A good photographer is worth his weight in gold...it's not the camera that matters, it's the talent that counts

People are often unaware of one fact: the balance of power is changing. What seems powerful and untouchable today can very quickly become irrelevant and powerless. For decades, Europe has been encouraged by the US not to invest in defense because it suited America. But this same Europe can become a more powerful military power than the US within 5 to 10 years. We are numerically stronger, and we will not lag behind economically for long. When the EU changes its priorities and when European countries start investing seriously in defense, everything will change. With policies like those that Trump likes, the US will lose its importance, and the EU could take over its previous role in every respect. I know that now, from today's perspective, this seems ridiculous to many, but 5 years ago it seemed ridiculous when I said that lockdowns and Covid measures would one day become an embarrassment to those who advocated them and that life would return to normal. The only thing we can always bet on: no force is eternal, the balance of power and strength will change. #Europe #US #Trump #EU #defense

One of the most important things for leading a meaningful and happy life is building your own little world, one that does not depend too much on the big world that surrounds us and whose internal interpersonal relationships are not based on the positive or negative opinions of voices from the outside world. That is why family is the foundation of everything, and if we fail in all other areas, but are good parents, husbands, and a support for everyone within our closest community, then our life has not been a failure. The same is true vice versa, because there is no business or political success or social recognition that can replace or somehow remove the disappointment of those to whom we are most important. Ambitions are healthy, as long as, after their fulfillment, children are not left to fend for themselves, families forgotten, and homes empty. No battle or war is more important to an individual than the fight he or she leads for the future, health, and peace of his or her family. #life #mindfulness #family #future #health #peace

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, defines its role in international relations as shaping development policy and providing assistance to national governments. The commission should also acknowledge the role it plays in antagonizing US corporations on the world stage. The Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition is responsible for assessing mergers, prohibiting collusion and monitoring abuses of dominant market positions. Such abuses, in the Commission’s eyes, include “imposing unfair purchase or selling prices, limiting production, markets or technical development, and applying dissimilar conditions to equivalent transactions.” On this last ground alone, the Commission has brought at least five major lawsuits against US companies during the administration of President Joe Biden. Meta was fined more than $817 million in November 2024 for bundling Facebook and its Facebook Marketplace. In March, Apple was fined about $1.84 billion for preventing music streaming app developers from informing iPhone users about cheaper streaming services on the App Store. (Spotify, not Apple Music, accounts for 56 percent of the European music streaming market.) Intel was fined $384 million for conditional rebates and restrictions related to the sale of computers with x86 CPUs in September 2023. In July 2024, Apple was forced to share its mobile wallet technology with competitors, with a fine of 5 percent of its daily revenue for each day of non-compliance. Amazon faced a fine of up to 10 percent of the company’s annual revenue for using non-public data for its retail business two years earlier. The EU’s General Court recently overturned a $1.53 billion fine that the Commission imposed on Google for “anti-competitively favoring” its own ad exchange. This non-exhaustive list excludes active investigations against US companies, such as the one against Microsoft for bundling Teams and Office 365. It also excludes those lawsuits against US tech companies under the General Data Protection Regulation, such as the $324 million fine Uber suffered in August 2024 for allegedly transferring personal data of European drivers to the US without sufficient protection. The expropriation of billions of dollars from US companies is harmful and capricious. EU citizens benefit from the US tech sector; the capital drain from US tech companies leaves them with less money for research and development, preventing further innovation. The EU should stop penalizing US companies that outperform their European counterparts. #US #EU #government #Meta #Apple #Facebook #Intel #Amazon #Google #Microsoft #Uber #tariffs

Natürlich 🤡

If I understand correctly, the neoliberal elites would start a #war with #Russia, but so that they command from behind, and we peasants go to the third Battle of Kursk and die for their #democracy? 🤷

