simply turned to the same page of the playbook. But unlike back then, the FDP is not seamlessly landing back on the government bench this time. Anyone who has lived in Germany for a long time knows how much the German people loved Helmut Schmidt. The betrayal of 1982 brought the FDP to the brink of ruin. This time, it may have brought itself to ruin. And in the end, it would have deserved that...

[@notroll1279]

Well, there are two sides to this story. Helmut Schmidt has matured to sainthood in the perception of many Germans in retrospect - mercifully tuning out some less flattering sides. In 1976, he secured his re-election by promising a 10% increase of pensions - a promise totally out of touch with the financial realities of a pension system threatened by dwindling birth rates and already in need of reform. Basically, he bought off pensioners with their own grandchildren's money. Fiscal restraint wasn't much of the SPD's strong side, either, with the party slipping further left and deciding policies even too far left for Schmidt's liking, clamouring for "die Grenzen der Belastbarkeit austesten" (="testing the limits of [economic] resilience") with social spending. In 1982, West German politics had fewer options of coalitions, so breaking up with the Social Democrats left no real alternative to the FDP but siding with the CDU. Today, more parties manage the 5% threshhold for entering parliament, making voting outcomes harter to predict. That's why parties now decide about their priorities rather than coalitions and only discuss coalitions once they know how many MP seats they've won.

[@NicolaW72]

Indeed.

[@ben9755]

Naja dieses Mal hat die ganze Koalition sich selber zum Fallen gebracht. xD

[@Soordhin]

Interestingly there is actually currently a senior cabinet minister in office that is not a member of parliament: the current minister of defence, Boris Pistorius. And he is actually favored by many in the population to replace Scholz as candidate for chancellor in his party.

[@xaverlustig3581]

Pistorius is preparing reintroduction of male conscription. I wonder who is in favour of that. I'm not.

[@Antanana_Rivo]

Although, to be fair, he only is in that spot because he replaced his predecessor - who was a member of the Bundestag - mid term

[@tomlahsberg6896]

​@@xaverlustig3581, He isn't , even though he probably would if he could, he just wants to force every male to fill out a form so that the Gouvernement knows how many people would be eligible to serve in an emergency . ( I would have nothing against conscription for all sex and gender, and I am a 17 year old male leftist)

[@MichaEl-rh1kv]

And he could do this if Scholz loses the vote of confidence - the SPD could override this by presenting Pistorius as new chancellor in a "constructive vote of no confidence" without early elections. (It is however unlikely they could win that "constructive vote".) 🙃

[@jrgptr935]

Es ist eine sehr schlechte Sache, wenn Regierungsmitglieder Parlamentsmitglieder sind. Immerhin ist es Aufgabe des Parlaments, die Regierung zu kontrollieren und bei Bedarf zurückzupfeifen. Und ehrlich, wenn das kein schwerer Konfliktfall ist, dann weiß ich nicht, was einer ist. It is a very bad thing when members of the government are members of parliament. After all, it is the parliament's job to scrutinise the government and to call it back if necessary. And honestly, if this isn't a serious case of conflict, I don't know what is.

[@Syndur]

Also, as a side note, "government" has nothing to do with "day to day life". There is no anarchy because all the laws are still in effect, government institutions are still working as they've always done etc. If there are no new laws and regulations passed because there's no majority for them, then it just stays at the old laws and regulations. This might be causing a headache here and there if things that were expected to change are stuck, but all in all, some suits sitting in Berlin being childish aren't stopping the country.

[@ricvibesinc1]

Laws & flaws et all but nobody is irresponsible.. ' hurry hurry pay more taxes .. cash cows..

[@myidanny]

4:47 so proud of Lindner finally come out to the public 🏳‍🌈

[@rewboss]

I could have phrased that less ambiguously, this is true...

[@michaelcolin9887]

I for one would support RewBoss for being Germanys next transport minister.

[@gustavmeyrink_2.0]

As for the debt brake: The national debt is NOT the full story! It is basically just a working credit that all countries as well as companies have just to function seamlessly. Far more important yet surprisingly little known is a country's Net International Investment Position which is basically what others owe to a country, in this case Germany, minus that country's national debt. As it happens others owe to Germany $3 trillion more than Germany owes to others making Germany the 2nd richest country in the world only slightly behind Japan!

[@Ph34rNoB33r]

Helps little if you cannot turn that debt into actual money. The city of Düsseldorf used to declare itself debt-free by that measure, as others owed the city more than the city owed to others. Then a few of the debtors defaulted. Suddenly the whole thing made no sense any more. For countries, the whole thing relies on always being able to make more debt, hoping that the own economy grows faster than the debt.

