Written by Bryan Lutz, Editor at Dollarcollapse.com:
A little over a decade ago, Johnny Knoxville and the rest of the Jack*ss crew became famous for getting kicked in the nuts.
Hats off to them for achieving the creativity of fools.
They found almost a million ways to self-inflict harm on themselves and their friends.
Germany’s about to do the same thing.
OilPrice.com reports:
Germany Vows To ‘Do Everything’ to Prevent Nord Stream Resurrection
“Germany plans to do all it takes to keep the Nord Stream 2 pipeline offline, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday at a news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin.
“We will do everything in this context to ensure that Nord Stream 2 cannot be put back into operation,” Merz said, as quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Germany will continue to increase the pressure on Russia, the chancellor added.
Nord Stream 2, an $11-billion project to carry Russian natural gas from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea following the Nord Stream route, was built at the end of the 2010s.
However, the pipeline was never put into operation after Germany axed the certification process in early 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russia, for its part, shut down Nord Stream 1 indefinitely in early September of 2022, claiming an inability to repair gas turbines because of the Western sanctions.
In a suspected sabotage, gas leaks in each of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea were discovered at the end of September 2022.”
Let’s be honest, this is like asking someone to kick you and all your friends where the sun don’t shine.
Electricity prices in Germany are among the highest in Europe, 245% of 2000 levels, driven by taxes, grid fees, and legacy costs from grid expansion.
This has strained households and industries like steel and chemical production, which also face increasing energy costs.
Would nuclear power reduce Germany’s energy costs?
Nope.
Nuclear is out of the question.
Following the 2011 Fukushima disaster, Germany accelerated its nuclear exit, shutting down all nuclear power plants by 2023.
This removed a stable, low-carbon energy source that once provided a third of the country’s electricity.
The phase-out increased reliance on coal and gas, with coal generating 30% of electricity in November 2024, undermining emission reduction goals.
Studies estimate the nuclear closure caused $12 billion annually in social costs, mainly from increased fossil fuel pollution.
Their energy crisis contributed to their 2023 recession and sluggish growth in 2024.
So, for the last decade Germany has been making the cost of energy way more expensive than it needs to be for the industries that need it the most.
And this is where it had led…
Since 2018, Germany’s economic output is on a severe decline.
Here’s what that looks like compared to the rest of Europe.
But the forecasts are relatively optimistic for next year even though GDP looks to be a flat zero.
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