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German battery maker Varta files insolvency applications

reuters.com

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Re: German battery maker Varta files insolvency applications

#41

Post by Tade0 »

usrnm wrote: post #22
Tade0 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Schroeder lobbied for Germany to remain dependent on Russian gas. Huge net negative in the long run.

Genuinely curious, what alternatives were there in the 2000s? Did dependency on Russian gas doom German manufacturing or did it provide it 20 additional years of artificial life support?

Diversifying just a little bit would go a long way.

When Russia invaded Ukraine suddenly several LNG terminals gained regulatory approval, even though previously those projects were in bureaucratic purgatory for years.

Re: German battery maker Varta files insolvency applications

#42

Post by Tade0 »

thyristan wrote: post #26
usrnm wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuinely curious, what alternatives were there in the 2000s? Did dependency on Russian gas doom German manufacturing or did it provide it 20 additional years of artificial life support?

Nuclear. The Schroeder government initiated the German nuclear phase-out (which was later reverted and re-reverted by Merkel). But rumor has it that the nuclear phase-out wasn't only motivated by the greens being anti-nuke, but also by Schroeder being interested in pushing gas instead. Btw., after his chancellorship, Schroeder got a post at the Russian state gas supplier Gazprom.

Germany's gas problem wasn't purely about energy, but the availability of feedstock to produce chemicals.

Natural gas, being 90% methane, is a valuable source of hydrogen.

Re: German battery maker Varta files insolvency applications

#44

Post by lnsru »

sajithdilshan wrote: post #34
m00dy wrote: post #28

so sad to see Germany's fall right in front of our eyes.

As the brits would say, write off Germans at your own peril. They survived two world wars and still became the biggest economy in Europe, so time would tell if they would be able to turn the tide around for a 3rd time

Americans turned the tide with Marshall plan second time. There will be no third time. Germany gutted itself with: a) very inefficient federal administration system; b) insanely inefficient social system and c) uncontrolled immigration and d) writing laws accordingly car lobby group requirements. Car makers are dead. Well paid jobs gone. e) tragic demographics.

Re: German battery maker Varta files insolvency applications

#45

Post by ricardobayes »

thyristan wrote: post #26
usrnm wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuinely curious, what alternatives were there in the 2000s? Did dependency on Russian gas doom German manufacturing or did it provide it 20 additional years of artificial life support?

Nuclear. The Schroeder government initiated the German nuclear phase-out (which was later reverted and re-reverted by Merkel). But rumor has it that the nuclear phase-out wasn't only motivated by the greens being anti-nuke, but also by Schroeder being interested in pushing gas instead. Btw., after his chancellorship, Schroeder got a post at the Russian state gas supplier Gazprom.

That's just the energy part of it, German heavy industry needs petroleum-derived products as raw materials.

Re: German battery maker Varta files insolvency applications

#46

Post by tyromaniac »

dachworker wrote: post #37
Tade0 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Schroeder lobbied for Germany to remain dependent on Russian gas. Huge net negative in the long run.

At the time it was a perfectly rational decision that followed the liberal foreign policy dogma of the time, which advocated that we tie up unstable countries with economic trade, so they become less incentivized to create havoc. Let's please not rewrite history.

*Giving "unstable" countries leverage over your economic trade

FIFY

Re: German battery maker Varta files insolvency applications

#47

Post by Towaway69 »

gib444 wrote: post #25

If this were a US company with better PR, I wonder if it would have read more like: "Varta Boldy Undertakes Strategic Restructuring to Unlock Value and Sharpen Business Focus"

Much like OpenAI yesterday: “our safety container for model testing failed completely… we have to ban open weight models so that we can corner the market” - win-win for everyone, especially openAI

Re: German battery maker Varta files insolvency applications

#48

Post by Towaway69 »

lnsru wrote: post #44
sajithdilshan wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the brits would say, write off Germans at your own peril. They survived two world wars and still became the biggest economy in Europe, so time would tell if they would be able to turn the tide around for a 3rd time

Americans turned the tide with Marshall plan second time. There will be no third time. Germany gutted itself with: a) very inefficient federal administration system; b) insanely inefficient social system and c) uncontrolled immigration and d) writing laws accordingly car lobby group requirements. Car makers are dead. Well paid jobs gone. e) tragic demographics.

Indeed, plus miles behind in tech and seemingly doing everything to maintain that.

Although the government will invest in “startups” which meant that one defence (probably drones) related startup gets 500M euros - eggs and baskets comes to mind.

Germany is in invest in defence and conscript the young mode currently. We know where that will lead.

Re: German battery maker Varta files insolvency applications

#49

Post by Towaway69 »

Tade0 wrote: post #8
lovegrenoble wrote: post #5

Rip German industry. Gerhard Schroeder was a good Chancellor.

Schroeder lobbied for Germany to remain dependent on Russian gas. Huge net negative in the long run.

In the context of the times it was the aim of Europe to integrate Russia into the EU zone.

Who gave Russia all that money to convert to capitalism after the fall of the wall? The US. Who wanted Russia to become a capitalistic nation? The west.

That it failed is in whose interest? And who is scared of Chinese influence? And who outsourced all their manufacturing to China?

Sometimes context does matter.

Re: German battery maker Varta files insolvency applications

#50

Post by signatoremo »

gib444 wrote: post #25

If this were a US company with better PR, I wonder if it would have read more like: "Varta Boldy Undertakes Strategic Restructuring to Unlock Value and Sharpen Business Focus"

In a thread about Europe’s (lack of) competitiveness and you still manage to make fun of the US on something unrelated. You really need to work on your self reflection.
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