[@iliketoast-q9b]

@@Ph34rNoB33r A lone city can not just print money, the state can however and that is what's meant by national debt most times. In fact a country can not even function if it debt free. If the government decided we shoul dpay back all national debt, i.e. destroy all that money, we'd all be broke. Money has to come from somewhere, else there is no economy. In our system that is national debt and private debt, though the latter is only transient, meaning it gets "destroyed" when you pay back your loans. National debt in this context is not money of investors or banks, it is new money generated by the central bank.

[@Misophist]

@@iliketoast-q9b Given that Germany is part of the €-Zone, Germany is in a very similar situation like a city - its influence on money policy is severely limited. And that is by design. Even before the €, the 'Deutsche Mark' was regulated independently by the Bundesbank; with no legal path for the government to compel the Bundesbank to do something.

[@iliketoast-q9b]

@@Misophist You have that wrong. The Bundesbank was politcally independet, yes, however it had to do what the finance minister wanted. It was NOT above the government and regarding the €-Zone, Germany has the lowest national debt and could easily spend as much as it wanted. We're not Greece and the strongest economy in all of europe.

[@Misophist]

@@iliketoast-q9b Even back then, minister of finances could politely ask the Bundesbank, to adopt a certain policy. He might even threat to replace its president. But that never happened, and would likely have caused a major scandal, if it did. With the ECB, things are even more indirect. Germany, or its minister of finance, has next to no leverage on the ECB to ask for a change in its interest rates - not to speak of 'printing money'. The only thing, he could do, was to allow the government debts to reach the limits, that Germany signed in the Maastricht Contract. But that would inevitably affect the debt market.

[@MichaelBurggraf-gm8vl]

What a splendid concise explanation! I guess most media outlets think that viewers, listeners or readers would appreciate the additional drama which they are celebrating around such events. But I don't.

[@marge2548]

Yep, great explanation! That's why I love to come here! :)

[@holger_p]

Sound like you like to hear, what you already know, and just seek confirmation ?

[@marge2548]

@@holger_p Actually, no. I am burried in work up to my ears or so (have been for the part week or so, actually, so blocked national politics from my schedule completeley), was surprised by the headlines and very grateful that I did not have to look up the basics myself. So no, it was not about things I already did know.

[@holger_p]

@@marge2548 OK, so you are procastinating, block TV and watch KZbin ;-) Sometimes I have the same desease.

[@marge2548]

@@holger_p Genau das! 😅 At least briefly, in between. If I start trawling news channels, I will get lost there, and wil be not getting done anything work-related at all.

[@rtperrett]

The UK and Germany are so different for Parliamentary Democracies. One has disproportionate FPTP, and the other has a very proportionate system of MMP. One has single party governments, and the other has coalitions of multiple parties.

[@4203105]

4:28 Lindners alternaitve: Take it from the poor, they have more than enough.

[@inyobill]

I was having an exchange yesterday with someone who couldn't understand why it is actually just to tax higher percentages on higher incomes. Not to say the only viable strategy. I suspect him of being a "Taxation is theft" crank.

[@NicolaW72]

Exactly. But that doesn´t works, not even for the budget because the poor haven´t enough, even if they were stripped from all money.

[@Theoneandonlytster]

Mate you summarise our politics so well and objectively ( which is a plus of having an “outsider” who’s also informed ) you should do this every week or two it would be great for the channel and also anyone listening and wanting to get a glimpse of another nations state. Again kudos to you and consider doing this every week or two or three whatever works and drop a like if you agree that we need more of this. Edit : in hindsight it might be best if you don’t call the CDU - CSU Union of sister parties “ the union “ as in retrospect it’s easy to get the vague idea that they might be on the left and strongly for unions if you don’t know much about German political parties just a suggestion to make it more clear to people trying to find out stuff without prior knowledge besides that everything’s great as always

[@patrickfuchs6936]

hihi, "...very rare to have one party in total majority." said he who lives in Bavaria...great content, thanx

[@dorderre]

I think he was referring to the government of Germany as a whole, not to any of the federal states. And on this level, a one-party-government in (western) Germany was established only once post WW2, in 1957, with Konrad Adenauer (CDU) as Kanzler/Chancellor.

[@NicolaW72]

@@dorderre Indeed, exactly.

[@JMWZ_E]

Germany usually prefers coalitions that have been tested on a state-level. So far there have only been 3 state-level traffic light coalitions: Bremen and Brandenburg each had one in the 1990s that collapsed. The third one is stable and even continued after the 2021 state election in Rhineland-Palatinate - and the former state leader of the FDP who co-created that coalition is Volker Wissing. This is why he did not resign as he believes in compromise.

[@NicolaW72]

Probably.

[@Nils.Minimalist]

We should send Christian Lindner to Brexit-Britain, they love austerity there.

