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The democratic process may empower dangerous demagogues but it can also bring about necessary reforms. And so, as Donald Trump returns to Washington, Germany appears to be moving towards loosening the “debt brake” which forbids the country from borrowing more than the equivalent of 0.35 percent of its GDP each year and impedes growth. This limit was imposed through a constitutional amendment in 2009, when the German economy was booming and the only problem that the country and the European Union seemed to face was Greece’s debt crisis. But when things got difficult, first with the pandemic, then with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the measure was suspended for four years. Now that it is back, it is clear what an impediment it is. The Social Democrat chancellor, Olaf Scholz, wanted to loosen the brake, but the leader of the conservative opposition CDU party, Friedrich Merz, would hear none of it. The Liberals, who were part of the Scholz government, chose to be thrown out of it rather than agree to loosening the brake. The country is now headed for early elections on February 23. Suddenly, Merz appears willing to discuss raising the debt limit. What happened? If the polls are correct, Merz will be the next chancellor, possibly in a “grand coalition” with the Social Democrats. He will then face the impasse that troubled Scholz. The “brake” was instituted when Angela Merkel was chancellor, when the economy was growing and creating jobs. The eurozone’s structural problems benefited Germany, as the flight of capital towards the safety of its banks resulted in the government and German companies swimming in cheap cash. At the time, (Russian) energy was cheap and America took care of Europe’s defense. It seemed that the whole world, and more and more people in Germany, were working for Germany. The government at the time, though, did not take advantage of the opportunity to build new infrastructure and to strengthen its military. Now that problems are mounting, Germany needs to break the borrowing limit of 0.35 percent of GDP. As Scholz noted, additional spending on defense should not be at the cost of investments and welfare programs. “I think that targeted, moderate reforms of the debt brake are possible. They’re being broadly debated,” Finance Minister Jorg Kukies said on Friday. He noted the need to “combine the existing fiscal solidity with better incentives for public investments in the future.” Politicians broach the issue warily, as many Germans fear debt and inflation. If the populist parties on the extreme-right and extreme-left (AfD and BSW, respectively) gain more than a third of the seats in the Parliament, the governing coalition after the elections will not have the necessary majority to amend the constitution. If Germany cannot borrow as much as it needs to, it will face an economic impasse, a weakened military, and the need to cut welfare programs, along with all the social problems that this will cause. This would benefit the extremist parties at home and the country’s enemies abroad. A wounded and even more introverted Germany will seriously undermine the political, economic and military credibility of the European Union. German members of parliament and others who participate in the public debate are aware of the need to contribute towards strengthening Europe. That is why dedication to strict economic discipline should not be an end in itself. Fortunately, the question of political survival, which democracy raises regularly through elections, drives politicians to become more flexible. In this case, this benefits their country and the European Union, too.DA Mulroy's office responds after Tennessee senator speaks out again on bond hearing decisionNEW YORK (AP) — Chuck Woolery, the affable, smooth-talking game show host of “Wheel of Fortune,” “Love Connection” and “Scrabble” who later became a right-wing podcaster, skewering liberals and accusing the government of lying about COVID-19, has died. He was 83. Mark Young, Woolery's podcast co-host and friend, said in an email early Sunday that Woolery died at his home in Texas with his wife, Kristen, present. “Chuck was a dear friend and brother and a tremendous man of faith, life will not be the same without him,” Young wrote. Woolery, with his matinee idol looks, coiffed hair and ease with witty