GM

These are the six points that should be implemented if we want to save the European Union: 1. Reduction of bureaucracy and regulatory burden The EU has become synonymous with endless regulations that stifle entrepreneurship and innovation. According to the European Commission, small and medium-sized enterprises – which make up 99% of all companies in the EU and employ two-thirds of the workforce – often spend up to 30% of their time and resources on complying with bureaucratic rules. Reform means revising and scrapping unnecessary regulations, especially those that overlap with national legislation. For example, why should farmers or technology companies have to comply with dozens of different EU directives when a simple, single framework would suffice? The aim is to create a “regulatory minimum” – only what is necessary to make the single market work, without excessive intervention. 2. Decentralisation and giving power back to the member states The European aristocracy in Brussels often makes decisions without understanding local needs. The principle of subsidiarity – that decisions should be taken at the lowest possible level – exists on paper but is rarely applied. Reform would mean strengthening the role of national governments and parliaments in key areas such as social policy, health, or education. At the same time, the EU would retain competence only in those areas where a common approach makes sense: trade, border security, and a common monetary policy for the eurozone. This would reduce the power of unelected bureaucrats and return democratic accountability to where it belongs – closer to the citizens. 3. End the policy of “picking winners” The EU has a bad habit of spending public money on projects that benefit politically connected players. Take the recovery funds from the coronavirus pandemic, for example, €750 billion from the NextGenerationEU plan often ended up in the hands of large corporations or politically convenient sectors, rather than being evenly distributed for real economic stimulus. We see a similar pattern with new “investments” in defense – under the pretext of the Russian threat, money is flowing toward the military-industrial complex, often without a clear strategy or oversight. Reform would scrap such programs and replace them with tax breaks and deregulation, allowing the market – not bureaucrats – to decide who succeeds and who fails. 4. Transparency and accountability of elites The European aristocracy – from the members of the Commission to the lobbyists who swarm the corridors of Brussels – often operate behind closed doors. The procurement of vaccines during the pandemic was shrouded in secrecy, with contracts full of deleted pages, while billions of euros were spent without public scrutiny. Reform requires complete transparency: all contracts, spending, and decisions must be publicly available, with strict audits by independent bodies. Also, the terms of office of officials such as the President of the Commission or the European Central Bank should be limited to prevent the concentration of power and the creation of lifelong “aristocrats”. 5. Focus on economic growth and freedom The EU was created as a community for economic cooperation, not a political experiment. Today, however, economic goals often give way to ideological projects such as the Green Deal, which imposes costly obligations without clear benefits for competitiveness. Reform would bring the focus back to the single market: removing remaining trade barriers within the EU, encouraging innovation through tax incentives instead of subsidies, and concluding free trade agreements with global partners. For example, why wouldn’t the EU speed up negotiations with South America or Asia instead of raising tariffs and protecting inefficient domestic industries? 6. Reforming EU financing The current EU budget, which amounts to around 1% of member states’ GDP, is often spent on agricultural subsidies (which favor large landowners) or regional funds that end up in corruption schemes. Reform would reduce the budget and redirect it to shared priorities such as research and development or infrastructure, with strict controls. Member states’ contributions could be reduced if the EU stops funding bureaucratic fantasies like “strategic autonomy” that only increase costs. Why would it work? This approach avoids the pitfalls of nationalism – by retaining the benefits of the single market and cooperation – while breaking the power of the aristocracy that impoverishes Europeans. Instead of Brussels deciding how your money is spent, you – citizens, entrepreneurs, innovators – are given the space to create wealth. This is the EU as it was meant to be: an ally of freedom, not a burden on our backs. Europe must be neither a battlefield for nationalist egotisms nor a playground for bureaucratic experiments. A reformed EU can be a space of freedom, prosperity and cooperation – but only if we change our mindset and remove those who see public money as their private ATM. It is time to reset our priorities: less aristocracy, more free markets.

