A state of emergency prevailed in many German and international companies at the weekend. The candles on the Advent wreath weren’t burning. The IT administrators were in urgent demand: They had to deal with serious security gaps. The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) issued the highest warning level – everything on red. The existing loophole is already being actively used by criminals, warned the office, whose boss Arne Schönbohm appealed: “Please everyone help!”
Of the IT security experts addressed, Manuel Atug, among others, said: “Yes, folks, the shit burns brightly. Nice talk is of no use. ”The very popular program snippet“ Log4j ”is becoming a gateway for hackers. 140 companies are affected, such as the cloud services from Amazon and Apple, but also the gaming platform Steam. Karl Kraus comments: “It is better not to be stolen from you. Then at least you won’t have any trouble with the police. “
Crisis? What crisis? We are constantly writing about corona, raw material inflation, delivery bottlenecks and protectionism. But Germany’s 40 largest listed companies are sailing in the parallel universe of favorable winds. With a total net profit of almost 120 billion euros, they earned more than twice as much as in 2020. As a result, the top corporations are paying out around 45.5 billion euros in dividends this year, according to our calculations, 25 percent more than in the previous year. That is a new record.
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Incidentally, a record that exposes all analyzes of the end of “shareholder value” as talk. The theory of the 89-year-old US economist Alfred Rappaport just lives on, entirely for the welfare of the shareholders. Nowadays it is not people who work, but their money.
Incidentally, it is noticeable that many of the German dividend kings received short-time allowance during the ongoing pandemic phase. This comes from the billions in contributions that companies and their employees pay monthly to the social security funds. In the end, however, the massive payments are also state aid that helps a lot in terms of financial management. In view of the full cornucopia, 1.1 billion euros in state subsidies that flow to the top 20 in the Dax are also questionable.
According to the taxpayers’ association, the largest recipient of subsidies is Airbus with 327 million euros, followed by BASF (147 million) and Siemens (142 million). And with a share return of more than five percent, Allianz, BASF and Covestro are currently at the top. With the exception of Siemens Energy, all DAX companies can also afford the lavish distributions, the bubbling profits make it possible.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, the EU Commission will present a far-reaching plan. It’s about a package of laws on the gas market – and plans to prepare the addition of hydrogen to the gas network. Some practical tests are already running, for example in Erftstadt-Niederberg: Those who heat with natural gas here will soon switch to hydrogen, at least 20 percent. However, the project is only good for the environment and the customers if conventionally produced hydrogen is not fed in, but “green”, climate-neutral hydrogen. It is currently only available in small portions.
Criticism comes from climate protectors such as Constantin Zerger from Deutsche Umwelthilfe: “In the future, houses will have to be heated with heat pumps or district heating. Anyone who pretends that customers can keep their gas heating systems will lure them into a cost trap. ”The Federal Association of Energy and Water Management sees it very differently:“ The use of hydrogen in the heating market is also extremely useful. ”One thing is certain: gas power plants will work after that Indispensable for nuclear and coal as a security system in case wind turbines and solar panels should not provide enough electricity.
The new Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock must have already realized that her department does not automatically produce winning topics. Shortly after the Green politician took office, however, it becomes clear how big the traps are in reality – the example of the completed Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline, which lacks her last permit.
- With reference to the coalition agreement, Baerbock means that according to the current status, the German-Russian gas pipeline can “not be approved like this”. The reason for this is that the requirements of European energy law have not been met, according to Baerbock. In the election campaign, the Greens called for construction to be stopped, in contrast to the Social Democrats.
- There is no explicit mention of the pipeline in the coalition agreement with the SPD, the Greens and the FDP. The Federal Network Agency has already requested a separation of the areas of trade and transport and has therefore suspended the approval process for the line.
- The Nord Stream 2 question has been causing political tension in the theater of world politics for years. Ukraine sees this as an attempt by Russia to shut down the country in gas transport. The US, in turn, accuses Germany of making itself dependent on Russian gas.
As Otto von Bismarck allegedly said: “If a pact, however harmless-looking, is made somewhere between two powers, one must immediately ask who is to be killed here.”
And then there is the Formula 1 business, which is currently giving the drinks company Red Bull the wings that RB Leipzig’s own football club lacked when it left the Champions League. Racing driver Max Verstappen finished the last race of the Formula 1 season yesterday in Abu Dhabi with overall victory. This ends the winning streak of Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who had triumphed a total of six times since 2014 – and now just lost at the showdown. Shortly before the end he had to let himself be overtaken. Protests by the Mercedes team under Toto Wolff were rejected twice and an appeal was made.
Obviously, Mercedes has to cope with the feeling of not being the “FC Bayern Munich of racing”, who wins every year in the high-speed circular economy of the racing cars and in the end makes the whole thing as boring as the Bundesliga. According to racing idol Michael Schumacher, Formula 1 is basically all about “finishing work first”.
I wish you a good start to the week, you might have a pole position.
I warmly greet you
Her
Hans-Jürgen Jakobs
Senior editor
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