Germany has pledged to spend $40 billion on climate change initiatives claiming the goals established under the Paris Accord might now be reached by 2030 (although Germany failed to meet goals in 2015, 2018, and 2020). The plan is to stimulate the purchase of electric vehicles, provide more electric power stations, tax polluting vehicles, improve heating systems and charge a green tax on airfare.
As of 2016, 84 coal plants provide 42% of electric power. While Germany has tried to reach sustainable renewable power through wind, solar, and biofuel, with emphasis on wind, a huge snag put a dent in that scheme. Wind farms that were supposed to have a useful life of 20-25 years are dying after 15 years, five years before their financial breakeven. Dismantling the worthless windmills is costly, includes transportation to a windmill ‘dump’ and has created a windmill graveyard.
But hey, Germany has a balanced budget, and a great economy! Right?
That is particularly true however, it is due to the fact that Germany initiated unfair trade tariffs with the US and has consistently refused to meet their 2% of GDP obligation on defense spending. In 2017, Germany spent just over $45 billion representing 1.2% of GDP. Why the shortfall if they have the money within the budget ‘surplus’?
Because they don’t want to pay, its FREE socialist money extracted from US citizens.
Out of 26 EU countries comprising NATO, 3 contribute their fair share or more: Greece, Poland and Estonia.
The US has 35,000 troops and 13,000 civilians stationed in Germany for defense. When the US asked Germany to ante in some troops to aid in the Syrian conflict – Germany declined stating ‘they couldn’t move hastily’.
Rules of engagement – they decried!
We defend Germany. US taxpayers pay for the shortfall of 23 EU countries including Germany so that Germany can have a balanced budget. In fact, in 2014 Germany’s surplus budget was .6%. If they had held to their contractual obligation for defense, they would have had a budget deficit. Each and every year. And instead of their debt shrinking – their debt would have been growing – just like the US.
In fact, including Germany 9 EU countries had a surplus budget, and eight of the nine contributed 25%-80% less than the required 2%: Netherlands, Sweden, Czech Republic, Denmark, Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Austria.
In essence, this means US taxpayers have been subsidizing the EU’s wealth to the detriment of our own trade and budget.
Germany’s response?
They have determined that by 2024, they ‘hope’ to reach a 1.5% defense spending level… Obviously contractual obligations between the EU and the US are meaningless to Germans. Nationalist pride – for Germans, disdain for the evil Americans.
Back to wind energy.
Wind turbines cost about $4million each. There are roughly 30,000 wind turbines in Germany today. That would require an investment of $120billion. Given the legal ramifications, Germany now has a two year wait for a wind turbine permit. Issues have arisen that have hit the industry, including; distance from residential neighborhoods, legal disputes, a shorter lifespan than estimated, conservation, noise and endangered species killed by the blades. And by 2021, thousands of the existing turbines will be demolished as they have outlived their lifespan, lifeless monuments.
So how will Germany supply the electricity for the mandated electric cars? Coal. That dirty, nasty coal that makes Germans sneer at the US.
$40 billion for electric cars to run on coal fired electricity generating plants – while demanding the US continue subsidizing the EU’s defense spending on NATO.
NATO has obviously outlived itself and become ‘nonessential’.
But Germany and France in particular need NATO as long as the US pays for it. Germany’s military is a disaster. Their equipment is obsolete. Jets and helicopters useless junk. Merkel’s own military plane – defective. A total of 3300 deployed military personnel. Dysfunctional weapons. Unfit naval vessels. If Germany were attacked today, they would be obliterated without the US. The US pays 14times what Germany and France each contribute to defense despite the US economy being just 5 times that of Germany and 6 times that of France.
So while the German economy looks inspiring from a simplistic view, the truth is it has thrived on the back of US taxpayers for decades while defending unfair tariffs and providing -0- military strength. Of course the Germans don’t like Trump. Trump has vowed to make Germany, France and the EU responsible for their defense obligations while normalizing tariffs. That will eliminate any surplus while creating a truth, a real Germany, economically accountable, reliant on its own defense.
Germany is essentially a welfare state of the US. And Germans have come to believe they are entitled to US taxpayer income ‘redistribution’ to prop up their wealth.