[@Marc42]

Luckily, the German constitution loves it too! ❤

[@SDDT24]

This shows 0 understanding of what caused austerity . Austerity was caused by blair borrowing so dam much - 1 in 4 pounds invested by Blair in 2007 was borrowed and he crashed the economy and inflation was high wiping people’s savings out . Borrowing caused austerity not the other way round

[@Nils.Minimalist]

@@SDDT24 Austerity measures can destroy a country. The point is: austerity in good times, debt in times of need.

[@surfguard]

Part of the confusion arises from the fact that in Germany the main legislative body (the Bundestag) elects the head of the executive branch (the Chancellor). Very much like in the UK, by the way. So when the "governing coalition" breaks, it simply means that the government will not be able to make new laws because they would need a majority in the Bundestag for that. But we still have a government, because there is still a chancellor and there are still ministers. If the Chancellor asks the Bundestag for a vote of confidence and loses - he is still the Chancellor. But he then has the right to ask the Bundespräsident (mostly representative head of state) to dissolve the Bundestag and call new elections. He will, though, still remain the Chancellor until a new one is elected by a newly elected Bundestag.

[@Misophist]

Two points: 1.) However unlikely, the chancellor might still find enough votes to bring on legislation, if he can convince e. g. members of the opposition. There is no automatism in place, that requires the members of a party to always vote the same as the rest of the party. As a matter of fact, with respect to matters of the Ukraine war, Scholz might still get support by some in the FDP and a large part of CDU/CSU. 2.) The chancellor doesn't need to ask. The Bundestag, or better, a member in it, might at any point in time call for a 'Konstruktives Misstrauensvotum', voting in a new government to replace Scholz. Of course, they would have to form a new coalition beforehand, in order to achieve that.

[@surfguard]

@@Misophist Correct. I just wanted to explain why Germany is not without a government right now. A coalition is needed to elect a Chancellor, not to keep him in office. And you are right that a new coalition can form in the Bundestag and elect a new Chancellor at any time. But there will never be a moment where there is no chancellor or government.

[@NicolaW72]

Indeed, exactly.

[@skyjumper4097]

thanks for condensing the information into a small, digestible package.

[@MyBroSux24]

Honestly, Great summary of the whole issue for English Viewers. Might i say even better than outlets like TLDR news?

[@MellonVegan]

TLDR is usually riddled with errors also ^^

[@69quato]

Solid vid on the topic as usual. Thank you.

[@EzekielDeLaCroix]

Excellent.

[@Motorov]

Dry, with an "Augenzwinker", and to the point. Thank you, this was a concise, but enjoyable take on the political situation :)

[@davianthule2035]

The Debt break is also relying on an extremely flawed premise that sovereign or even government debt behaves or functions like household debt. It does not, a large percentage of a countries national debt is literally a mechanism used to control the value of its currency, another portion is typically intra state debt, and only a percentage is actual real debt as the lay person would understand it. Sovereign debt is basically harmless even if its really high, so long as the maintenance for it is sustainable, i.e the state is able to pay back the bill+interest. who controls interest rates on the bulk of sovereign debt? The german government and the ECB, etc etc. What happened in greek is excessive spending to the extreme over a decade under multiple governments, where when the maintenance for the debt was reaching unsustainable levels the greek state payed maintenance with more debt and increasingly relied on private debt and other market centric forces for it. The vast majority of governments function just fine without debt breaks and the german state did not fucking need one in particular, the greek state at this time was trapped in an cycle of deep corruption that literally involved ALL political parties in greece, it did not matter who was in government, they literally ran the show the same way on this subject, and lied to get into the eurozone, a debt break would not even help germany anyway if this level of corruption occurred in the federal or state governments because they corrupt-bullshit the debt break anyway, THEY LIED to get into the eurozone after all, But hey, lets do knee jerk terrible policy because the car party, sorry, FDP wants to dismantle government doing its job ideologically speaking.

[@jensschroder8214]

Lindner and the FDP have distinguished themselves by blocking every government project. They even broke agreements and made governing impossible. Scholz was characterized by the fact that he repeatedly backed away from the FDP. Now Scholz has finally spoken his word and acted consistently. This was necessary for a long time.

[@jensschroder8214]

Scholz can still pass necessary laws in a minority government if he receives temporary support from the opposition. Even the CDU has to recognize that certain issues need to be decided. It is the job of politicians to find compromises.

[@NicolaW72]

Indeed, exactly.

[@AlexBlum85]

More James May than the actual James May. Thank you so much for all your videos!

