Quote (Black XistenZ @ Oct 7 2025 10:47am)

Raising the retirement age to 73 (it's currently at 67) was a proposal made by a commission of so-called experts, no idea about their ideological background or funding though. It is not the official government position, and never will be. In any case, proposals from neoliberal economists along the lines of "if the populace became serfs again, that would be really great for GDP and state finances" have been popping up every other year.

My guess is that this is an attempt at "anchoring", with the true goal being raising the retirement age to 70, which is where all of Europe and the Western world is headed to anyway. Denmark already passed a law gradually raising their retirement age to 70, to name one example. The demographic outlook in places like Japan and South Korea is even more dire btw. Even Canada and the US aren't that far behind in terms of demographic crisis.

With AI, automation and robotics taking off, sustaining the economic output with a smaller workforce might turn out to be a less severe problem than previously feared. It's the financing and redistribution aspects which might turn out to be the heavier lift.

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Germany’s massive industrial slump in August is a clear sign that the country’s old economic engine is seizing up. The 4.3% monthly drop in industrial production, led by an 18.5% collapse in auto manufacturing, might seem like a one off caused by plant shutdowns, retooling for new car models, or the end of pre tariff front loading orders from the U.S. But those short term factors only exposed deeper structural cracks that have been building for years.

Germany’s industrial model of cheap Russian energy, strong Chinese demand, and global dominance in engineering heavy vehicles and machinery is breaking down. Losing access to cheap gas after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine left energy intensive industries like chemicals, steel, and manufacturing permanently less competitive. Meanwhile, China has turned from Germany’s best customer into its toughest rival, especially in electric vehicles and advanced manufacturing, while Chinese demand for German exports has cooled. This double blow of higher input costs and shrinking export markets has gutted Germany’s ability to sustain its export led growth model.

At home, things aren’t much better. Germany has been chronically underinvesting in infrastructure and technology, squeezed by fiscal restraints and bureaucratic red tape. Add in aging demographics and a shortage of skilled labor, and you have an industrial base that’s losing capacity just when it needs to reinvent itself. Even the shift to EVs, which should be a new growth driver, is hurting in the short term because production requires fewer parts and workers, and more of the value chain of batteries, chips, and rare materials that are all located outside of Europe.

So, while this data may look like a temporary dip, it’s more like a stress fracture revealing the strain of a long term transformation. Germany is facing an identity crisis. The country is being forced to move from an export and engineering powerhouse built on fossil fuel advantages to something leaner, greener, and far more uncertain. The risk is that without a decisive shift in energy policy, industrial strategy, and investment incentives, these production shocks could become the new normal rather than the exception. This is Germany realizing the road it’s been driving on for decades is disappearing beneath its wheels

Quote (ofthevoid @ Oct 8 2025 12:34pm)

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https://x.com/onechancefreedm/status/1975886516669825065?s=46

Quote (ofthevoid @ Oct 8 2025 01:34pm)

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https://x.com/onechancefreedm/status/1975886516669825065?s=46

Quote (Goomshill @ Oct 10 2025 10:40am)

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9v7wlj3pr2o

In a small victory in the sense of "they stopped eating babies", the UK courts have thrown out the conviction of the man who was stabbed while burning a Quran at a protest outside the Turkish consulate. The guy who stabbed and tried to murder him was convicted and given a suspended sentence with no prison time, because lmao UK, baby steps. But at least they are overturning the conviction of the victim who's only crime was free expression of his religious/political beliefs.

Quote (Goomshill @ Oct 10 2025 05:40pm)

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9v7wlj3pr2o

In a small victory in the sense of "they stopped eating babies", the UK courts have thrown out the conviction of the man who was stabbed while burning a Quran at a protest outside the Turkish consulate. The guy who stabbed and tried to murder him was convicted and given a suspended sentence with no prison time, because lmao UK, baby steps. But at least they are overturning the conviction of the victim who's only crime was free expression of his religious/political beliefs.

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At a quarter-past one in the afternoon, Hardy realised that Nelson was not by his side. He turned to see Nelson kneeling on the deck, supporting himself with his hand, before falling onto his side. Hardy rushed to him, at which point, Nelson smiled:

Hardy, I do believe they have done it at last [...] my backbone is shot through.

He had been hit by a musket ball, fired from the mizzen-top of Redoutable, at a range of 50 feet (15 m). The ball entered his left shoulder, passed through a lung, then his spine at the sixth and seventh thoracic vertebrae, and lodged 2 inches (51 mm) below his right shoulder blade, in the muscles of his back. In return, the signal midshipman John Pollard, possibly together with his fellow-midshipman Francis Edward Collingwood, is said to have shot down the French marksman responsible for Nelson's death.

Quote (dro94 @ Oct 21 2025 01:21pm)

Today marks the 200th anniversary of Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson of the British Navy destroying the combined French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar, on 22nd October 1805. Trafalgar Day is celebrated in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, with many towns in the Oceania countries named after the battle.

Despite the British Navy being heavily outnumbered, the tactics of Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson and the bravery of the soldiers led them to victory. However, Nelson was mortally wounded during the battle:



Today, you can even see the outfit Nelson wore on that day, with the musket hole clearly visible, in the National Maritime Museum, London.

To the immortal memory of Admiral Lord Nelson and those who fell with him.