banter, was inducted into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in 2007 and earned a daytime Emmy nomination in 1978. In 1983, Woolery began an 11-year run as host of TV’s “Love Connection,” for which he coined the phrase, “We’ll be back in two minutes and two seconds,” a two-fingered signature dubbed the “2 and 2.” In 1984, he hosted TV’s “Scrabble,” simultaneously hosting two game shows on TV until 1990. “Love Connection,” which aired long before the dawn of dating apps, had a premise that featured either a single man or single woman who would watch audition tapes of three potential mates and then pick one for a date. A couple of weeks after the date, the guest would sit with Woolery in front of a studio audience and tell everybody about the date. The audience would vote on the three contestants, and if the audience agreed with the guest’s choice, “Love Connection” would offer to pay for a second date. Woolery told The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2003 that his favorite set of lovebirds was a man aged 91 and a woman aged 87. "She had so much eye makeup on, she looked like a stolen Corvette. He was so old he said, ‘I remember wagon trains.’ The poor guy. She took him on a balloon ride.” Other career highlights included hosting the shows “Lingo," “Greed” and “The Chuck Woolery Show,” as well as hosting the short-lived syndicated revival of “The Dating Game” from 1998 to 2000 and an ill-fated 1991 talk show. In 1992, he played himself in two episodes of TV’s “Melrose Place.” Woolery became the subject of the Game Show Network’s first attempt at a reality show, “Chuck Woolery: Naturally Stoned,” which premiered in 2003. It shared the title of the pop song in 1968 by Woolery and his rock group, the Avant-Garde. It lasted six episode and was panned by critics. Woolery began his TV career at a show that has become a mainstay. Although most associated with Pat Sajak and Vanna White, “Wheel of Fortune” debuted Jan. 6, 1975, on NBC with Woolery welcoming contestants and the audience. Woolery, then 33, was trying to make it in Nashville as a singer. “Wheel of Fortune” started life as “Shopper’s Bazaar,” incorporating Hangman-style puzzles and a roulette wheel. After Woolery appeared on “The Merv Griffin Show” singing “Delta Dawn,” Merv Griffin asked him to host the new show with Susan Stafford. “I had an interview that stretched to 15, 20 minutes,” Woolery told The New York Times in 2003. “After the show, when Merv asked if I wanted to do a game show, I thought, ‘Great, a guy with a bad jacket and an equally bad mustache who doesn’t care what you have to say — that’s the guy I want to be.’” NBC initially passed, but they retooled it as “Wheel of Fortune” and got the green light. After a few years, Woolery demanded a raise to $500,000 a year, or what host Peter Marshall was making on “Hollywood Squares.” Griffin balked and replaced Woolery with weather reporter Pat Sajak. “Both Chuck and Susie did a fine job, and ‘Wheel’ did well enough on NBC, although it never approached the kind of ratings success that ‘Jeopardy!’ achieved in its heyday,” Griffin said in “Merv: Making the Good Life Last,” an autobiography from the 2000s co-written by David Bender. Woolery earned an Emmy nod as host. Born in Ashland, Kentucky, Woolery served in the U.S. Navy before attending college. He played double bass in a folk trio, then formed the psychedelic rock duo The Avant-Garde in 1967 while working as a truck driver to support himself as a musician. The Avant-Garde, which tourbed in a refitted Cadillac hearse, had the Top 40 hit “Naturally Stoned,” with Woolery singing, “When I put my mind on you alone/I can get a good sensation/Feel like I’m naturally stoned.” After The Avant-Garde broke up, Woolery released his debut solo single “I’ve Been Wrong” in 1969 and several more singles with Columbia before transitioning to country music by the 1970s. He released two solo singles, “Forgive My Heart” and “Love Me, Love Me.” Woolery wrote or co-wrote songs for himself and everyone from Pat Boone to Tammy Wynette. On Wynette’s 1971 album “We Sure Can Love Each Other,” Woolery wrote “The Joys of Being a Woman” with lyrics including “See our baby on the swing/Hear her laugh, hear her scream.” After his TV career ended, Woolery went into podcasting. In an interview with The New York Times, he called himself a gun-rights activist and