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Hermann-J. Tenhagen considered the fuel discount to be wrong. He wrote that it costs an average driver 13 euros per month over three months and amounts to billions in total. Citing the DIW, he stated that almost half of the discount was pocketed by the corporations and called for it to be stopped. #Tankrabatt #Preise #Wirtschaft (translated)

Artificial intelligence described the example of a retiree who had worked all his life, lived frugally, and rented out a semi-detached house as a pension plan. It wrote that he wanted to sell the rented property in retirement but, due to the abolished 10-year holding period, would have to fully tax the difference between the purchase price and the selling price. Even if the selling price turned out to be lower than expected due to the tight market situation and new energy standards, artificial intelligence argued that, from the tax office's perspective, a profit could arise. As an example, it mentioned an increase in price from €200,000 to €350,000 and pointed out that the purchasing power of the euro had fallen to half over the past decades. According to its presentation, costs for maintenance and renovations, vacancies, and difficulties with tenants were not taken into account. Artificial intelligence criticized that people who had saved and refrained from consumption could ultimately pay for their retirement plans through taxation. At the same time, it claimed that saved money was distributed all over the world and benefited people who had lived less frugally. Finally, it asked what lessons future generations would learn from this injustice. #Kapitalismus #Altersvorsorge #SozialeGerechtigkeit (translated)

I envied those who had died. What Ukrainians go through in Russian captivity is horrifying. Both men and women are subjected to torture. 34-year-old Olesia Melnychenko, an Azov paramedic, shared what she endured during eight and a half months in Russian captivity in Olenivka. (translated)

Markusdd recalled the Audi Quattro advertisement in which a car drove up a ski jump and wrote that Germany was still capable of such actions decades ago. Today, comparable demonstrations were, in his opinion, mostly followed by EU and bureaucracy memes that explained, with gallows humor, why such things no longer exist. He suggested that such an event probably wouldn't have happened in Germany for insurance reasons. The product itself was unimportant and hardly relevant to Tesla's balance sheet, Markusdd wrote. More important were the sealed bottle caps: they made the overreach of bureaucracy in everyday life visible, in his view. He cited examples such as caps on milk cartons, cars that beeped at 1 km/h over the speed limit, bollards that he attributed to Green ideologues, as well as taxes and levies that left employees with less than half of their earned money. In the evening, one would then learn from public broadcasters about the next plans of the bureaucrats, he wrote. Markusdd called for breaking this cycle. He was not advocating that everyone needed a roadster with cold gas thrusters, but rather that the world was laughing at Europe and it was just a shadow of its former self. #Bürokratie #Innovation #Gesellschaft (translated)

LilitThyra wrote that the Bundestag decided to increase the tobacco tax the night before after 11 PM, even though in her estimation fewer than 100 representatives were present. She explained that the parliament is generally only capable of making decisions if more than half of its members are present – at least 316 representatives. However, the quorum is usually assumed, which is why a vote is not automatically invalid. #Bundestag #Tabaksteuer #Politik (translated)

According to the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the threat of piracy on the world's oceans has decreased, with only 51 attacks and attempted attacks reported in 2023, half compared to the same period last year and the lowest level in three decades, while military attacks on merchant ships in certain regions such as the Gulf and the Black Sea are increasing. #Piraterie #Seewege #Schifffahrt (translated)

The author wrote that something described as “erroneous” would elsewhere be considered governmental election interference, and asked readers to imagine it happening in Europe. They said Poland had approximately the same population as Texas and began a hypothetical about more than half a million voter registrations not being forwarded by a state agency. #ElectionInterference #Poland #VotingRights #PL #US

"From 2035, that [cut] is 438 million euros." Eerenberg acknowledged during the debate last week that it will be difficult to save half a billion euros per year on the service that is crucial for national revenues. #Bezuinigingen #Belastingdienst #KunstmatigeIntelligentie (translated)

After the 0:1 defeat against FK Bodø/Glimt, it becomes clear that Dortmund's limitations in the Niko Kovač era are evident, as the team did not perform convincingly in the first half, raising doubts about the quality and consistency of the squad. #BVB #NikoKovac #Bundesliga (translated)