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I found this piece a particularly insightful diagnosis of the European malaise. YMMV

Oh really? What are you doing here then?
https://www.welt.de/vermischte... Mentions that children talk about smart phones, not that their parents are distracted.
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/ges... writes the same thing.
https://www.zeit.de/news/2018-... the same thing.
https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/schleswig-holstein/Sommer-Wasser-und-viele-Nichtschwimmer,schwimmunterricht126.html no mention at all.
https://www.zdf.de/verbraucher... no mention at all.
Then you have garbage mainstream media:
https://www.rtl.de/cms/immer-m... in reference to "Neuen Osnabrücker Zeitung" who writes that smartphones are the cause. So let's see what that paper writes, because I found the article.
(probably not garbage media) https://www.noz.de/deutschland...
See. Not a lot about smartphones at all and certainly not in the head lines.

The bulk of “Dieselgate” lawsuits are being handled by prosecutors in Braunschweig where four separate sets of criminal proceedings are being conducted against current and former managers of VW, headquartered in nearby Wolfsburg.
Some 39 individuals including Winterkorn are being investigated over suspected emissions fraud, with the former CEO also being probed for suspected market manipulation together with Hans Dieter Poetsch, the group’s former finance chief who is now supervisory board chairman, and Herbert Diess, now group CEO who joined the firm in July 2015 as head of the VW brand.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/articl...

Then we have one of the major German newspapers noting that Winterkorn stands to lose his entire financial existence.
Source: http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wir... (you may need a translator)

Here's a very recent article from one of the major German newspapers: http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wir... Please use your preferred translation tool, which you trust.
For those who are too lazy to read for themselves: He's under investigation in Germany as well. His entire financial existence is on the line according to the article.

No, that's what FAZ reported here

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wir...

And even the We Together initiative involving 96 companies only seems to have got a couple of thousand of them off the streets.

"Most Dax companies also point out in the FAZ survey that language skills and qualifications of the refugees do not correspond to the requirement profiles. That is why many Dax representatives are involved in corresponding projects. Probably the biggest one is probably the network "Wir zusammen", which the founder and founder of the German Internet corporation United Internet, Ralph Dommermuth, called into being through his foundation. The initiative currently involves 96 companies, including 15 Dax companies. A total of 1,800 refugee interns and 400 permanent immigrants currently work in the "we-together" companies. The will was there, the internships in permanent jobs to convert, said a spokeswoman, but this step always depends on the qualification."

My original statement "The numbers of asylum seekers who are likely to find work is minimal" is true whether 54 out of a million or 2200 out of a million got a job or an internship.

https://translate.google.com/t...

In the question of permanent jobs for refugees, hopes are increasingly resting on medium-sized companies and craft enterprises. As a survey of this newspaper revealed, the vast majority of companies listed in the German stock index (Dax) has not yet hired refugees. Only the German Post stated to have until the beginning of June 50 refugees and thus a significant size hired.

And the link goes to this page

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wir...

Which says "Dax companies hire only 54 refugees"

Also look at this

"Most Dax companies also point out in the FAZ survey that language skills and qualifications of the refugees do not correspond to the requirement profiles. That is why many Dax representatives are involved in corresponding projects. Probably the biggest one is probably the network "Wir zusammen", which the founder and founder of the German Internet corporation United Internet, Ralph Dommermuth, called into being through his foundation. The initiative currently involves 96 companies, including 15 Dax companies. A total of 1,800 refugee interns and 400 permanent immigrants currently work in the "we-together" companies. The will was there, the internships in permanent jobs to convert, said a spokeswoman, but this step always depends on the qualification."

I.e. the companies pointed out that the migrants were unemployable given their language skills and qualifications. After a lot of nagging from the government and pro migrant NGOs they agreed to the '1,800 refugee interns and 400 permanent immigrants currently work in the "we-together" companies' scheme but these are still not large numbers when you realise one million migrants arrived. You're talking about 0.22%

And as I linked elsewhere even the most optimistic people - i.e. German government spokespeople trying to explain to Bloomberg why the whole thing isn't a complete clusterfuck - think the migrants will have 70% unemployment even in 15 years time. E.g.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news...

