The question from the thread opener whether gas heating or a heat pump is better has only arisen in recent months.
But it is the paternalism of the citizen in their actually free decisions.
What would happen if, starting January 1, 2024, the sale of combustion engine cars were banned? Why aren’t they simply banned?
Because the effects of the heating ban are similar with the same consequences. Only electric cars would be allowed to be sold.
Repair of the old combustion engines would still be possible. Cars up to 30 years old would have to be scrapped. It would be exactly the same.
They just don’t dare. Not yet.
How unsettled people are can be seen very well from the posts here. The confusion could not be greater. I spoke on the phone today with an acquaintance who works at a company in northern Bavaria that manufactures windows, doors, and building elements. Their business has collapsed by 80 percent. Short-time work is imminent. Last Friday I was at a shopping mall, Friday afternoon. It was empty. In Deichmann, in the electronics store, in the clothing store, I was the only customer. Even in the ice cream parlor I was alone. Tchibo had the worst year in its company history, Aldi had losses for the first time in 2022, ZF is outsourcing. The money just doesn’t come in the mail.
“We can’t all sit in a co-working space in Berlin with a MacBook and a chai latte inventing the 10th dating app. There are also some people who have to touch things and get their hands dirty.”
As I said, the green dreams are all well and good, but unfortunately we are not alone in the world. I am now in my mid-50s, my house is paid off, and I am now finished with renovation, conversion, and remodeling. For me, there is no reason to take on new debt or to remodel my house again.
Even if, for example, I do not support the climate activists who glue themselves to things, I respect their actions. Why? Because they stand up and fight for their cause, radically and stubbornly. I do not agree with their goals, but I have to respect the manner of their protest. Other social groups could certainly learn from that.
We are only at the beginning of a development and will be increasingly driven into planned economy market influence. First the heating obligation, then the rent cap, and in the end the price collapse of real estate. Electricity and gas prices are regulated, rents keep rising despite regulation, construction prices and also prices for heat pumps are rising ever higher due to pointless subsidies. And it just goes on like this.
Gerhard Schröder is just as much a friend of Russia as I am. Does that make Schröder or me a bad person? I master the Russian language in word and writing, grew up with Komsomol members, studied Lenin’s biography, maintained many years of pen friendships with Soviet youths. I have been a guest in Russia several times, my wife is Russian and I am a member of the German-Soviet Friendship. Why should I hate a Russian or Russia? Are they bad people? Is Putin a bad person? No, of course not. If Baerbock wants a war with Russia, then she can and will get one. But she will not win anything from it.