The European Union today stands at a crossroads, between two extremes that threaten its future. On the one hand, we have nationalists like Marine Le Pen in France to Viktor Orbán in Hungary – who dream of returning to the era of closed borders and dismantling the European project. For them, the EU is the enemy of sovereignty, a bureaucratic monster that stifles national identity. On the other hand, there is the European aristocracy – the politicians in power and the unelected bureaucrats in Brussels – who want to turn the Union into a centralized superstate, a kind of European empire under their control. Both approaches lead to ruin. Instead of demolition or excessive centralization, the EU needs reform that will return it to its core values: freedom, the market, and economic progress. Let’s look first at this “aristocracy.” For decades, European leaders and bureaucrats have built a system that increasingly resembles a self-service supermarket for their own interests. The flu pandemic was a clear example: hundreds of billions of euros were spent on recovery programs, vaccine procurement and other measures, but where is the transparency? How much of that money ended up in the pockets of well-heeled entrepreneurs and lobbyists, and how much actually helped citizens? Now, under the pretext of “defense” and geopolitical tensions, they are trying to repeat the same trick – “investments” that sound noble, but often serve to finance their political allies and increase their own power. The result? Europeans are getting poorer while the elite and their cronies are getting richer at the expense of taxpayers. On the other hand, nationalists offer a false solution. Their recipe for Europe – a return to the 19th century with hard borders and protectionism – forgets that it was cooperation within the EU that made decades of peace and economic growth possible. Trump’s “America First” approach may sound appealing in America, but applied to Europe would lead to fragmentation, trade wars and weakness in the face of global challenges such as China, Russian imperialism or climate change. Nationalism is not the answer; it is an illusion that sells a nostalgic past instead of a realistic future. So what would be the solution? The EU should neither be dismantled nor transformed into a single state. It needs reform to make it leaner, more efficient, and focused on citizens, not elites. That means less bureaucracy and more freedom for entrepreneurs and innovators. Instead of Brussels using public money to determine winners in the market – whether through subsidies or dubious “investments” – the focus must be on creating the conditions for free economic growth. Reducing regulation, easing taxes, and decentralizing decision-making would put power back where it belongs: in the hands of the people, not the aristocracy. #EU #aristocracy #bureaucracy #taxation #freedom #progress #defense #peace #war #Nationalism #growth #regulation

Are you aware that the EU is creating its own Military-Industrial Complex? And it will most likely become a worse monster than the American one. This is very dangerous, when an industry is created that will depend on war, then there will always be war. #EU #war

Imagine we lived in a world where all cars were EVs, and then along comes a new invention the "Internal Combustion Engine"! Think how well they would sell: A vehicle half the weight, half the price that will almost quarter the damage done to the road. A vehicle that can be refueled in 1/10th of the time and has a range of up to 4 times the distance in all weather conditions. It does not rely on the environmentally damaging use of non-renewable rare earth elements to power it, and use far less steal and other materials. If only there was such a vehicle 🤔

Exactly 🤣

When I wrote that Germany has the fiscal capacity to increase spending on defense and infrastructure reconstruction, I had this in mind. Germany has a much smaller public debt compared to other large EU members (France, Italy, Spain) and a smaller budget deficit, so it is one of the few large economies that can now "pull". France and Italy, for example, do not have the capacity for such a thing. Their budget deficits and public debt are such that the market would show a "red light" immediately to any similar attempt to stimulate the economy. On what basis do I claim this? Well, we have a recent example from the UK a little over two years ago. British Prime Minister Liz Truss proposed a large tax relief, the abolition of the highest income tax rate, etc., which would worsen budget deficits that were already around 5% of GDP. The bond market went crazy, yields on British bonds jumped sharply, pension funds ran into problems, the Bank of England had to react, etc. General chaos. The market reaction was so strongly negative that Liz Truss could not calm her down, neither by changing the finance minister, nor by withdrawing most of the proposals, nothing. She had to resign and thus became the person with the shortest prime ministership in the history of British politics. So, the market reaction was the exact opposite of the reaction to this German fiscal stimulus. For the UK, the market considered the plan bad (despite the positive effects that tax relief would have in the short term) because it is unsustainable in the long term given the current level of public debt of around 100% of GDP and a deficit of 5%, while for Germany the market gives the green light. Because the Germans saved when they needed to (they had budget surpluses in the years before the corona). And just a response to those who think that I am "celebrating" the increase in government spending. First, I am not celebrating anything, I am just explaining why the market reacted the way it did and why the presented plan makes sense. Second, this planned increase in state spending does not go into increasing salaries in state and public services, increasing social expenditures, pensions, etc., but rather investments in INFRASTRUCTURE (energy, renovation of the power grid, railways, roads, etc.) and DEFENSE. These are the basic functions of the state. Germany currently spends shamefully little on defense, just 1.5% of GDP. This is below the NATO standard of 2%, twice less than the USA (3% of GDP), four times less than Russia (6% of GDP), etc. If we lived in la-la land, that would be ok. But we are not, the reality is that we have the bloodiest war in Europe since the Second World War, therefore increasing the allocation for defense is a necessity (pledge for a safer future). To conclude, I do not know what the final effect of the German fiscal stimulus will be, that is, whether in five years the positive effects will outweigh the potentially negative ones (say, a possible flare-up of inflation). The point is that the market, at least for now, is giving them the green light. We will see what the implementation of the plan will be like in reality. #Germany #defense #EU #debt #UK #spending #war #inflation