According to labor agency projections, it will take as long as six years for a refugee to complete German classes, vocational school and internships to be considered a skilled worker, and potentially a lot longer to find a job. After 15 years, refugee employment is estimated to average about 70 percent.

It's worded badly, but what is meant is that VW has the largest number of Euro 5 vehicles with excess emissions on the road, not that they are more polluting than others. Read the report attached. It will show that VW Group Euro 5 cars are comparable to those from other manufacturers.

Congratulations on finding an article that fits your agenda. I don't see issues with funding independent research in order to challenge the anti-diesel propaganda funded by Toyota and probably others who are behind in diesel technology.

german economy newspaper FAZ covered this already in march: http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wir...

Numbers, party platforms, and laws, however, do tell the full story: government is in bed with Christian churches in much of Europe. You have to be utterly blind not to see that.

Got any specifics? I'm well aware of the historical connection of the church to everywhere, but my point was even if the Queen of England was fucking the Pope, more people will still vote for an Atheist leader in Europe than the US. And they don't force their religion onto their currency.

You asked for good places to live in the US and were concerned about religion being "public policy". And I responded that religion is much less "public policy" in the US than in Europe, and that even when Americans are religious, they tend to be quite tolerant.

In some places. The US is a vast nation so it varies from place to place.

You want to talk about Christianity in politics? Note that even on gay marriage, Germany (one of the more "progressive" European countries on gay rights) has always been behind the US.

Nice. You chose Germany because it is the one country that is behind the US, but ignored the other dozen that are in front?

Well, as a gay man, I'm glad I emigrated from the "sophisticated and progressive" European culture to the "barbaric" American culture.

I'm glad you are happy, but that doesn't mean that progressive (not 19th century US progressive) policies don't improve lives.
Any minority group should be well aware of the that.

Since you are not from the US and to help you put this into perspective, I pointed out that religion is much less "public policy" in the US than it is in Europe, both according to party platforms and according to spending.

Well this maybe one of those things were the numbers don't tell the full story.

Numbers, party platforms, and laws, however, do tell the full story: government is in bed with Christian churches in much of Europe. You have to be utterly blind not to see that.

I don't know what these countries spend on religion, but having been to most of them, I know it is as not important as some parts of the US if you don't go along with it.

You asked for good places to live in the US and were concerned about religion being "public policy". And I responded that religion is much less "public policy" in the US than in Europe, and that even when Americans are religious, they tend to be quite tolerant.

There have been many Athiest leaders in many countries, but 53% of Americans say they would never vote for one,

You want to talk about Christianity in politics? Note that even on gay marriage, Germany (one of the more "progressive" European countries on gay rights) has always been behind the US.

That is barbaric, and not progressive using any definition of the word.

Well, as a gay man, I'm glad I emigrated from the "sophisticated and progressive" European culture to the "barbaric" American culture.

in 1928 the aircrafts were at the limit with weight:

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/ges...

It's perfectly clear. Germane or France or any other EU country have to pay benefits to any EU resident according to the same rules as they pay to a national resident.

Really, do you pull this b.s. out of your ass? A minute with Google will show that you are wrong:

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wir...

Since you are probably too uneducated to read German, let me help you with a translation for the most relevant section:

For a stay of up to three months EU citizens need nothing more than a valid identity document. If a EU citizen wants to reside more than three months in another Member State, he must be a salaried employee or have his own business. If he does not have gainful employment he must have sufficient means to support himself and his family, so that he does not need to take advantage of welfare or other government benefits. In addition, his entire family is required to carry health insurance. These regulations are based on the 2004 EU Residency Directive intended to limit "social tourism" within the EU.

