I wish we had Habeck still. He was the only one in the German executive who genuinely seemed intelligent and like he was working for the public good in recent memory.
this post was submitted on 01 May 2026
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It's not the worst possible for the few in position to profit from it. Just for everyone & everything else.
It's kinda insane.
The German government just lowered the fuel taxes - with the result of prices going up.
For everyone who doesn't know what exactly is happening:
So as a response to the rising fuel prices our government decided to subsidise fuel in order to give some form of price relief for its citizens. The funny thing is, that this subsidies were not enforced to be given down to the end consumers purchasing the fuel at the gas station. At the same time, fuel prices skyrocketed over night so that every single cent that might have been saved at the Gas station through the subsidies is gone, before a price relief even had the chance to take effect.
What's even worse is, that this is not the first time this happened. In 2022 (when the Ukraine war caused a rapid rise in fuel prices) the exact same things happened.
What's even worse is, that this is not the first time this happened.
See https://lemmy.world/comment/23514814.
"Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice... ... won't get fooled again" — some fascist war criminal
What do we call it when they fool us continuously for generations?
Kleptocracy
The fuel tax reduction being more than completely negated by corporate profits even before it comes into effect is just the shit cherry on the fucking shit cake that is our bumbling response to this clusterfuck. In this stupid fucking timeline that we've managed to manoeuvre ourselves into, this is the only bit I'm hopeful about: That this entire situation is so ridiculously blatant that Merz will have no recourse but to shaft Reiche.
Excuse the French; I'm livid.
It's not a "bumbling". That implies they are incompetent while all signs point to criminally corrupt collusion with corpos to extract wealth from the working class, rather than acting in their best interests.
Elect neoliberals or conservatives, and you'll always get a shit sandwich to bite down on, even if you occasionally like the taste.
Completely valid. I actually used to correct other users on this issue myself. Turns out it's fairly easy to fall into the same trap.
Thanks for the correction, much appreciated.
Yeah it's a lot like the anthropomorphism of AI.
We are all continuously, subconsciously, conditioned to repeat the same language the media uses to describe reality. We all gotta keep checkin ourselves before we wreck ourselves.
The worst about this: It is not a response. The CDU government was planning this way before the iran war and is still doing this despite the oil price hike and the new geopolitical situation.
Germans voted for the CDU/CSU government.
Well I sure as fuck didn't. My disdain for Katherina Reiche borders on hate at this point.
She’s the perfect lobbyist pet - as is the charismatic B(lack)undeskanzleR(ock). Her target audience is in her name.
I agree with you on how Reiche manages to serve her clientele, but I violently oppose the notion that Merz is supposed to be charismatic.
Yes, it's crazy. People still think the CxU has some hidden competency when it comes to economics but they're just here to fill their own pockets and leave the rest of us to rot when they're done.
It's almost like this problem is repeated in every "democracy". It's almost like we live in capitalist dictatorships with the illusion of democracy, not much different to communist dictatorships with the illusion of workers owning the means of production.
For a democracy to work you need education. That's where we're currently lacking and why the whole system is not working properly. It's not like there is this huge conspiracy going on. There's just a whole lot of people who are not using their rights properly. And a smaller group of elites that have the means to profit from this lack of education
E.g. in the last coalition we had politicians like Robert Habeck who definitely wasn't for everyone. But it was obvious he's trying to make a good job. But at the same time the right started a smear campaign through Springer press and too many people believed it.
People need to be educated. Then a democracy can work as intended. As long as this is not the case, it's not going to work.
Yes, but it is to a great deal the old generation who are taking the whole country hostage, with the reminder being brain-washed by Springer press.
Keeping the whole world hostage… too afraid to give control to young people.
That's what happens when 50+ year olds are the majority of people eligible to vote.
Come on! Not all of us old fucks voted for those idiots.
I looove me an old fuck with a working brain! <3
Most of the issues EU is facing now is because of failed German leadership. EU is in desperate need of deep reforms. We can't let rich countries keep fucking things up for everyone else. I don't know what the new system would look like but the fact is that the current one is only barely working.
The EU doesn't need German leadership, the EU needs to finally agree on things without some countries blocking everything. The EU needs reforms, but as far as I remember Germany was in favour and even proposed a lot of reforms, things like two-speed EU.
The car industry could have gone electric in the 1970ies as a reaction to the oil crisis.
To me this looks like a pattern.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89lys%C3%A9e_Treaty
However, after US President John F. Kennedy expressed his displeasure about this to the West German ambassador to the United States, the Bundestag ratified the treaty with a preamble which called on France and West Germany to pursue tight cooperation with the United States; the eventual admission of the United Kingdom to the EEC; the achievement of a free trade accord in the framework of the GATT; and for the West's military integration in NATO under US leadership.[10] This effectively emptied the Treaty of any sense (in Gaullist understanding) and put end to General de Gaulle's hopes of building the EEC into a counterweight to the US and the USSR. "The Germans are behaving like pigs. They are putting themselves completely at the Americans' service. They're betraying the spirit of the Franco-German Treaty. And they're betraying Europe."[11] Later, in 1965, the General told his closest aides behind closed doors: "The Germans had been my greatest hope; they are my greatest disappointment."
If someone talks about "failed German leadership in the EU" I'm not thinking car industry.
Germany supported the oil industry against its own interests. Can you expect leadership to independence from a country that has chosen to remain dependent on oil in the past?
Well, I don't want German leadership of the EU. The EU isn't the fourth Reich.
I think the paradox here is that two-speed EU would solve the problem of countries like Hungary blocking important decisions but at the same time it would allow Germany and France to sidestep opposition from smaller members and give them even more power. I don't think Germany would agree to any reforms that would diminish their power. It's a interesting topic I will have to read more about. Right now I don't really see a solution. I don't think federation is possible at this point. Most people would still simply vote for their own country's interest so bigger countries would exploit the smaller ones. Maybe we just have to wait for German economy to collapse and new leader to emerge?
Policies based upon clicks rather than logical considerations. The move to the right will always accelerate this self destruction
The price spike the day before the tax cut is a legitimate thing to be furious about - that behavior is genuinely predatory. What's getting less attention is that Germany is simultaneously one of five countries pushing the EU for a windfall tax targeting exactly that. Whether it'll be fast enough or strong enough is a fair debate. But 'bumbling' and 'deliberately doing nothing' are different problems.
I don't really understand the comments. It the fuel taxes work just like here in Italy, because the tax is a percentage of the final price, wheel the petrol price goes up, the government basically takes extra money... during a crisis.
Capping the tax is a sensible move so at the pump you only pay for the increase in fuel price, and you keep paying roughly the same amount of taxes.
I am wrong? Of course you also should incentives electric cars, but switch to electric is a longer process that responding to a crisis.
The reality is that the tax is reduced by a fixed 17 cents per liter. Now petrol stations have increased the price of the actual petrol by (even more than) 17 cents the day before the tax cut came into effect.
So those 17 cents per liter of extra profit are now paid by the taxpayer – regardless of whether they drive with petrol or not – directly in the pockets of mineral oil corpos.
It's nothing but a gift from the German government to oil companies, at the expense of the German people. And exactly this was predicted by many economists and activists.
They reduced the tax starting may 1st by 17 cents. The fuel cost at the gas stations rose exactly 17,7 cents on April 30th 12 o clock sharp. All across the country.
So now the oil companies make 17 cents more profit per liter, while the price stayed exactly the same. At the small price of a few billion euros tax money lost…
Mineralölsteuer, which is lowered now is a fixed amount. Only VAT increases which the price.