The same people who advocated the entry of the EU into the war against Russia 2 weeks ago are now publicly agitating against mandatory military service I wonder who they would send to the war then, probably those 'traitors' who are against the war? 🥸 #EU #Ukraine #Russia #war

First they came for the diesels, I didn't complain because I don't have a driver's license. Then they came for the straws, I didn't complain because I'm not a turtle. Then they glued the bottle caps on, I kept quiet because I drink from the tap. Then they came for the unrealized savings, I had no right to say anything because there were so many dips and I don't have savings anymore. Sorry #EU 😭😭 #Bitcoin will set you straight eventually

FDP files a constitutional complaint against the amendment of the constitution. They claim that it will increase the debt of all states within Germany and that for this they should have sought the consent of each individual state and their parliaments. In other words - states rights! #FDP #constitution #Germany #debt

The German parliament has voted for a historic constitutional amendment that allows for more defense spending and the creation of a 500 billion euro infrastructure investment fund. This is a game changer for the German and European economies, and I don't think people fully understand it. But the stock market certainly understands, and the DAX is up a whopping 16% this year, while the S&P 500 is down 5% (a performance difference of over 20 percentage points in such a short period is extremely rare). Superlatives are constantly written about the American economy ("Look how they're growing while the Germans are struggling!"), leaving out the other side of the equation, which is the fact that the American economy has been on fiscal steroids the whole time. Especially in the last 5 years. They've had terrible deficits in recent years... Germany has simultaneously had budget surpluses in the period up to 2020, and then moderate deficits in recent years. Last year, the German deficit was 2.8%, while the American one was 6.3%. What kind of economic growth do you think Germany would have had if it had injected the same 3.5% of GDP into its economy as the Americans? This is what is being kept quiet about all this time. Let's be clear, this does not excuse the bad policies that Germans and Europeans in general are implementing (and I often criticize them myself), but when we compare economic growth between countries, the least we can do is look at the structure of that growth in parallel. This is exactly what the new US Treasury Secretary means when he says that the US economy must go through a period of "detoxification". The economy must be weaned off excessive government spending, the fiscal steroids they were on. This was unsustainable, he says, and they were racing towards a financial crisis. The Americans have blown up their public debt to 123% of GDP. Germany's is half that, below 63% of GDP. The Germans have created fiscal space and now, when it is needed most, they are releasing the brakes. Markets like higher spending and investments (if the state has the fiscal space for that, of course), but they don't really like austerity policies. That's why European markets are happy. German GDP is approximately 28% of the GDP of the euro area, therefore the positive effects of larger German investments will be felt throughout Europe. #economy #Germany #investments #DAX #EU #S&P500 #growth #US #government #crisis #debt #markets

It's interesting how many highly educated people and those with many years of schooling do not possess emotional intelligence or the power of critical thinking and questioning. It's as if many years of schooling dull a person and turn them into obedient robots. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against a high level of schooling and education, but in that process it's extremely important to keep your own opinion, question everything, research independently and not take anything as a universal truth. Because the mind is like a parachute - it works best when it's open...🙏 #education #mindfulness

Meanwhile in Hungary...

There is no end to German madness. First, they released the constitutional brake on public borrowing, and now they will incorporate climate change protection into the Constitution. Merz is the new Merkel, maybe even worse. It is like he has to get along with the red socialista and green idiots for the sake of a joint coalition, but it is not very difficult for him. I think that never before in history has a relative winner of an election lowered himself so much in front of his own voters just to satisfy his defeated partners. Voters were deceived, Merz took off his underwear. Who's looking forward to it? AfD. #Germany #CDU #SPD #AfD #Merz #Merkel