Poll: Most Ukrainians want a unified country

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41. Don't hang your hat on that Telegraph piece -it's terribly biased

Last edited Sat May 10, 2014, 03:05 AM - Edit history (1)

First, the economy.

German competitiveness hard to improve upon
In February, Yergin told the Wall Street Journal that “Germany should scale back its plans for expensive renewables and complement the drive with more domestic natural gas production.” And from the World Economic Forum in Davos, he reported in January that Germany’s economic competitiveness was at stake, particularly in light of lower energy prices in the US. Strangely, he did not add that what the Forum itself found: Germany is the fourth most competitive country in the world, even ahead of the US.

To be fair, Yergin also quoted German Industry Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who conjured up the threat of “dramatic deindustrialization.” But the concern makes little sense.

Let’s start off by recognizing that Germany actually still has a lot of industry to lose, though the Energiewende has been going on since at least 1991 or 2000, depending on which legislation you start with. In 2012, industry made up 19.1 percent of the US economy, 21 percent of the UK’s economy, and 28.1 percent of the German economy.

Next, let’s acknowledge that Germany’s neighbors would love for the Germans to be less competitive. The unemployment rate ((~5% with a skilled labor shortage)) is at its lowest level since reunification more than two decades ago. Tax revenue hit a record high in 2013. Germany’s Finance Minister recently announced the first balanced budget since 1969. German businesses are doing so well that the country posted a record trade surplus last year. The surplus almost reached three percent of GDP, a record not only for Germany, but for any country anywhere throughout history. Yet, we read that US investors are worried about German energy policy.

http://energytransition.de/2014/04/energy-transition-german-economy-never-healthier/

As far as the Berlin energy summit goes, that was right after the new government was formed, with a lot of claims and positioning right at the time when some there was also a overdue review and adjustment of energy policy. It wasn't a mess, and there was no long-term abandonment of policy or goals, just ordinary German politics. Even Baden-Württemberg was satisfied in the end, if that's possible.

And France is a net importer -the French/Czech nuclear salvation never happened.

West Germany imported Russian NG throughout the cold war without interruption. Demand has been flat in the past two years, mainly because of the collapse of the carbon market and the transition to renewables and reduced consumption. The move away from Russian gas began in 2010-2011 because of the supply interruption threats in 2006 and 2009. Russia came to be seen as an unreliable trading partner.

I don't know where you get your LNG numbers, but it doesn't matter. No one in their right mind would take that idea seriously anyway. Plenty of easily ignored nonsense originates in the US from crass opportunism, especially from the right.

The coal-gas-nuclear industry in the US, UK, and Russia are constantly and breathlessly predicting doom for Germany. It gives a warped picture.