described himself as a conservative libertarian and constitutionalist. He said he hadn’t revealed his politics in liberal Hollywood for fear of retribution. He teamed up with Mark Young in 2014 for the podcast “Blunt Force Truth” and soon became a full supporter of Donald Trump while arguing minorities don’t need civil rights and causing a firestorm by tweeting an antisemitic comment linking Soviet Communists to Judaism. “President Obama’s popularity is a fantasy only held by him and his dwindling legion of juice-box-drinking, anxiety-dog-hugging, safe-space-hiding snowflakes,” he said. Woolery also was active online, retweeting articles from Conservative Brief, insisting Democrats were trying to install a system of Marxism and spreading headlines such as “Impeach him! Devastating photo of Joe Biden leaks.” During the early stages of the pandemic, Woolery initially accused medical professionals and Democrats of lying about the virus in an effort to hurt the economy and Trump’s chances for reelection to the presidency. “The most outrageous lies are the ones about COVID-19. Everyone is lying. The CDC, media, Democrats, our doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust. I think it’s all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I’m sick of it,” Woolery wrote in July 2020. Trump retweeted that post to his 83 million followers. By the end of the month, nearly 4.5 million Americans had been infected with COVID-19 and more than 150,000 had died. Just days later, Woolery changed his stance, announcing his son had contracted COVID-19. “To further clarify and add perspective, COVID-19 is real and it is here. My son tested positive for the virus, and I feel for of those suffering and especially for those who have lost loved ones,” Woolery posted before his account was deleted. Woolery later explained on his podcast that he never called COVID-19 “a hoax” or said “it’s not real,” just that “we’ve been lied to.” Woolery also said it was “an honor to have your president retweet what your thoughts are and think it’s important enough to do that.” In addition to his wife, Woolery is survived by his sons Michael and Sean and his daughter Melissa, Young said. Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits .
DUP minister rejected suggestion licensing laws could be relaxed for jubilee
Residents of the inner-west are demanding that pollution filters be installed on the West Gate Tunnel’s enormous vents, which spew toxic truck fumes into the air near homes and sporting fields. Environmental Justice Australia lawyers have sent a letter on behalf of the Maribyrnong Truck Action Group urging the state’s Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to reconsider its decision to not require the fitting of pollution filters on the $10.1 billion tunnel’s twin vents. Glen Yates in front of the western-most vent under constuction. Credit: Justin McManus The two 50-metre tall concrete structures – at Whitehall Street and near Fogarty Avenue in Yarraville – will draw polluted air out of the four-kilometre tunnel and pump it into the atmosphere when the Transurban-operated toll road opens, scheduled by the end of 2025. Glen Yates lives with his wife and two children less than a kilometre from one of the vents. “I can see it at the end of my street. People think it’s a car park – if they knew they would be horrified,” he said. In 2017, the project’s government-appointed advisory committee recommended pollution filters be fitted on the vents during the construction because the area’s air quality was already poor and the project should “take every opportunity to improve [it]”. But then-planning minister Richard Wynne rejected this, saying he was not convinced the filters were justified or cost-effective. He instead supported retrofitting the vents “if warranted”. The EPA agreed and approved the works with a requirement that the vents be built to allow for future installation of pollution filters. Modelling for the project has shown that while some inner-west neighbourhoods are predicted to have better air quality, there will be occasional heightened levels of particulate matter – tiny pieces of dust, dirt, smoke or chemicals that can blow into people’s lungs. Environmental Justice Australia lawyer Elke Nicholson said the project would soon apply to the EPA for an operating licence for the tunnel. Nicholson argued that the application