[@kipchickensout]

Das hier ist das verständlichste was ich bis jetzt gesehen hab, all dies ist so verwirrend... keinen Bock mehr auf irgendeine der Parteien

[@nkjoep]

I really needed this. Thanks 🙏

[@JblackSupportTeam]

Worth mentioning in this context ... discussing the 'debt brake' ... the German debt/GDP ratio is *by far* lower than in other big economies - US, UK, France, Japan, Italy, Canada etc. - so there would be room for compromise in a crisis. And we (Germany, Europe, NATO) are facing *existential* threats now which were not taken into account when the debt brake was created. Go ask Mrs. Strack-Zimmermann (FDP).

[@Misophist]

... who nevertheless abandoned Scholz in the wake of Lindner. She was free to choose the same as Wissing, she didn't even need to renounce her party membership for that.

[@NicolaW72]

Indeed.

[@martinbruhn5274]

The bigger issue with the FDP is, that they are not teamplayers and never have been. They are egotistical and unable to compromise. It was the same in previous coalitions, regardless of who was their coalition partner.

[@madrooky1398]

Its because the FDP is a neo liberal party lobbying for the industry. They are bad for democracy because all they care about is head numbers and money. They would run very well in the US, if the US system was democratic that is, and allowed a more nuanced political landscape^^

[@Nadeldrucker]

Fits their voterbase. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of said base is voting against their own interests without even realizing.

[@Ph34rNoB33r]

​@@Nadeldrucker That's a common theme, most parties claim that they want to support the poor, but their legislation often does the opposite. And sometimes it's quite tricky, like if you want to have animals raised under acceptable conditions, cheap meat is going to disappear. Nobody is going to like that.

[@SDDT24]

FDP just wanted to maintain the basic law that is the foundation of the country , not let socialists spend tax payers money and borrow excessively and destroy people’s savings with inflation 😂

[@iliketoast-q9b]

@@Ph34rNoB33r Nobody would care if wages would have kept up with company profits. You sound like a FDP-voter, not realizing this was about income inequality all along.

[@NicolaW72]

Thank you very much! A very good and informative summary about what´s going on with German Politics just right now!🙂👍

[@OlafDerFriese]

I would recommend that you call Merz‘ party by its abbreviation CDU or CDU/CSU because the (Christian Democratic) Union is almost the opposite of a (worker’s) union.

[@Marc42]

Then again to my mind it's no more confusing than calling leftists "liberal", though.

[@oliverwtell]

@@Marc42 Please check your mind. That's the main problem for most people. 🙂

[@rewboss]

"CDU/CSU" isn't a party, it's a parliamentary group. In the Bundestag, Merz leads the group, not just his party. But I don't think most people have trouble understanding the difference between "a parliamentary group called the 'Union'" and "a trade union".

[@soundscape26]

@@Marc42 Thank the Americans for that

[@jamesomalley9976]

Great to hear from you again 😅🍀

[@disobedientdolphin]

Small correction: Not the chancellor dismisses the minister of finance, the president does. It's outside the powers of a chancellor in Germany to dismiss a minister, but he or she can ask the president to dismiss said minister and the president usually approves. Artikel 64 Grundgesetz: "Die Bundesminister werden auf Vorschlag des Bundeskanzlers vom Bundespräsidenten ernannt und entlassen."

[@harmless6813]

"Usually" meaning if he doesn't that amounts to a full blown scandal of some kind. 😛

[@dorderre]

@@harmless6813 That reminds me of what someone said about the Queen (now King C3). In theory she had immense political power, but should she have ever actually used it, she'd be screwed.

[@harmless6813]

@@dorderre Being screwed is a bit much in this case. But it's really just not meant to happen. There would have to be some major political turmoil. (Or it would start one.)

[@brucemc1581]

Thanks for this

[@kaiserhhaie841]

Some of us Germans blaming SPD and the Ampel as a whole for not doing much is honestly so funny to me cause it shows they dont follow politics and dont understand how it works. From the beginning of the Ampel I thought "No way the FDP will play nice" and of course they didn't. What a surprise

[@NicolaW72]

Indeed.

[@Luetzow1]

Thanks to the FDP, the leftists and the greens were not able to completely ruin our economy. However, this coalition should have never started in the first place. The majority in Germany wants conservative politics. Time to face reality.

[@idlebrit]

Thanks for that, I was getting confused!

[@MATT-2043]

And that was the news and now for traffic and the weather. We got a brimstone repair crew blocking the center lane on Dante's drive. It's blocked up all the way to the 6th bridge you may try Purgatory as an alternate. We have weather reports of burning hot coals falling intermittently across the region causing reduced visibility and extraordinary pain. If you spot anything we should know about dial *666 it's a free call because we already got your soul.

[@KaiHenningsen]

Both that and *616 will get you Nero on the phone.

[@MATT-2043]

@@KaiHenningsen true but i didn't want to confuse anyone.

