Germany’s onslaught on its famed automotive and production industries appears to be taking an economic toll as the country pushes ahead to go green by phasing out internal combustion engines and coal power plants.
Recently we reported how electricity prices are again slated to increase this year, and thus will continue to make German power among the most expensive worldwide.
A wave of green activism has led to tighter regulations against the internal combustion engines and to a planned phase-out of coal-fired power plants.
Teetering on recession
Just recently German online business daily Handelsblatt reported here that there are “new concerns about an economic slump in Germany” as “surprisingly weak figures are fueling new worries about a downturn”.
“Horrible numbers”…a “disaster”
“Experts spoke of ‘horrible numbers’, a ‘disaster’. Industry, construction, and energy providers produced a full 3.5 percent less in December than in the previous month,” the Handelsblatt reports.
December production plummets 6.8%
The economic bloodbath was even worse in the production sector which “fell even more sharply, with output falling by 6.8 percent – the sharpest drop since the end of 2009,” writes the Handelsblatt. “Concerns are growing again that the German economy may be in more difficult waters than expected.”
For Germany, “2019 was not only the worst year for industrial orders since 2008, it was also the first time since 2002 that German order books shrank for two years in a row,” reports Yahoo here.
Massive automotive layoffs
The German auto sector has been hard hit. For example, car maker Opel recently announced 2,100 job cuts in Germany. Late last year Daimler, owner of Mercedes Benz, announced plans “to ax at least 10,000 jobs,” Volkswagen’s Audi said “it would slash up to 9,500 jobs or one in ten staff by 2025 and car suppliers Continental and Osram announced staff and cost cuts.”
The Financial Times reported today that Daimler suffered its “worst results in decade” and that its earnings “plunged 60% in 2019 amid ‘Dieselgate’ woes.” Daimler also “refused to deny reports” that an additional 5,000 jobs could be cut.
The Financial Times adds: “Daimler is being forced to spend heavily on electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids in order to avoid fines from Brussels for breaching new emissions regulations.”
Other reasons cited for the poor German economic results are the ongoing global trade disputes. Figures are expected to come under even greater pressure due to the spreading corona virus in China.
Don’t worry the new Tesla factory will hire all the layoffs
Since this is a global downturn, here is something seriously wrong with fracking :
https://wolfstreet.com/2020/01/22/the-great-american-shale-oil-gas-bust-fracking-gushes-bankruptcies-defaulted-debt-and-worthless-shares/
Quote :
” It’s a cycle that the shale industry has a hard time getting out of, under the current loosey-goosey monetary conditions.”
So a direct effect of the FED’s interest-rate policies.
So the GND involves massive financial massive intervention since mid September. President Trump, I hope, is advised to watch the shale “boom”, and he has an eye on the FED. He campaigned 2016 for Glass-Steagall, bank separation which FDR used to recover from the Great Depression, and Larry Summers convinced Clinton, with impeachment(!) pressure then, to repeal end 1999. Since then it has been one crash after another, and now the “everything bubble” includes Corporate Debt, and auto sector.
So it is not just Diesel, CO2 or even poor Greta, nor Van der Leyen. The everything bubble is primed to blow. The pathetic lurch to stave it off with a GND will doom the rest of the physical economy unless averted.
Vindicating Capitalism
Spindletop gusher was at 75,000 bpd in the beginning, the Lakeview gusher in California was spewing 125,000 bpd for 587 days. When it was all said and done, 9,000,000 barrels of oil was captured, berms were built before the the oil got washed out to sea.
As long as fossil fuels can remain at levels of 100,000,000 bpd, the everything bubble can be contained, the can can be kicked down the road one more time.
Fossil fuels do it all, tote the bale, lift the barge.
In the early years of oil development west of the Mississippi, Texas, The US exported 40 percent of the oil produced. One oil magnate declared he would drink every gallon of oil west of the Mississippi.
Texas has 187,000 wells that produce an average of 18 plus bpd per well.
https://www.rrc.state.tx.us/oil-gas/research-and-statistics/production-data/historical-production-data/crude-oil-production-and-well-counts-since-1935/
The Bakken has 13,520 wells that produce an average of 108 bpd. In 2007, there were 303.
https://www.dmr.nd.gov/oilgas/stats/historicalbakkenoilstats.pdf
Trucking oil is the name of the game.
Produced water has to be hauled to disposal wells. Wells in the Bakken produced 268 million barrels in one year recently.
Tesla’s truck won’t do what does get done by ICE trucks
Wind and solar have a long ways to go to catch up.
Brussels can issue all the diktats it wants, fossil fuels trump every one.
Brussels will find out quickly they are running on empty.
Interesting the stupidity here. The article says MB is spending heavily on electric vehicles to avoid fines. But next problem will be that customers don’t want them.
Resale values are a shocker as battery replacement is very costly, and then don’t try a long trip as you have to plan it around recharge stations, and long wait times….
The bad times for German auto manufacturers will continue, all Govt and EU related. Time for Germans to get a govt that actually cares about them and to rid themselves of useless EU regulations…
Aussie; if the customers don’t want the new EVs, don’t be surprised if the EU decides to give a hefty fine to those who don’t, or to impose draconian taxes on use of fossil fuel cars. This is the great moment of total green control.
go green and see what happens idiots. Let the idiots suffer.
No worries… I have the headline…..
“Climate Change Causes Economic Collapse, It’s Worse Than We Thought!
Cracker of a headline RS and very true
Easy answer for the electric vehicle with a battery to store the energy, electricity, the solution for the conundrum: Issue electric vehicles to drivers free of charge for six months.
If you reduce the unsold inventories by allowing some drivers to test the vehicle to decide if it is what they desire for transportation, you will determine if there really is demand for EVs.
Plenty of Leafs for sale at cargurus. Nissan could buy them to give them away, create some demand. It might work to Nissan’s favor, they need all of the help they can get.
Unsold new inventory of Leafs should be on the road at no cost to the driver for the asset, just the cost of electricity and insurance.
There is an answer, problem solving and completion is what you have to do if you want answers.
Might turn out the demand isn’t as great as would be expected. Then again, demand might surge. The only way to really know is to have more EVs on the road.
You’ll have an answer. No say ‘T’ word. lol
Baffin Island weather
[…] And finally, there is the ridiculous idea that vast and wasteful new government spending programs like the “Green New Deal” are somehow going to “create jobs” and improve economic performance. If you think that, you must not be following the latest economic developments from Germany, as it accelerates its authoritarian push to “decarbonize” its economy. From NoTricksZone, February 11: “Germany’s Green New Deal Begins To Deliver: ‘Horrible Numbers,’ A ‘Disaster.’” […]
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[…] Germany’s Green New Deal Begins To Deliver: Industry Sees “Horrible Numbers”, A &#… […]