I.e. the EU has rules in place specifically prohibiting what you recommend Greeks do.

I am European you ignorant American prick.

Being from Europe myself, I can indeed attest that both your understanding of politics and your conduct are typically European.

Maybe you missed the article a few days ago about how the US is barring critics/dissidents from entering the country?

Odd, I check /. every day, and I do not recall such an article. But I have noticed on occasion that "new" articles will show up in between two articles that I already checked, so I guess I may have missed it. Care to link it? My google-fu is rather weak.

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/10/02/1339247/german-nsa-critic-denied-entry-to-the-us

HOWEVER,

... the story only shows that German media outlets are not familiar with US entry regulations. He says that he was denied a visa last year, which automatically disqualifies him from the visa waiver program. This is just a garden-variety ESTA issue, and most likely has nothing to do with his stance of the NSA surveillance.

... the story only shows that German media outlets are not familiar with US entry regulations. He says that he was denied a visa last year, which automatically disqualifies him from the visa waiver program. This is just a garden-variety ESTA issue, and most likely has nothing to do with his stance of the NSA surveillance.

No way to know as he was not given any reason for his visa rejection either.

... the story only shows that German media outlets are not familiar with US entry regulations. He says that he was denied a visa last year, which automatically disqualifies him from the visa waiver program. This is just a garden-variety ESTA issue, and most likely has nothing to do with his stance of the NSA surveillance.

I'm sure that hiccup had nothing to do with the fact that he may have incurred the wrath of the US govt. with criticisms that predate the NSA scandal.

... the story only shows that German media outlets are not familiar with US entry regulations. He says that he was denied a visa last year, which automatically disqualifies him from the visa waiver program. This is just a garden-variety ESTA issue, and most likely has nothing to do with his stance of the NSA surveillance.

The tool shows what the NSA could know about you if they had access to your gmail. However, Google rather staunchly maintains that the NSA does not have any access to Google user data, with the exception of specific information about specific individuals when proper legal documentation has been provided and reviewed by Google's legal team, and even then the NSA does not have access to Google's servers; Google retrieves the specific data requested by the order and delivers it to the requestor.

In addition to the previous public statements, David Drummond just published the following op-ed in faz.net (in German): http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/unternehmen/gastbeitrag-von-david-drummond-gleichgewicht-zwischen-sicherheit-und-buergerrechten-12272710.html. Here's a Google+ post that contains an English translation: https://plus.google.com/u/0/105603626919803672092/posts/bT7ndyhJmUk

Unless Google is flat-out lying of course. I don't believe that is true; I don't think Google could be legally compelled to lie, and I don't think the CEO and legal counsel legally can lie to the public, but you have to make your own evaluation on that point.

The way it's looking now, they might just kick Greece out of the EU (or Greece might leave on its own), which will probably be a lot better for Germany.

They won't leave the European Union. At most they would leave the European Currency Union.

According to this article that might not even be that bad for them:
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/oligarchie-der-finanz-der-krieg-der-banken-gegen-das-volk-11549829.html (in german)

Though the strange thing with "financial experts" seems to be that you will allways find another "expert" who tells you the exact opposite of what the previous guy said.

I have the feeling those finance gurus are more close to fortune-tellers than to scientists.

Yes, the electricity costs my well play a role in adoption, but it is also the amount of electricity used per month that has to be considered. Example: We are on an eco plan (100% renewables) and pay EUR 0.26 per KWh, but on the other hand we only pay about 15 Euros per person per month for our household (and 2 servers). We most probably are below average, but the overall consumption per capita is not that high in Germany.
I think what's more important than the subsidies (AFAIK currently about EUR 0.24 per KWh for PV systems, they lower the subsidies every year in correlation to the sunken costs of new PV systems) is the fact that they are combined with forcing the utilities to "buy" the generated energy. You save the battery array and the inverter, which together can amount to up to one third of the price of a PV system last I looked. And you lay the foundation for a decentralized smart grid.

