Germany's Budget Crisis Exposes Green Fiscal Challenges

Germany is facing a fiscal crisis as its constitutional court rules that the government's plan to fund green projects through emergency borrowing violates the country's balanced-budget amendment. The coalition government is struggling to find alternative methods of funding green priorities, leading to a political crisis. Meanwhile, in the US, the Biden administration's push for widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) is criticized as an expensive fantasy. Research shows that EVs have benefited from hidden subsidies, with costs ultimately borne by gasoline vehicle owners, taxpayers, and utility ratepayers. The adoption of EVs would require significant and expensive grid upgrades, and their impact on global emissions and climate change would be negligible. Additionally, the emissions associated with EV battery production and the sourcing of materials are largely unreported. Both Germany and the US face challenges in their green energy policies, with Germany grappling with fiscal constraints and the US lacking spending constraints altogether.