[@Ned-Ryerson]

I am very much a Keynesian, so I was against the introduction of the Schuldenbremse from the get-go. My opposition, though, had more to do with the meddling with our Grundgesetz; balancing the books has, in my opinion, no place in a constitution. That fiscal approach is a matter of policy and not of law, so casting it in constitutional stone was basically making a policy Basic Law, not a good thing. Obviously, statutes on the topic existed before (Stabilitäts- und Wachstumsgesetz, Stability and Growth Act, 1967), but they were just that: simple statutes, that could be repealed with a simple majority.

[@rkneerzte]

I googled "skullduggery" and got this description of a garden plant that sounds like describing a Pokémon: Hemerocallis Skullduggery ist gelb mit einem großen kastanienroten Auge und einem dünnen Rand über einem grünen Schlund... But now I know it kind of means something between fraud and being mean.

[@whatsgoingon71]

I applaus your choice of stock photos. These should be used in future school books about these events.

[@kaesestink]

i will never be able to fully understand how the wellbeing of an entire country is consider way less important than getting enough votes to rule it for a few years. wouldn't the people rather vote for politicians, which help them in an economic crisis, instead of fighting each other and blocking any kind of progess...

[@harmless6813]

"wouldn't the people rather vote for politicians, which help them in an economic crisis, instead of fighting each other and blocking any kind of progess..." Apparently not.

[@NicolaW72]

Indeed, a very good point! But Lindner is too much an Egomaniac to think in this way.

[@rosaecrux]

I would be more careful with sentences that establish causality, as in the example of Greece. Other channels, such as Maurice Höfgen's, explain it very precisely; I cite him as an example because in these explanations he tries to explain the processes step by step. There is no link between a government's spending and the interest rates on its bonds, because the interest rates are based on the central bank's key interest rate. In the case of Greece, the ECB has announced that it will no longer buy Greek bonds in an emergency, which is subsequently riskier because only a central bank is allowed to create money as needed. Japan would be another extreme example that would be impossible if your statement were true.

[@Marc42]

Luckily, German governments are constitutionally tied and thus prevented from following that destructive MMT "logic", which is the massive backdrop of this whole affair.

[@rosaecrux]

And this comment from @Marc42 is exactly the reason why I suggested the channel above. No reasons are given, terms are put forward, claims are made that something is bad without explaining why. We have the problem that comments like this are still at the level of the early modern era. They do not take into account changes that have been made since the Second World War (abolition of the gold peg for money or the Bretton Woods system). In order to avoid explanations, vague threats of disaster are made. People like Christian Lindner are among the victims of such prophets of doom and to the end he accepted real damage to the infrastructure for his ideology in order to look good on the balance sheet.

[@LuluTheCorgi]

​@@Marc42the constitution specifically has exceptions for emergencies to suspend the debt ceiling Stop being such a petty little liar

[@iliketoast-q9b]

@@Marc42 This has nothing to do with MMT, rather a severe lack of understanding in how our money system works. And yes, taxes generate demand for a currency, MMT is right about that at least and most MMT-critics can't even grasp the concept that it's only a theory that explains HOW things work, not how they SHOULD work. Unlike neoclassical ideas that have been dismal failures every time.

[@JanoschNr1]

As a german I gotta say ... notjing happend and only the media is freacking out like it's living in a completly diffrent reality ... so yeah he's right, bunch of fuss about nothing ...

[@prnzssLuna]

Kinda funny that I get news from you. Didn't know this was happening and I live here 😂

[@robin_ice]

Thing is for me it does make a big difference because for an election in Spring I couldn't cast a vote

[@EinFelsbrocken]

Lindner will go into history as Mr.Scholz's very own german version of Marie-Antoinette; "Monsieur Déficit" 😂 "If they want to move places; let them take the porsche!"

[@MariaCurry]

great Video

[@MNalias]

You got one thing wrong. The FDP isn't against dept. They are against investment in Germany's future.

[@inyobill]

Hmmm, sounds like a lot of thought in my home country.

[@Luetzow1]

Your comment screams that you're living in an alternative reality.

[@Bob_Roy_03]

thx

[@Peter-vg6tv]

Your pronunciation in both languages is marvellous. May I ask what your mother language is? Could be either :)

[@sweetcorm]

He is actually British but moved to Germany a very long time ago, so no wonder his pronounciations are so good haha

[@PiscatorLager]

@@sweetcorm and became a double citizen just in time for Brexit to ruin everything

[@Peter-vg6tv]

@@sweetcorm thanks for clarification :)

[@fezvcdhrftzvcswe2903]

Bestes Bild von Merz 😂

[@MellonVegan]

Mein erster Gedanke war, dass da mal jemand auf den Knopf drücken muss und gucken muss, ob es dann mit dem Spuk vorbei ist

[@chibisf4]

Wissing is not the transport and digital minister, but unfortunately only the car minister.

