1. Heating turnaround terrain?

Zoom Image

Economics Minister Habeck apparently no longer believes that the heating law will be passed before the summer break

Photo: Frank Ossenbrink / IMAGO

Robert Habeck once wrote about the ten books that shaped him; at that time he was still the green hope from Schleswig-Holstein and not Germany's most unpopular favorite minister. In addition to "Moby Dick" and "Miss Smillar's Sense of Snow" and the "Threepenny Opera" in the "Welt", he also mentions "The Children of Noisemaker Street". The children's book had shaped his image of childhood, family, society and politics. "The affectionate rebelliousness, the casual humanity, the cheeky philanthropy of Astrid Lindgren's Mia-Maria and Lotta, the serious irony of the parents, they are a blueprint for happiness," Habeck writes. "No one can be angry there." He quotes this passage:

All of a sudden, Lotta took a slice of Mettwurst from her bread and stuck it to the window. Mom got very angry with her and said, "Why are you smearing the sausage on the window?" "Well, it sticks much better than the meatballs," said Lotta.

In the heating controversy, Habeck and the whole traffic light increasingly seem as if they could hardly move further away from the concept of happiness. Now the entire schedule is shaky, the first reading of the bill was postponed today (more here).

The coalition partners are striking an increasingly harsh tone: Habeck today accuses the FDP of breaking its word and delaying. And the parliamentary group leader of the Greens, Britta Haßelmann, is already questioning the ability of the federal government to act and the ability of the traffic light coalition to work. It threatens the FDP to delay the expansion of the motorway in return for the heating blockade. Let's see what sticks better to the window.

  • Read more here: »I take note of the fact that the FDP does not keep its word«

2. Courses for beginners

The German stock index Dax is a phenomenon. "Pandemic, war or inflation – no matter what real or imagined catastrophes catch up with the economy, the stock market barometer is heading north," says my colleague Tim Bartz from our economics department. Hardly anyone wants to know anything about occasional setbacks – the investor sees entry opportunities. Like an elementary school student who is served every mistake as a learning opportunity. The only difference is that the performances there tend to take the southern course, to stay in the picture. (More on the poorly reading elementary school students here.)

Zoom Image

Traders on the New York Stock Exchange

Photograph:

Michael Nagle / Xinhua / IMAGO

Back to the stock market: Since the beginning of the year, the Dax has gained more than 15 percent, although inflation remains high, a war is raging in Europe and some German corporations seem to be making only slightly faster progress in digitization than faxing health authorities.

So will it continue like this? Investors should not rely on this, warns Commerzbank chief economist Jörg Krämer, with whom Tim spoke. The recent all-time high? That's all well and good, says Krämer in the interview, but most of the positive influencing factors are already in share prices. It is likely to be more difficult for two reasons:

  • The positive order effect that China's end of lockdown means for Germany's economy is coming to an end.

  • The huge interest rate hikes by central banks will slow down the economy. Why? Because it's always been like that when loans suddenly become more expensive.

    • Tim considers himself to be an average investor at best with a tendency to hesitation, as he has confessed to me, and can follow Krämer's rather pessimistic statement: "The next few months on the stock market will be tough."

    • Read the whole interview here: The Dax is outperforming US equities – what's going on, Mr. Krämer?

    3. The city monkey is listening to me

    Zoom Image

    Peter Fox in the video for the number one hit »Zukunft Pink«: Accusation of cultural appropriation

    Photograph:

    Felix Broede

    Finally Fox news, which I'm happy about – and then also from my hometown: The West Berlin singer Pierre Baigorry alias Peter Fox didn't really want to come back as a solo artist, but now the Seeed frontman is releasing a new record. On Friday, a good 14 years after his successful album »Stadtaffe«, »Love Songs« will be released, today he presented it in Berlin.

    But Fox is also struggling with his comeback: "Actually, I feel a bit too old to be a pop star," he told my colleagues Andreas Borcholte and Jurek Skrobala from our cultural department, who met him in advance for an interview. »I don't find this pure attention focused on my person so cool.« Why is he still making a new album? It wasn't planned that way, actually it was just ideas for new songs with others. "At some point it takes on such a dynamic, and people gently push you in one direction: 'An album would be awesome, wouldn't it?'