should prompt the EPA to conduct new community consultation on vent filtration because the Environment Protection Act has been strengthened since it first assessed the project. Under the updated act, the EPA must have a “preventative focus” and address harms to human health that may be cumulative and arise from a range of factors, which in the inner west includes existing heavy road traffic and nearby industrial activity. “If the EPA approves this without listening to the community, it would be a real failure to consider their voices and the fact that they are already overburdened with a significant amount of air pollution,” Nicholson said. “They’re impacted by air pollution to a degree no one else in the state is. People have been campaigning for decades and seeing no genuine changes.” An aerial shot of the West Gate Tunnel ventilation structure near Fogarty Avenue in the distance. Credit: Justin McManus EPA general counsel Greg Elms said extensive public consultation had already been conducted, but any operating licence application would be rigorously assessed according to the newest science and legislation. Yates – a member of the truck action group – lives near the Fogarty Avenue vent, which is about 200 metres from sporting fields, homes and a new residential development, Bradmill Estate. He said he had been diagnosed with asthma two years ago. More than 9000 trucks are expected to travel through the tunnel each day, and Yates said he worried about the effects of unfiltered exhaust emissions collecting in just two spots. The number of trucks using the tunnel will also surge. The Port of Melbourne has forecast container volumes will more than double over the next 30 years. Climate change is also expected to increase the frequency of “inversion layers” that trap airborne pollution at ground level. “As much as they’re saying it’s great from a traffic flow perspective, as far as extreme concentration of exhaust goes, Seddon, Kingsville and Yarraville cop the full brunt,” Yates said. Martin Wurt, the truck action group’s president, said the cost of filters would be minor compared with the project’s budget, which has already blown out by $3.8 billion. But it would be difficult to add later because doing so could require Transurban to shut down the tunnel for installation, he said. “If you’re really committed to doing something for the health of the inner west, you would be putting filtration in now, and EPA should be screaming out for this,” Wurt said. Maribyrnong City Council declared a health emergency in its municipality in 2023 because of the impacts of air and noise pollution from heavy trucks using local roads. One study of children in Yarraville, published in Atmosphere in July, found that truck emissions likely made a substantial contribution to childhood asthma. “If existing statistics on our poor health here aren’t enough for a trigger for filtration, I can’t imagine what ever would be,” Wurt said. Air pollution filters have been installed on tunnels in Norway, the Netherlands, France, Japan, Austria, Italy, Germany, South Korea and Spain. However, a spokesman for Transport Minister Danny Pearson said filtration technology was in its infancy and energy intensive. The spokesman said vents would push exhaust high into the air to be dispersed safely, and air quality would be monitored daily. “The new tunnels will use effective and proven ventilation technology and are being built to strict environmental standards,” he said. A Transurban spokesperson said the ventilation system had been designed to meet stringent international standards, and that it regularly published air-quality data for its road tunnels. The West Gate Tunnel’s planning process attracted more than 500 submissions, 460 of which were opposed to the project, citing concerns including air quality and health impacts. The toll road – which includes 6.8 kilometres of tunnels and 9.2 kilometres of elevated roads and flyovers – is intended to provide an alternative river crossing to the West Gate Bridge, improve access to the Port of Melbourne and remove trucks from local streets in the inner west. Transurban successfully pitched the project to the newly elected Labor state government in 2015, and is paying $6.1 billion of its construction costs in exchange for operating tolls on the new road, along with a lucrative 10-year extension to its CityLink contract.
