We go into Christmas week with unsettling races. The first deals with the extent to which booster vaccinations help to deter the new virus variant Omikron. The second, in many states, revolves around the question of whether you can still get everything done before the lights go out again during lockdown. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach decides that there will be no lockdown before Christmas Eve, as the incidence values have also recently fallen.
However, the federal and state governments are already talking about tough, contact-reducing measures at their Corona summit tomorrow. The newly appointed Expert Council has warned of the “explosive spread” of infections, Omikron brings a “new dimension” to the pandemic. “Additionally” well-planned and communicated contact restrictions are necessary.
Conclusion: This is not good news when it comes to transporting gifts of all kinds – in cars, on sleds or through chimneys.
The current rather cautious statements of the health minister stand in contrast to the criticism of the designated CDU chief Friedrich Merz in the “Bild am Sonntag”. It says that nobody denies Lauterbach’s expertise, “but unfortunately he tends to be very exaggerated in certain situations”. The SPD politician will “have to find a reasonable level” and should “convey confidence that at some point we will have the pandemic behind us”. At the moment, however, it is precisely Christian Democrats who are pushing for a more drastic corona policy. And if Merz, 66, actually wants to become parliamentary group leader and candidate for chancellor, he will probably have to exaggerate.
In the United States, President Joe Biden has more to do with his Democrats than the Republicans. His social and climate protection program called “Build Back Better” worth 1.75 trillion dollars is about to fail – because Senator Joe Manchin announced a definite no after months of talks on the conservative anti-Biden broadcaster Fox News: “I can just do it not. I’ve tried everything humanly possible. “
There are urgent problems like corona and inflation, said the West Virginia man. He apparently considers “Build Back Better”, like the Republicans, to be “socialist”. This means that the President lacks a majority in the Senate – a disaster, a year before the congressional elections. Biden would then have started as the second Franklin D. Roosevelt and landed as the second Jimmy Carter. The White House is angry. Manchin have promised to hold further talks and look for a compromise. It is now about “an inexplicable turnaround and a breach of his obligations”. A way will be found to continue in 2022. Shakespeare knew: “Hope is often a hound without a trace”.
In the German car factories, the production lines always come to a standstill because a strong arm in Asia wants this. Chips are missing. Europe absorbs less than ten percent of global semiconductor production. The quota is to increase to 20 percent, with the federal government wanting to help vigorously. Robert Habeck’s Ministry of Economic Affairs has selected 32 microelectronics company projects to be funded by the “Important Projects of Common European Interest” (IPCEI), my colleagues found out.
(Photo: Getty Images)
According to Habeck, one becomes Funding “in the billions” and rely on innovative, energy-efficient and climate-friendly technologies. The basic work of the Green politician on global delivery bottlenecks: “Germany and Europe have no time to lose. We have to work together to meet our needs for microelectronics ourselves. “
When looking for money, Deutsche Telekom came up with an obvious idea: In March she wants to sell her radio towers for up to 20 billion euros. This is intended to reduce debts and acquire additional shares in the overseas subsidiary T-Mobile US. The biggest rivals have pre-empted the strategy.
Telefónica sold the radio towers to American Tower, while Vodafone took part of the business in the separate subsidiary Vantage Towers on the stock exchange. Telekom boss Timotheus Höttges is no longer focusing primarily on absolute network quality when it comes to the radio tower, but on alliances with partners, explains our cover story. He is “ready to deconsolidate,” says Höttges. Specifically, this means: in order to be able to access something, you have to let go of something else.
Jürgen Kühling, head of the Monopolies Commission, welcomes such actions as with the radio towers, because they equalize large networks. I talked for a long time with the Regensburg professor about how competition could be strengthened again. For example, he says: “It is time for the federal government to sell its shares in Post and Telekom, which it holds through KfW. The conflict of interests of the state as a shareholder, regulator and legislator is unwholesome. “
The “Big Five” from America, tech giants like Amazon and Google, are worrying him even more. In Germany, too, they would be seen as “great ecosystems that represent a problem not only economically but also in terms of power politics.” A break-up at the European level would be “ultima ratio”, according to Kühling. Sometimes the only thing that helps against monopoly is to go to extremes.
You could be jealous, thinks at Daimler in Stuttgart. Aren’t you also a luxury company like LVMH from Bernard Arnault? But why don’t you get a return of more than 20 percent, like the French? And instead have to cheer to even be in double digits in 2021? Daimler CEO Ola Källenius wants to compensate for this luxury profit gap little by little: with Swabian economy and focus on large sedans and SUVs.
Small things like Smarts or A-Class could soon fail the “moose test”. Specifically, according to our information, Källenius is aiming for a return of 14 percent and more in the medium term. The good money on the stock exchange should no longer only flow to Tesla or electrical start-ups such as Rivian, Lucid, Nio or Xpeng, but also to the completely redesigned Daimler, a German legend under Chinese influence.
And then there is a 55-year-old fan of the third division MSV Duisburg, who made sure that for the first time in Germany a professional football game had to be canceled due to racism. The man had clearly audible monkey noises from the stands against the Osnabrück player Aaron Opoku, who was about to take a corner. Opoku and his team were shocked. The referee assured the player that they were there to protect him: “That is very dramatic in difficult times.”
The police even filed a complaint. Duisburg asks for an apology and the stadium management had the anti-fascism song “Schrei nach Liebe” from the band Die Ärzte play after the game: “Your violence is just a silent cry for love / your combat boots long for tenderness.”
I wish you a good start into this not at all peaceful Christmas week.
I warmly greet you
Her
Hans-Jürgen Jakobs
Senior editor
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