    Zoom Image

    Peter Fox (center), SPIEGEL colleague: The musician wants to see himself as rarely as possible in photos

    Photo: Felix Broede

    Andreas thinks: "Baigorry's inner conflict, wanting to expose himself on the one hand, but on the other hand constantly fearing being misunderstood or losing control of his image, is very sympathetic – and perhaps also symptomatic of our time."

    And how is the album? »Sometimes thoughtful, but also upbeat songs about how not to fall into a bad mood in times of crisis, how to stay positive and how to look for the good instead of losing yourself in quarrels and resentment.« Ye peoples of the world, seeed upon this city!

    • Read the whole interview here: »My cool is no longer the cool of today«

    What else is important today

    • From July, cars will be allowed on Friedrichstraße again: Traffic on part of Friedrichstrasse in Berlin is a political issue. After the Green predecessor had banned cars at the end of January, the new CDU transport senator will let them drive again from July.

    • Cash-strapped municipalities – Experts consider tax increases to be unavoidable: Social welfare, refugee aid, energy, personnel: Financing all this is becoming more and more expensive for municipalities. Experts agree on the consequences of this.

    • Google only has to delete search hits if false information is proven: The Federal Court of Justice has issued an important ruling on the so-called right to be forgotten. Anyone who feels slandered by false information in search results must therefore take action themselves.

    My favorite story today: Plus with funny

    Perhaps you know the situation from the parents' evening: "Well, who's going to do it?" Coughed once at the wrong time, bang, parent representative. My colleague Jens Radü had a similar experience, he had to write about the fifth anniversary of SPIEGEL+, our digital subscription.

    When journalists write about what they do, it quickly becomes embarrassing, too promotional, or both. So Jens, together with my colleague Lisa Goldschmidtböing and my colleagues Chris Kurt and Patrick Stotz from our data team, let the numbers speak for themselves: 41,132 Plus articles have been published since May 2018 (not counting those from today), and 211 new ones are added every week. Makes the equivalent of 2.4 cents per subscription for each new article. "Now all you have to do is organize your life around it to read all the stories," Jens writes in the data analysis. It also contains the 50 bestsellers and an evaluation of which countries and people we report on most frequently.

    "In the reactions, many people ask why there are so few political stories in the bestsellers," says Jens. His answer: "Texts on psychology topics or articles with high utility value retain their validity and can therefore be found in the best-of area of SPIEGEL.de or in social media even after weeks or months." "When Mama Can't Love" is such a long-seller, our journalistic counterpart to "Wonderwall" by Oasis. Investigative research, investigative stories or political stories, on the other hand, are often quickly overtaken by topicality and sometimes read strangely just a week after publication. "That's why you don't have so many opportunities to subscribe to such texts, which make up SPIEGEL," says Jens. »This phenomenon, let's call it the mommy effect, distorts our bestseller list a little.«

    • Read the full story here: How we make money – and you can read us

    What we recommend today at SPIEGEL+

    • This is what the F-16 fighter jets can do: Western fighter jets into the war zone – for a long time that was out of the question. Now an alliance seems to be forming for the delivery of F-16s. How the planes could intervene in the fighting.

    • The pious are becoming more and more greedy – let the others pay: Israel's Orthodox parties are getting more money from the new state budget than ever before. But they want more. Now they are blackmailing Prime Minister Netanyahu.

    • If "derisking" backfires: The European Union wants to reduce its dependence on China by producing more goods itself. But that could prove to be an even greater risk.

    • "People used words I didn't even know": The Federal Horticultural Show did not want an AWO dance troupe to perform with sombreros – because of cultural appropriation. On Wednesday, the elderly women dance without hats. A call to group leader Erika Schmaltz.

    What is less important today

    O Bello ciao: Hotel heiress Paris Hilton, 42, mourns the loss of her dog Harajuku Bitch – they were inseparable for 23 years. Now the animal is dead, and the owner posts on Instagram: "The pain I feel is indescribable."

    Mini concave mirror

    Here you will find the whole concave mirror.

    Cartoon of the Day

    And tonight?

    Could you listen to the old tracks by Seeed and Peter Fox, the new album won't be released until Friday, see above.

    Turn up the sound, the neighbors ham humor!

    Have a nice evening. Yours sincerely
    , Oliver Trenkamp, newspaper editor in the editor-in-chief