the two living SPD chancellors have a very special fascination for well-known US press titles – apparently those of political trapeze artists, of whom one wants to see whether they stay up. Former Prime Minister Gerhard Schröder first declared in the New York Times that he was friends with Vladimir Putin and that he didn’t believe in “mea culpa”. Now the magazine “Time” dedicated a cover story (“Germany’s Moment”) to the incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The man who was recently scolded for alleged weaknesses in leadership says defiantly like Schröder and Udo Lindenberg: “I’ll do my thing.” He believes he has been commissioned by the people not to lead the country according to polls, but in the way he sees fit , writes the author. And Scholz says for the history book: “If you are a good leader, you listen to the people. But you never think that the people want exactly what they demand.”
There were two big surprises in the USA. The first affects the economy as a whole: Gross domestic product fell by 1.4 percent in the first quarter, after an increase of 6.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021. The reactions remained subdued, the weakness is attributed to foreign trade deficits and weaker inventory investments. The second surprise: The Amazon group, with its claim to world domination, reports its first quarterly loss since 2015 at minus 3.8 billion dollars.
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The Corona momentum is gone at the west coast giant, which grew by only seven percent (instead of 44 percent as twelve months earlier). Management is now collecting small change: Amazon Prime members pay $139 a year in the US instead of $119. And third-party sellers on the Amazon Marketplace e-commerce platform are hit with a fuel and inflation surcharge.
It comments on the weekend Wilhelm Busch: “Surprises always take place / where you didn’t expect it.”
For Russian President Vladimir Putin, natural gas is not only a weapon, but also a legal puzzle. The EU Commission’s sanctions, according to which European companies are not allowed to exchange euros for rubles at the Russian central bankcountered the warlord from the Kremlin.
Because gas customers should open two accounts at Gazprombank: one for the initial transfer in euros, a second for the corresponding ruble amounts that accumulate here after the currency exchange by the central bank to pay the bill. Utilities such as Uniper and OMV are already working on a sanction-proof two-account solution, i.e. on squaring the circle. Or, if you like, how to recover eggs from an omelette.
Everyone has understood that Elon Musk is getting a loudspeaker system for the “Global Village” with Twitter, with which he can fill everyone with sound. But does it have to be that expensive? Does the economic mind shut down when the ego needs stroking? The man from Tesla pays $44 billion for a company which lost $128 million in the first quarter and has seen declines in subscription revenue that Musk plans to rapidly expand.
And then the average number of users (2019 to 2021) was given as 216 million, two million too high. Elon Musk wants to take the Twitter workshop off the stock market as soon as possible, where it has no business in its current state.
When it comes to the cloud, there’s a pink European dream called “Gaia-X”. And there is an American reality called Amazon or Microsoft. Both together control almost 55 percent of the world market. The federal government is so flattened that they let Microsoft digitize the administration.
But one defends himself, and this is the Neckarsulm retail tycoon Dieter Schwarz (Lidl, Kaufland): He has his own cloud platform “Stackit” marketed. The main target group are medium-sized companies. Digital boss Rolf Schumann tells us: “We want to ensure our technical sovereignty. There are many companies that have the same needs.” However, the United Internet Group with “Ionos” and the “Open Telekom Cloud” of Deutsche Telekom are also trying to attract hidden champions. This market can use many market leaders.
“Thomas” is the most common name on the boards of large German corporations, and “Christian” and “Stefan” in start-ups. The grotesque thing is that there are more board members in young companies than there are women in the top management bodies. It is also almost unbelievable that there is just one female founder among the 25 German “unicorns” valued at billions of dollars: Osnat Michaeli from Infarm.
Anyone who studies the “German Startup Monitor” will find that only 17.7 percent of company pioneers are women. In contrast, established German companies are downright paradises of diversity. The first initiatives are now being taken to counteract the problem that investors are reluctant to give female founders capital. Our initiative this weekend is to portray 50 exemplary women. The selection ranges from A for “Arabian bird, jasmine” to Z for “Ziegler, Tanja”. More will not be revealed here.
The locals say “Wiesn”, the locals say “Oktoberfest”. With up to six million visitors, the Munich fair is the world’s largest folk festival. At noon today, 12.30 p.m., Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) will announce his decision in the large meeting room of the town hall as to whether there will be a new edition of the people’s party after the two-year Corona break.
The pressure is great, after all, almost chancellor candidate and top pandemic fighter Markus Söder has already voted for Oktoberfest. It is planned for September 17th to October 3rd. According to information from the Wiesn hosts, Reiter consulted Health Minister Karl Lauterbach on Monday. He was last noticed with corona forecasts about “killer variants”, which will probably only occur after the “O’zapft-is” spectacle.
And then there is Jürgen Klopp, 54, as a soccer coach and commercial TV character for the “Premier League”. Contrary to other announcements, he is now extending his contract with Liverpool FC by two more years until 2026. Mike Gordon, president of the US group “Fenway Sports”, which belongs to Liverpool, had the matter on Wednesday after the Champions League victory against Villarreal made clear.
He loves the club, his wife Ulla also wants to stay at the Mersey, says Klopp: “And what does a good husband do when his wife wants to stay? He’s staying.” That’s a slightly fabricated story, of course. However, what is not rumored to be that the club can break a historic record this season and win four titles.
I wish you a relaxing weekend, a trip with your spouse is of course an option.
It greets you cordially
Her
Hans Jürgen Jakobs
Senior editor
PS: As always, I ask myself: Is something missing? Have we been too long, too flippant, too serious? Do the graphics need to be more colorful? But the most important question today is: How do you find it? How should we develop the morning briefing further? It would be nice if you could answer a few questions for us. Feedback wanted!