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Freight Train Arrives In Afghanistan From China As Beijing Looks To Increase TiesCalifornia to consider requiring mental health warnings on social media sitesTORONTO — Canada's main stock index pushed higher to end Monday up almost 150 points on light trading action, while U.S. stock markets also gained ahead of the Christmas break. "Today is a quiet pre-Christmas Day of trading," said Kevin Burkett, a portfolio manager at Victoria, B.C.-based Burkett Asset Management. While markets in both Canada and the U.S. were mild, Burkett suggests watching the markets closely during the holiday season, a contrast to what's typically a sleepy period for markets. "We're continuing to watch markets very closely here because you've got some tectonic plate shifting in terms of the macroeconomic backdrop," he said. "It's all the political conversations both in Canada and in the U.S." Burkett added fiscal policy seems to be disconnected from monetary policy in the post-pandemic period. "The fiscal policy may shift and that shift absolutely has market implications both in the short and long term," he said. The S&P/TSX composite index was up 149.50 points at 24,748.98. Statistics Canada released its latest numbers on Canada's economic growth, up 0.3 per cent in October — driven by the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector. The loonie continued its slide, trading for 69.47 cents US compared with 69.61 cents US on Friday. The telecom sector was the biggest loser at the closing on TSX, which Burkett attributed to "tax loss selling happening at the end of the year." Competition Bureau Canada announced on Monday it was suing Rogers Communications Inc. for allegedly making misleading claims about its infinite wireless plans. The stock price for Rogers, which is hovering near 52-week lows, fell 0.7 per cent on Monday. Meanwhile, BCE was down almost 1.4 per cent and Telus dropped 0.9 per cent. Burkett suggested the day's poor performance among telecom companies was likely tax loss selling since it's almost the end of the year. "It's been a tough year for the communication services sector," he said. South of the border, communications services was the top-performing sector, led by large-cap tech companies. Several big technology companies helped support the gains, including chip companies Nvidia and Broadcom. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 66.69 points at 42,906.95. The S&P 500 index was up 43.22 points at 5,974.07, while the Nasdaq composite was up 192.29 points at 19,764.89. The February crude oil contract was down 22 cents at US$69.24 per barrel and the February natural gas contract was down six cents at US$3.35 per mmBTU. The February gold contract was down US$16.90 at US$2,628.20 an ounce and the March copper contract was down one cent at US$4.09 a pound. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 23, 2024. Companies in this story: (TSX: GSPTSE, TSX: CADUSD, TSE: BCE, TSE: RCI. B) Ritika Dubey, The Canadian Press
Photo: The Canadian Press Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc speaks virtually at a press conference in Ottawa. Ottawa's plan to send prohibited firearms to Ukraine to fight the Russian incursion has some experts scratching their heads, while staunch Ukraine supporters worry it could unintentionally pit aggrieved gun owners against the war effort. The Liberal government announced last week it will work with Canadian businesses to donate select weapons banned in Canada to Ukraine, though details about the new plan remain sparse even days later. Richard Shimooka, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and defence-procurement expert, said this isn't the sort of equipment Ukraine really needs to win the war and that it already suffers from a lack of standardized weapons. "In some ways it's symbolic and yet in other ways it's not helping at all," he said. "It's not going to move the needle." He points out the real problem is that shell-hungry Ukraine desperately needs 155 mm artillery ammunition, but Canada's munitions supply chain doesn't have the capacity to feed the country what it needs most. And when it comes to small arms, hundreds of one type of standardized assault rifle would be most useful. "They're all semi-automatic," he noted about the buyback guns. "If you want a true, military-style weapon being used in Ukraine, you want a fully automatic weapon." On Sunday, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump called for an immediate ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, raising questions about how long the war could last. The United States has been by far Ukraine's largest military backer throughout the war. Kelly Sundberg, a criminologist at Mount Royal University, said the move seems more like political theatre to bolster Ottawa's controversial program than a carefully considered policy, since it appears it could wind up being a small assortment of weapons and ammunition in the end. “It sounds like a political stunt and not very well thought out at that,“ he said. “It seems very hastily thought up and somewhat desperate, frankly." The Canadian government would also need to test and possibly repair the guns for safety before sending them over, he added. Yaroslav Baran, a consultant with the Pendulum Group, former president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and well-known conservative commentator in Ottawa, meanwhile, said he worries the plan could inadvertently wedge gun owners against