[@krakhedd]

Smiles haven't been easy for my Yankee ass over the past few days. Thank you for the grin your intro bit coaxed out of my face

[@realshaoran4514]

A government without the FDP? What a dream. This coalition was dead on arrival anyway, so it actually lasted longer than expected.

[@IndianGeek5589]

It's not great having the coalition collapse right at the time that the German economy is stagnating, and desperately needs investment.

[@CrustyNug01]

I'm just glad elections are coming sooner, I am very sick of the current government.

[@Saeureminen_Mitarbeiter]

Lucky thing its so rare for only one party to win and become goverment regarding our history.

[@abraham2172]

One major factor and argument of the FDP in the constant arguing between them and SPD and Greens (which the two latter often forget to mention smh) is that the german government in theory actually HAS a lot of money at their disposal due to record high taxes, but it choses to spend it mostly on pensions and social wellfare, leaving nothing for other important tasks, like infrastructure, education and national defense. In fact, german governments have wasted money on all-time high premier deluxe pensions at the youths' cost for decades, which is why schools, roads and rails are in a terrible state and students have no affordable living room in cities anymore (young female students could at least stay as subtenants at merciful older mens appartments).

[@eldrago19]

US presidential election results: 🤷 German coalition collapse: 👀👀👀

[@trixi87]

World politics is really scary right now 😕 Demagogues and populists are rising. No compromises. Opinions before facts. Emotions before logics... Where will all of this lead? 🥲

[@NicolaW72]

Very good questions - and yes, sadly really bad times.😥

[@Dumagarke]

I do not want to talk about it with colleagues and never thought I'd watch a youtube video about it, because I'm fed of stupid bullshit (Stammtischgelaber). But rewboss? No danger of bullshit.

[@inyobill]

Ooooo, a new German term to love. Vielen Dank!

[@neilchristensen6413]

This is similar to Canada and we maybe facing something similar (although single party majorities are much more common).

[@Arathreas]

The thing about the debt break is, that the SPD and greens do not want to create new value but just keep the status quo going. When you need debt, to keep system expenses running, you will not get new future returns. Thus all you are doing is push an insolvency into the future and not do the necessary reforms. This gives future generations non existent fiscal freedom to tackle issues.

[@roterfrosch5808]

Sehr schön zusammengefasst! Es fehlt mir nur ein Punkt: warum gerade jetzt? Wie Lindner sich verhält, ist ja nicht neu.

[@NicolaW72]

Der entscheidende Punkt war wohl, dass Lindner gefordert hat, die Renten zu kürzen, um die Ukraine-Hilfe bezahlen zu können. Das war von Lindner praktisch darauf angelegt, rausgeschmissen zu werden und die Koalition vonseiten der FDP zu beenden, denn er wusste ganz genau, dass es sich Scholz und die SPD weder leisten konnten, die Mittel für die Ukraine zu kürzen - schon gar nicht an dem Tag, an dem Donald Trump zum US-Präsidenten gewählt wurde - noch den treuesten Wählern bei der Inflation der letzten zwei Jahre das Einkommen zu kürzen.

[@4203105]

tl;dr: No, but yes. We'll just have an election in April instead of Sptember, basically.

[@MHahn-bg7cu]

One for the algorythm.

[@Lia-zw1ls7tz7o]

0:03 that’s a contradiction in terms: there’s still a hierarchy in place, still a government system. Therefore, since anarchy means “without rulers”, this cannot be true. Of course, a system without rulers is equivalent to chaos for many out there so I’m not surprised this word got co-opted.

[@rewboss]

I was parodying the media response before explaining why it's not true. You're not meant to take that bit seriously.

[@Lia-zw1ls7tz7o]

@ I saw it afterwards. Sometimes I’m too quick to comment, sorry. Still, many people don’t know what anarchy actually means. So I thought I could leave my comment instead of deleting it. I should perhaps have edited it with this explanation.

[@mightydragon2809]

i feel like, i actually understand now what happened in my own country😅. I always just got tiny bits of information here and there or the talk of some polititians, which is mostly over complicated bs. I apprieciate the summary!

[@rogink]

The traffic light coalition has survived much longer than I expected. OK, the German Greens look grown up compared to most green parties, but it always seemed impossible they could work together with the centre left SDP, never mind the liberal FDP. While times were good, or at least benign, I suppose they could hold together but now the economy is tanking something drastic is needed. The left inevitably want to spend more, the liberals want to spend less. Plus ca change!

[@seafighter4]

Something drastic, like state investments that boost the economy. Which are blocked by the 'Debt Break', something Lindner has feverishly defended, even though EVERY SINGLE ECONOMIST has told him that was stupid.

[@rewboss]

The Greens have in the past worked quite well with both the SPD and even the CDU/CSU.