P.S. the subsidies you mentioned sounded interesting, so I looked for a moment for the German numbers. According to [1] total subsidies/governmental costs for nuclear power in Germany starting in 1950 until now were 165 billion Euros in total, which means about 2.7 billion Euros per year, plus about 95 billion for the future (there are still plants running and the old ones have to be deconstructed. [2] cites a similar amount for PV subsidies: 2.9 billion per year for 2009.

[1] = http://www.wiwo.de/politik-weltwirtschaft/solarwirtschaft-gegen-kernkraft-421838/
[2] = http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/wirtschaftspolitik/16-prozent-ab-1-juli-kuerzung-der-solar-subventionen-steht-1937301.html

Non-Americans don't even have the same business models that drive traffic to US sites. They don't even have per-story comments [...]

It would have been sufficient to RTFA to see that you are wrong. Underneath the text even the Google translation shows quite prominently "Read comments (162 posts)". Let us visit the largest German news websites that I can name off the top of my head and click on an exemplary story to see who has per-story comments:

• Süddeutsche Zeitung: check
• Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: check
• Die Welt: check
• Der Spiegel: check
• Focus: check
• Stern: no
• TAZ: check
• Tagesschau online: check

7 out of 8 have per-story comments. This business model has very much arrived here.

... by the Frankfurt Allgemeine newspaper (in German).

The article starts out with "The Revolt against Julian Assange" and follows that with "The On-Line Network Wikileaks is flying apart."

It mostly follows the Wired article but about half way down it brings in some quotes from Wales including "They aren't a Wiki" because wikis allow for viewers to edit and contribute material.

http://www.faz.net/s/Rub475F682E3FC24868A8A5276D4FB916D7/Doc~E2DB28F0A1D814E61BD8AE675DE76A85F~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html.

..

and this holds true not for criminals, but more for ordinary people..

Criminals have the means to use different mobilephones etc..

AFAIK, she didn't copy whole pages verbatim. In the box at the bottom of
this page, you can find a comparison of the original and her text (in German, of course).

why don't they invest those billions in new drivetrain, suspension, and rail technology.

The answer is easy. The current Bavarian prime minister (Mr. Edmund Stoiber) is leaving office in a couple of weeks. He has been fighting for the technology demo (and hey, it's not more than that because the train is not nearly going to reach is max speed enroute!) for some years. He finally managed to get this memorial risen for him. He always wanted to be as great as Franz-Josef Strauß after whom the airport is named, and who is said to have fathered the Airbus project. This maglev is likely to be named after him, one way or another.

The suggested project price is likely to be exceeded big time. The figure (1.85 bn Euros) is from 2004, and the current contract says final fixed prices will be presented in early 2008. Nobody appears to seriously expect the $2.6bn to be met.

Bavaria has become^Wbeen a banana republic, although it is nice to be living here. I just hope I won't hear the train from where I live (about 2-3 kms away from the planned track, across the autobahn). The departing plane traffic is bad enough.

Methinks this is an utter waste of (taxpayers') money, largely. There are two suburban lines from Munich railway mainstation to the airport. The trains take about 40 minutes per direction, either line (S1 / S8), halting at every second apple tree. The maglev is supposed to need only 10 minutes. The price will be hefty (in the 30-40 Euro ballpark), and the maglev will never, ever ROI. Even not in terms of the tech demo for selling the train abroad mainly because the Shanghai folks already copied the entire construction. The project is a dead horse, IMHO.

Munich's mayor Mr. Christian Ude seems to be the only person who can stop the nonsense. His alternative approach is an express suburban line that could reach the airport in far less than 40 minutes, making a 10-minute connection obsolete, for all practical purposes.

German readers may want to read on here, here, and here.

In Germany the local Spread firefox campaign launched an ad on 12/02/2004 in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, one of the most respectable newspapers in Germany.