Summertime is traveling time. Traditionally, Germans are vacation world champions. In recent times, exploring foreign countries has gained a new aspect for many of them, as in: how about emigrating to this or that country? Does Germany still have a future at all? Who’s coming here, what are they bringing and why are they coming? Who’s moving away, and why? And what does this mean for the further development of Germany? In any case, it isn’t the worst who are leaving, or at any rate thinking about it. In the summer vacation of 2019.

Not only is there an increasingly clear threat of economic decline at home, as the last net taxpayers continue to be increasingly exploited by the increasingly brazen state profiteers. Many victims, unbelievably, even cheer when soon the air, or at least aviation fuel, real estate or stock trading will be taxed even higher. The propaganda on all channels is very effective, simply invents Greta and the Fridays-for-Future brats – who, however, are having a break during summer vacation, because without school you can hardly play truant. Dissidents are not only more and more openly mocked, but also harassed, maltreated by paid thugs and increasingly criminalized by totalitarian hotheads like Peter Tauber. Run for your lives!?

Or are these actually signs of weakness, even panic reactions? Is the local ruling caste losing control? When the night is darkest, daybreak is closest. Internationally, Merkel and her associates have long been completely isolated. Only Macron seemed to stand by their side. The Frenchman then demonstrated just how close, when he simply excluded and shot down the German winner of the EU election Manfred Weber as candidate for President of the Commission. Is it not only Merkel, but also her entire entourage, including the green and yellow bogus opposition parties, who are powerless ‘lame ducks?’ Who is more in panic mode during these heated days, the exploited or the exploiters?

What will happen after the state elections this fall in eastern Germany, where the AfD is likely to significantly increase its share of the vote? My bet: Friedrich Merz will then pop up as a ‘savior’. As a German Macron. Or Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. As a German version of Austria’s Kurz. Or both. Obviously it’s not only the Greens who could cast a new, ‘sexy’ leadership for themselves. Only in the case of the SPD every agency will refuse, as they are a hopeless case. But enough of this polishing up of politics.

As is the case every year, the summer edition of ‘eigentümlich frei’ has to last for two months – which is why most of the topics featured in the magazine tend to be more timeless. The focus, on the other hand, is looking ahead. The two recent Internet visions that have received much attention, Libra and Thinkspot, Mark Zuckerberg’s new money and Jordan Peterson’s innovative social network, are not yet on the market, but the plans alone are already exercising many people. Our assessment is quite clear: one flop, one top. Both projects are competing with each other to a greater extent than it seems at first glance. Internet money is linked to an existing social platform – Facebook. And its imminent competitor is characterized by the fact that it will only be accessible against payment. Freedom of expression will come with a price. That’s exciting.

To the readers of ‘eigentümlich frei,’ I wish, as always, a great deal of reading pleasure and knowledge gained with this issue for the hot season. Even on vacation, it remains our motto: Not an inch to the neo-socialist exploiters of all countries and climates! More freedom!

Translated from eigentümlich frei, where the original article was published on July 8th 2019.