[@bodah2301]

Because our greens are more malleable in social politics and the economy It’s just not seen that way

[@Henning_Rech]

You have indeed no idea. The federal government had been a coalition between SPD and green between 1998 and 2005. I live in a state with a government led by the green party since 13 years, in coalitions both with the SPD (5 years) and CDU (8 years).

[@rogink]

@Henning_Rech Sorry, clumsy way of putting it. I'm aware Greens have been in government before but I didn't expect the three party coalition to hold so long.

[@nicobehrndt4650]

Its offical here in Germany, we dont have any law right now

[@burningsheep4473]

Note: If you don't spend, that is, if the state doesn't invest then that removes investment from the economy. Same goes for putting pressure on wages/pensions to stay low. That's why Greece doing one-sided austerity during a crisis was so insane. The EU commission repeatedly predicted that the greek debt would go down, but of course it never did. It increased. Funny how reality doesn't care about ideology.

[@askjeevescosby2928]

The person who brings up the no confidence vote should dress as jar jar binks 🤣

[@joebloggs2473]

Well done! A great explanation. Germany is not going to the dogs but playing politics. Something non-Europeans don't understand...

[@inyobill]

Welllll ...

[@gast9374]

Kurtz: "They lie. They lie and we have to be merciful, for those who lie. Those nabobs. I hate them. I really hate them."

[@Colbato.]

Christian Lindner can now finally work as a fashion model, which has always been his dream, and meet Boris Johnson.

[@michaelbeiyt]

Wissing unleashed.

[@Quajutsu74]

My country is going crazy

[@garyrobinson6247]

If you want to spend more than the budget allows, stop spending in another area, don't keep borrowing because it benefits NOBODY! in the long term.

[@HeadsFullOfEyeballs]

The government is _supposed_ to spend more than it has during a recession. It's called countercyclical fiscal policy. You spend big to get the country out of the recession, prevent businesses from going bankrupt etc., then recoup it when the economy improves and more tax money comes in. Passing a law to tie your own hands and restrict your financial options is just silly. The problem isn't that governments spend during lean times, it's that they refuse to save during good times (because that's very hard to sell to voters).

[@Maurice-Navel]

What is "Skullduggery" in German?

[@rewboss]

It means something like "Betrügereien".

[@Poetyrael]

​@@rewbossbut B.E. just has the better burn in that expression 💅

[@Opharg]

I love that Merz got immediate backlash from voluntary election/party workers and small parties for his early-election demands because it derails their timetables. Who needs to actually spend time with their family over the holidays? 10h days of unpaid labour sound way more fun. It's nigh impossible for small parties to collect their required signatures in such a short timeframe, which means they aren't on the ballot and as a result cut funding for the next 4 years. Various other larger parties don't have their lists of candidates ready, including the CDU's partner CSU funnily enough. Even after faxing the physical list in, the legal stuff alone can take 8-12 weeks usually, so an immediate vote of confidence could technically lead to no CSU on the ballot, though they would probably be able to do it with a few 120h work weeks. On another note: The debt brake is incredibly backwards for infrastructure maintenance. Falling behind on maintenance is almost always more expensive than just paying for maintenance and just results in having to take a larger loan a generation later (thanks btw.). The recent examples of catastrophic bridge failures were technically state issues, but the money has to come from somewhere and it ain't gonna be social services and education (it's gonna be education and social services).

[@aliceinbunnyland]

our government collapsed? damn. anyways.

[@HenryGK]

Just reading the title, I was going to suggest thinking about where you last saw them.

[@egoneiermann-tn7sc]

Ultimately, the key discussion was whether Germany should take on debt to support Ukraine if Trump no longer wants to give them money. The Social Democrats and Greens supported this, while the liberals, or rather the libertarians, denied it.

[@CRN2412]

Den Wissing-Teil den deutschen Mitbürgern zu erklären wäre auch schön. Gut gemacht.

[@Mishima505]

Shades of 1982 all over again…

[@j.lietka9406]

Is it prohibited for a member of a particular party to change party affiliation while holding office? Danke ❤ 🇩🇪

[@jrgptr935]

Natürlich nicht. Aber es hat ein Geschmäckle, wie soll ich sagen, wie Trinkwasser aus einem Behälter, in dem eine Leiche liegt. Wenn Du speziell Herrn Wissing meinen sollte - der hat ja nicht die Partei gewechselt, sondern er ist parteilos, er steht nur noch für sich selbst. Of course not. But it has a flavour, how should I put it, like drinking water from a container with a corpse in it. If you mean Mr Wissing in particular - he hasn't changed parties, he's non-party, he only stands for himself.

[@rewboss]

No, because that's a matter of personal conscience. But if it upsets your former party colleagues to the point that they walk out of the coalition, you've just triggered a constitutional crisis. In this case, it seems that the FDP was already prepared to walk out. Wissing didn't want to leave his post, and/or was already at odds with the party leadership, so he chose to resign from the party instead of from the government. He hasn't, though, joined a different party. He's now an independent.

[@michaelburggraf2822]

No. Has happened several times. A quite prominent example of the young Federal Republic of Germany was Erich Mende (FDP).

[@LasseHelgenberger]

I forgot about the eyepatch! 😂

[@ekkef70]

Vermutlich eine der kürzesten & prägnatesten Zusammenfassung der derzeitigen Lage in Deutschland! In Englisch, nicht in Deutsch! Schon irgendwie verwirrend! Danke! 🙂👍

[@JeDxDeVu]

I’m German. Just watch AFD absolutely dominate. So done with this nonsense.

[@dontworry1302]

Wish you explained why Scholz is the one who determines the no confidence vote, don't know enough about German parliamentary procedures but it seems odd to me.

[@jl63023]

Not sure about Germany in particular, but in parliamentary systems, in theory anyone can initiate a confidence vote, even the government, and it's usually party leaders that do that

[@SharienGaming]

a confidence vote like this is essentially the person in question asking the parliament if they still have the confidence of the majority of parliament - thats why its scholz who considers doing it there isnt much point in trying to govern when the support in the legislative isnt behind that

[@rewboss]

It's not a vote of _no_ confidence (when the opposition says "We have no confidence in this chancellor"), but a vote of confidence -- the opposite, essentially. A vote of no confidence is difficult for the German Bundestag because it requires the members to agree on a replacement. And it can't trigger an early election, so it's not a way for the opposition to remove the entire government.

[@dontworry1302]

@@rewboss Thanks, the requiring of an agreement on a new chancellor makes more sense as to why Merz is pushing Scholz to move it up but not calling for his own vote. It seems like Scholz can almost be described as a lame duck chancellor much like Biden now.

[@Henning_Rech]

@@dontworry1302 It is the same situation as if a US president looses the majority in the house in mid-terms, or never had one, or a French president has to work in "cohabitation". Only difference: the German chancellor has less power and thus needs the parliamentary majority more urgently. - In the current parliament no coalition is probable to elect Merz in a no-confidence vote. In a future parliament very probably Merz could only be elected in a coalition with either SPD or green party. Technically Scholz could just continue his chancellorship until the regular end of his term.

[@Gilder-von-Schattenkreuz]

Small Nitpick. Red, Black, Green would have been Possible in 2021. Also. Well. Yeah not much changed right now I guess. Since the Government was effectively Incapacitated for Months already. But them Finally giving way is still a Big thing. Because at least now there is a Way Forward again.

[@rewboss]

Mathematically, red, black and green would have been possible. But in reality that was ruled out right from the beginning: the CDU/CSU had been in power for so long that nobody else was willing to work with them in government.

[@Gilder-von-Schattenkreuz]

@@rewboss That I would contest on grounds of things being Ruled out all the time and then still done anyways. In 2021 as well. There was actually showings of the SPD to have Talks with the CDU if the FDP had Refused. I still remember the whole hubbub about Lindner with his Statement that Hounds him now. That it would be better not to Rule than to Rule Badly. Because if he had refused the SPD. And Coalition Talks had Failed. The Cards would have been pretty Open. And that was not a small chance of that happening considering how different the SPD and Greens Views are to the FDP. At this Point. Alot would have been Possible actually. First Dips would have still gone to SPD as Biggest Party. Which could have then Aimed for Red, Black, Green. Albeit Lashet of course intended to Aim for Black, Green, Yellow At this Point it would have been a Question wether Lashet could be convinced that trying to Force himself into Power would Alienate everyone. And might even not Work as the Greens may work with CDU under the SPD but wont Agree to let CDU take Power. Thus rather switching towards Vice Chancellor and Showing himself as the Reasonable Party. Or if he would have been Stubborn and try to take the Top Spot despite not being the Biggest Party. At which Point he likewise would then have been Faced with Steinmeier and the Question of wether the Greens would be willing to do this. There is many many Potential Factors here. So I dont think it would be Correct to Rule this Out so easily Mate.

[@berlindude75]

Red and Black together would have already had a coalition majority in parliament, so you wouldn't invite Green as an unnecessary third party to complicate things in that case. But it would have been another disliked so-called Grand Coalition (Red + Black), just under the chancellorship of Red this time instead of Black as several times before (cabinets Merkel I, III, and IV). This led to the exploration of other coalition options and ended with a Red, Yellow, and Green coalition in 2021 that has now come to an end.

[@Gilder-von-Schattenkreuz]

@@berlindude75 True. Just Red Black was Possible too.