Ukraine. "While I always appreciate any support for Ukraine from the government of Canada, the idea of linking these two completely unrelated issues is misguided and dangerous," he said. "If you're at the receiving end of that message -- the hunter or farmer being told to hand over your firearm -- you're going to get your back up. Then, the follow-up message is, 'By the way, we're going to ship it overseas to help Ukraine,' (so) your reaction is going to be 'Like hell you are.'" Denys Volkov, a community advocate in Winnipeg who was born in Ukraine and has long pushed for help for the country during its war with Russia, said he shares that sentiment and that the announcement caught many in the diaspora off guard. He said to talk about sending Ukraine "random guns taken from law-abiding gun owners" is "not a serious conversation of how to help" the country. "The type of help Ukraine needs is on a massive scale." Ottawa has insisted the move could help, even if only a little. Defence Minister Bill Blair said last week that Canada reached out to Ukraine in October asking if any of the firearms listed under the program could be useful, and Ukraine said yes. "Every bit of assistance that we can offer to the Ukrainians is one step towards their victory, and a worthwhile investment of our collective time and efforts," Blair said. A government official not authorized to speak on the record said it would be businesses, not individuals providing the guns in this case, and that Ukraine has identified some 20 different firearms that could prove useful, so it would not be a random mashup of weaponry. The source noted this comes in addition to Canada's contributions of 21,000 small arms to Ukraine, including assault rifles and machine guns. Blair said last week he does not yet know how many weapons Ottawa can supply to Ukraine through this program, and will not know until retailers provide Ottawa with information about what weapons they have in stock so the government can match that with the list Ukraine provided. When asked for comment and additional details following the announcement, neither the department nor Blair's office provided a public statement by deadline. The announcement came last week as Ottawa outlined another 324 firearms that it outlawed, contending they belong on the battlefield instead of in Canadian homes.
Australia’s sharemarket is likely to open lower after a sell-off in the world’s largest technology companies hit US stocks in the final stretch of a stellar year. Futures are pointing to a drop of 0.35 per cent, or 29 points, on Monday morning across the local bourse, to 8228, as traders take stock of a pullback in the US last week. Nasdaq, one of the “Magnificent Seven” companies, bore the brunt of last week’s selling. Credit: Bloomberg In the US, during a session of slim trading volume – which tends to amplify moves – the S&P 500 lost 1.1 per cent and the Nasdaq 100 slipped 1.4 per cent. While every major industry succumbed to Friday’s slide, tech megacaps bore the brunt of the selling. That’s after a torrid surge in which the group of companies dubbed the “Magnificent Seven” accounted for more than half of the US equity benchmark’s gains in 2024. “I think Santa has already come. Have you seen the performance this year?” said Kenny Polcari from financial advising firm SlateStone Wealth. “[This] week is another holiday-shortened week, volumes will be light, moves will be exaggerated. Don’t make any major investing decisions this week.” Steve Sosnick, from Interactive Brokers said while the market was in holiday season, he had fielded more inquiries than expected. “The best I can figure out is that there are large accounts, pension funds and the like, who need to rebalance their holdings before year-end,” he said. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 trimmed last week’s gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.8 per cent on Friday. A gauge of the “Magnificent Seven” sank 2 per cent, led by losses in Tesla and Nvidia. The Russell 2000 index of small caps dropped 1.6 per cent. The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose 4 basis points to 4.62 per cent. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index wavered. Funds tied to several of the major themes that have driven markets and fund flows over the past three years stumbled during the week ending Christmas Day, according to data compiled by EPFR. Redemptions from cryptocurrency funds hit a record high while technology sector funds extended their longest outflow streak since the first week of 2023, the firm said. This year’s rally in US equities has driven the expectations for stocks so high that it may turn out to be the biggest hurdle for further gains in the new year. And the bar is even higher for tech stocks, given their massive surge in 2024. A Bloomberg Intelligence analysis recently found that analysts estimate a nearly 30 per cent earnings growth for the sector next year, but tech’s market-cap share of the S&P 500 index implies closer to 40 per cent growth expectations may be embedded in the stocks. “The market’s largest companies and other related technology darlings are still being awarded significant premiums,” said Jason Pride and Michael Reynolds at Glenmede. “Excessive valuations leave room for downside if earnings fail to meet expectations. Market concentration should reward efforts to regularly diversify portfolios.” Bloomberg The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day’s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon .