Andrew Sleigh (00:00)
Welcome back to another episode of Sprott Money Ask an Expert. And today I'm doing a little bit of a hosting and a bit of a discussion with Kai Hoffmann, who is a great host of a channel over in Germany called Soar Financially. Kai, welcome back to Sprott Money.
Kai Hoffmann (00:17)
Andrew, thanks for having me back. I'm excited to be back on.
Andrew Sleigh (00:20)
Yeah, it's great to see you again. ⁓ We were chatting just a few weeks ago and you hosted me over on your channel. So we wanted to reciprocate and have you ⁓ back on this side. And just in the last few weeks, just how much has happened? Amazing, huh?
Kai Hoffmann (00:35)
Exciting times we live in, you know, it's very exuberant. It's a bit crazy. My head is still spinning. I wanted to slow down a little bit until the year end, but we'll see where that takes us. So much happening on the macro side this week alone. It's difficult to stay on top of things here.
Andrew Sleigh (00:54)
Oh, absolutely. You know, when we were speaking, it was, uh, when was gold and silver going to slow down? When was it going to take a breather? It was just roaring. And now we're talking today and it's like, Oh my gosh, when's it going to stop going down? So, so, uh, just when you thought, you know, we were in some previous episodes, uh, I was asked about some of this kind of thing. And, and, uh, uh, I was like, you know, we're with stackers where
being careful to be too exuberant because we've been here before and then my goodness, not too much longer. And here we are ⁓ having a good healthy pullback, which we have to remind ourselves. So today I wanted to ⁓ pick your brain a little bit about what's going on in Europe because many of our listeners in Canada and the United States ⁓ may not get to hear and see too much, but if you want to know more guys.
check out Kai and his channel, Soar financially on YouTube and he's got lots of great guests over there. So Kai, if I was gonna say, what's the top thing on your mental list that would come to mind of what's going on, let's say in Germany and then maybe Europe, it's a broad question, but just the first thing that comes to mind of what's happening in your neck of the woods, what comes to mind?
Kai Hoffmann (02:17)
How are we staying relevant? I think is the number one topic of debate right now. We're like on our YouTube channel, we have a lot of discussions about geopolitics, just a macroeconomic picture, and nobody really discusses Europe or the role of Europe. ⁓ Geopolitically, we've been cast aside. We're not playing a role in the debate between Russia and Ukraine here. Middle East, we're sort of on the sidelines as well.
China debate with Taiwan and what we're seeing happening over there. We're not really involved. Europe is fairly irrelevant on a global stage at this point. ⁓ Ever since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, we've been sort of cast aside. I don't think we've acted decisively enough. We haven't really made up our mind. And the world stage is just ignoring us. We're not being a part of it. We don't have the strong leaders.
Andrew Sleigh (03:01)
hopefully enough for you to really meet up with me.
Kai Hoffmann (03:09)
⁓ We're struggling with our identity politics here. We don't know what our real identity is, what we try to achieve. We're caught in the crossroads between, are we going with geopolitics? Are we going to focus on that or just more on the Korean economy and trying to spend our money that way?
Andrew Sleigh (03:28)
Thank
What's happening with major industry in your country? Energy is a big crisis that's been maybe in my opinion manufactured somewhat with energy pipeline being blown up and all the other shenanigans going on and shutdown of nuclear power plants and all that green energy stuff. So I'm hearing challenges with major industry. Where are we? What's going on now?
Kai Hoffmann (04:00)
Well, we're managing to cripple ourselves, meaning we're inhibiting a growth. Germany officially is in a recession. We don't have any economic growth. If it's not a recession, we're definitely at a big fat zero in terms of growth. There's nothing going on. Industries are leaving. Mercedes is moving plants from Germany to Poland. Just because of energy policy is just better. Wages are better. It's just the overall environment is just better, meaning
we're being left aside. We're doing everything we can to hinder growth. ⁓ We're great on the regulatory side, Europe as a whole, siding maybe the AI regulatory framework that's being drawn up. Like it's great to have that. We probably have the most advanced AI guidelines and rules, but we don't have an AI industry. So I'm not even sure why we're discussing this. So I think that sort of shows the ridiculousness of where we're at in Europe.
I think we're trying to be holier than the Pope and that's not really the way to go. I don't see the picture in 10, 20 years and coming back to the green policies here, how they will bear fruit. I think we all want a cleaner planet, cleaner environment and all that. I think that's absolutely fine. But the cost and the cost for us Europeans, because we're sticking to policies that might not be very...
Smart. don't know, not sure what the right term is here ⁓ to be politically correct, but we're not doing it maybe the right way. And we're trying to push things through in a way that is just way too fast and not very practical. And that is hindering us. That's really killing us in a literal sense. We're losing jobs left, right and center. As I said, Mercedes is moving a plan from Germany to Poland.
just because it's more efficient and we're not making any headway and I don't see it really changing or improving the next 10 to 20 years because we're sticking to policies that are not really feasible. We just blew up a nuclear power plant this week in Germany. Maybe that's very symbolic.
Andrew Sleigh (05:54)
It seems to be the West is a race to the bottom with their policies and ⁓ similar kind of stuff going on in Canada here in the United States. ⁓ It's crazy. ⁓ I saw the other day a statistic that came out from Porsche AG. So Porsche, the sports car manufacturer, obviously you're aware, but just for anybody else, if AG threw them off is... ⁓
Their profit this year is downed 95 point something something decimal. ⁓ And I thought, wow, I've been wondering when I was going to hear a number from that small niche sports car company and for them to be down that bad. ⁓ I would shudder to think what Audi and BMW and Mercedes are down because I think they would be even more affected than Porsche would be in such a niche market because they cater to such a higher end. ⁓
⁓ So 95 % down on profit. Boy, that doesn't sound, how long is that sustainable before we start losing some of these icon companies that we can't replace?
Kai Hoffmann (07:03)
We're working very hard at killing them off. We're doing the very best, but also management is playing along. I've been watching this a little bit in the autospace. I'm by no means an auto expert or anything, but I've noticed because I personally drive a BMW as well. I liked what they were doing because they were trying to hold off as long as possible, pushing through EVs and changing their product portfolio. Of course, now they got EVs in the pipeline as well. But if I recall, they were the ones that
Andrew Sleigh (07:06)
Yeah.
Kai Hoffmann (07:29)
waiting the longest to make a change. And they were holding off to see where the direction was going. I think that was pretty smart because they have very, very advanced diesel engines, phenomenal engines, Volkswagen as well, which is absolutely insane. My dad drives a Passat and he's been telling me he's driving it with 4.1 liters per 100 kilometers. That's absolutely brilliant because gas cars use like 10 to 12 depending on the engine size and all of that.
through regulation, through policies and self-inflicted management mistakes, because why would you go or push an all EV fleet here if you're a sports car manufacturer? Then you shouldn't be surprised if it starts to come a full circle and starts to bite you in the ass quite literally when it comes to earnings season and when the costs are so high.
And it's just not practical. And we'll probably talk about critical minerals and access to critical minerals here in a second as well, which is another part of the equation is like, it's great to have those policies, but you don't have the infrastructure or the framework in place to actually make it happen, especially not by 2030 or 2035, like some of the greenies and the politicians want you to believe.
Andrew Sleigh (08:39)
Absolutely, I couldn't agree more. The political leadership is not seen past its nose. You just said it yourself a minute ago with, we just blew up a nuclear power plant. They blow them up because they don't want them ever restarted, or they want them
problematic to be able to restart it because you have to rebuild it from the ground up. And if they switch over everyone to electric vehicles, where does that energy come from? If you've blown up all of your nuclear power plants, it's not practical, not even possible. So it's ⁓ dead in the water before it gets started, which is probably part of their other agenda with minimizing travel and all that. ⁓
What's going on with the rest of Europe in the area? Like ⁓ France, I've seen some ⁓ major ⁓ protesting going on. So ⁓ what are you seeing votes that are to your neighbors on either side of you? Poland seems to be doing very well, but ⁓ to the other side, France, ⁓ some of the other countries, how are they doing ⁓ economically if you have a pulse on them?
Kai Hoffmann (09:51)
Oh, just as
poorly as we are. Some of them are actually even performing worse. If you look at some of the GDP to debt ratios, for example, in France and Italy, they're almost twice as high as in Germany, because we had the debt break for the longest time, which thank goodness held until just recently. You can debate whether it's good or bad to be throwing money at the problem and being a big spender. But having that debt break allows us a debt to GDP ratio of 1 to 70 % while
France and Italy, for example, are at 120, 130 percent if I'm not mistaken. And then politically, they're super shaky. Macron doesn't have a majority. Last I heard, I think it was 17 or 18 percent approval rating and support in France. Policies and politics are falling apart. So there is a lot of infighting going on. There's not really any relevance, again, externally because they're too focused on internal politics. And it's a really interesting system.
France just had to reelect its cabinet. I'm not an expert on French politics here, but there's just political turmoil. So they're too much focused on themselves. And again, then everybody looks at Brussels, meaning the EU, and we have Ursula von der Leyen, our former Minister of Defense there. And she's not a person that anybody takes serious, which is a big problem, because that means also that the EU is not being taken serious in the broader context. She's not part of any discussions.
Andrew Sleigh (10:48)
France just had to re-elect its cabinet. I'm not an expert on France politics here, but there's just political support.
Kai Hoffmann (11:16)
of what is happening either in the Middle East with Israel and Gaza and Palestine, any of those discussions or the Russian-Ukraine discussions. It's more individual countries. remember Macron trying to push for little bit of maybe a better seat at the table here, but that has been sort of, I don't know, it was killed off, but it's been awfully quiet around him lately because the French were trying to push their way in. It's like maybe a bit more of a dominant role in the EU, but that's gotten, that's quiet down quite a bit.
Andrew Sleigh (11:16)
of what is happening, whether in the Middle East with Israel and Gaza, Palestine, any of those discussions with the Russian-Ukraine discussion, these were individual countries that remember what Vermont tried to push for, and on the other maybe a better seat at the table here, but that has been sort of, I don't know, was killed off, but it's been awfully quiet around here lately, because the French were trying to push their way into maybe the middle or the dominant role in the EU, but that's got be the plan. That's
Kai Hoffmann (11:44)
just because of the internal politics. And that is not going too well. So he's more focused on maybe having a stable government first. But they have the same problem as any European country. Like we have a far right or the right conservative parties gaining a lot of popularity, just based on the fact that the current parties, even in Europe and France as well, are completely messing up. We had an election not too long ago in Germany and the CDO, the Christdemocrat,
Andrew Sleigh (11:45)
the internal politics and that is not going too well so he's more focused on maybe having a state of government first.
in Europe and France as well are completely missing. We had an election not too long ago in Germany at the CDO, the first
democratic...
Kai Hoffmann (12:13)
party,
I keep forgetting what the English translations for those names are, but ⁓ they made a lot of promises and I don't think they've kept a single promise. The only thing that they've done is actually making more admissions to the green parties, like in terms of lifting the debt break, part of that money that we will be spending needs to be spent on green initiatives, phenomenal or useless, you choose the adjective here. ⁓
Andrew Sleigh (12:31)
spending, you spend great initiatives, phenomenal work, useless, you choose the adjective here, but...
Kai Hoffmann (12:39)
We put the SPD, the opposing party, which only got like 16 % in charge of the finance ministry. One of the most important ministries in Germany is like, we're not making any headway. It's just we're just chasing our tail. personally, I'm looking a little bit with a bit of jealousy over at the US or even Argentina, for example, ⁓ when it comes to reforms. I think we're doing like Germany is doing well enough. Like it's not really being the
discussed or debated amongst friend circles or when you're hanging out at the pub, right? It's not really being discussed how poorly we're actually doing. So we're doing still way too well. The US is on a decline. And I think that's what we're discussing on a regular basis here. Economically, Germany is, you know, following behind there, or is starting to chase it, but we have nothing to fall back on. And we have a very weak ⁓
Parliament, Bundestag, like they're more interested in fighting each other. Brandmauer is one term that we're using here quite frequently, meaning we're putting up a wall, do not have the AFD part of any discussions. But right now they're having a 40 % ⁓ like I wanted to look this up actually before I maybe I could do this real quick. But I was going to look up the the Forza Sonntagsumfrage, which is like a Monday every Sunday. ⁓ A poll they put out every Sunday. And like, who would you vote for?
Andrew Sleigh (13:32)
in this talk. I think they're more interested in fighting each other than always. One term that we're using here for the meeting.
the AMC
No.
Kai Hoffmann (14:00)
if tomorrow were general elections. And the AFD, which is the right conservative party, is at 26%, which is the strongest party right now. And that's what we're discussing internally. We're rather fighting other parties than making any progress. So I'm actually quite jealous of what the US has right now. Trump as a person is a big problem, but I'm seeing things happening in the US. Like today, best example, $80 billion nuclear deal being signed between Cameco
Andrew Sleigh (14:25)
and the U.S. Secretary of Mr. Trump.
Thank
Kai Hoffmann (14:30)
Brookfield and the US government, meaning we want to advance the development of nuclear reactors, small nuclear reactors. And that is something that signals progress. Like people understand, hey, we have AI technology. We need two to three times the amount of energy. Actually, President Trump said that in Japan at a dinner, actually tonight as we're recording this on, what is it, the 28th, he was in Japan at a dinner signing tariff deals and treaties.
Andrew Sleigh (14:43)
We need two to three times the amount of thinner.
Kai Hoffmann (14:55)
And he said, like, well, we need two to three times the amount of energy that we have right now just to support the AI economy. Well, they get it. They understand it. We're destroying nukes, they're building them. So I'm ⁓
Andrew Sleigh (15:02)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Kai Hoffmann (15:06)
falling into a rant here, but you understand what we're getting at. Like we're fighting woke policies here and trying to figure out what we're doing with our immigration policies. We're not making any progress on topics that matter. I think we're going to fall way behind. And it's very frustrating to witness.
Andrew Sleigh (15:09)
Yeah.
So basically that's tying into the economic message as to the debts are growing economically. What I've been seeing from my angle is the West is just busy destroying itself in general, whether it be in North America or the Europe. ⁓ With the economies being in tatters in Europe, from my perspective, ⁓ that's why the various leaders are screaming for conflict with Russia.
They keep saying that Russia is going to invade Europe at any minute and they need to attack instead. it's like, this is the manipulation of the highest level. Europe, if you go back in history, has never invaded Europe. And today, what is the game for Europe to invade Europe? Sorry, what's the game for Russia to invade Europe? Which is nothing. Like there's nothing.
Kai Hoffmann (16:14)
We have
nothing that would be of value to Russia. Nothing.
Andrew Sleigh (16:17)
No,
that's it. And it's like, it's just all narrative and manipulation so that they can distract away from the government's own destructive policies so that the people don't come banging on the door. They can try and send them off to war and die against Russian soldiers, which is all, of course, know, heinous crimes. ⁓ anyway, just so switching off of political side for a moment, because I wanted to sort of get that out of the way.
as a painting, a picture for ⁓ as is the politics, as is the economy, right? So ⁓ the more destructive all that is, the more destructive your country is going to be economically. ⁓ I'm assuming, ⁓ well, let's switch to ⁓ the digital ID and the digital currency. ⁓ European Union had set a date back in March that they wanted digital currency ⁓
be ready for everybody by October. And here we are at the end of October, ⁓ dated October 28th as we filmed this. And ⁓ what is the latest that you're hearing there for any deadlines and any soft launches or implementations of digital ID and then digital currency?
Kai Hoffmann (17:35)
Digital currency like I followed a little bit digital ID not not as much I should be following it a bit more But but I hear it's all for safety It's for our safety because that way we can track what you post on X and Keir Starmer saying that in the UK is a very dangerous thing because the UK is Absolutely obnoxious when it comes to you know freedom of opinion and house evasions, although we had the same thing happen here in Germany this week We're a journalist for the developed
Andrew Sleigh (17:44)
you
Kai Hoffmann (18:01)
had his house searched because he posted something that could have been on the periphery seen as potential right-wing propaganda. ⁓ Absolute joke because it was completely taken out of context. ⁓ So that opens the door to policies that are very, very scary. And I think we're seeing that already, a misuse of power using that digital ID doesn't mean that the internet is a... ⁓
space where there are no laws or anything being applied. That's beside the point, but it just makes it easier to manipulate or maybe misuse the data that you have access to, which is a scary thing, of course. Same with the CBDCs, the digital euro. Hey, we can deposit directly into your bank accounts. Well, you can already do that, can't you? ⁓ But it's that sort of control that we're seeing and maybe China has a good idea or maybe not an idea, but something
we should be watching closely when you walk through an airport, there's a camera right next to the departure info board, for example, that scans your face and tells you exactly what gate you need to go to based on your face. So those things are really, really scary. I'm seeing that in the US or partially in Europe already implemented as well, where you have those digital boarding gates where you don't need your passport anymore. Of course, that is convenient. Maybe that helps, but I'm always very sceptic when I see that or skeptical when I see it.
Andrew Sleigh (19:00)
Thanks
Bye.
I'm always very skeptical when I see that.
Kai Hoffmann (19:21)
Same in the US. I've seen that before as well. I'm not sure I fully agree
Andrew Sleigh (19:22)
Same with the Midwest, I haven't seen that before as well. I'm not sure.
Kai Hoffmann (19:26)
with that, but I wouldn't know how to stop it either. I'm watching this. I've been the biggest hypocrite I have to admit for the longest time. I've been an advocate of BlackBerrys because I thought they were unhackable and untraceable and nobody could infiltrate my data. But then I've been using a credit card every single day just to buy a pack of gum. I do like the simplicity of things. I'm a fool for believing in
Andrew Sleigh (19:31)
This has been the biggest tip of Freda after the longest time.
on a just in five minutes.
Kai Hoffmann (19:51)
that there's certain safety or safety nets implemented here. it's a slippery slope. I get where we're going. We're in a digital society. understand digital currencies like Bitcoin is one, maybe as an alternative to any CBDCs here. So I get where this is all coming from. The society is changing. We're advancing. But it's very, very scary thinking about what can be done with that data once you've provided it.
and who has access to the data. And when you see those rates on houses of journalists even, ⁓ then we should be very concerned and maybe make sure that we have enough, what do you call checks and balances in place. And I kind of like what Elon Musk is saying, like in that regard as well, because he seems to have his head on straight, at least in that category, and that we should be following very closely.
Andrew Sleigh (20:19)
you see those raids on houses and journalists even. And we should be very concerned and maybe make sure that we have enough.
There's a podcaster I noticed the other day that was from Austria and she mentioned that ⁓ right now it's estimated about 43 % of Austrians have signed up for digital ID and ⁓ and then she's ⁓ in her opinion is thinking that once they get the majority that it will start to become much more accelerated. Right now it's you know come all you know no problem
come if you want and all that. ⁓ The United States version of digital ID has been the real ID and this kind of was under the radar for a while. And I was speaking to a hedge fund manager, reached out to me from New York a couple of weeks ago and he said they had put a hard date on the, in the States for the end of August.
that if you want to fly, you have to be signed up for your real ID. And so then he, his opinion, he thinks somewhere around 93 % of Americans have signed on to real ID. So this is their version of digital ID. So this is coming. ⁓ My understanding also is that 25 nations around the world have already adopted digital ID. So I'm seeing local to me, the language at my own bank.
is changing, you know, it used to be referred to as online banking. Now they're using the words digital banking. You know, they don't reference online banking that much anymore. And then I just got an email from my bank yesterday that said, you know, you can you can sign in for the convenience of a one login ID. OK, and that's the whole digital ID thing from the UK, the one login, which, by the way,
There was a news flash about that ⁓ a week or two ago where a hacker had busted into the UK digital ID and stole 40 million identities, which is half their population. And the parliament there years ago were sounding the alarm that this whole one login, it was a real problem. Now, where this is all going from my perspective is a...
going back to how do you protect yourself against all these things? So we've got political instability going on, which is causing debts beyond measure and all that, which is destroying the value of the dollar, no matter what country you're in. The culmination of focusing all the control down to just little points of entry. So just one little digital ID controlled by the government, et cetera.
⁓ And so the so that the few can control the many and how do you protect against all that the degradation of the economies which is ultimately going to destroy the value of the dollars whatever country you're in and then how do you stay you know keep more of your freedom and that's Ultimately, I'm my perspective that's going back to precious metals silver and gold as real money no exchange needed and have enough of that that you can ⁓
survive with and nobody has access to your money. So that's kind of where I see it as going. I see a podcaster this morning stated, he recited the Morgan Stanley 60, 2020, know, the 60 % equity, 20 % bonds, 20 % gold instead of 40 % bonds, which is of course given up the U S debt. He's now said it should be 60 % gold.
Kai Hoffmann (24:21)
and
Andrew Sleigh (24:27)
20 % equities, 20 % bonds.
Kai Hoffmann (24:30)
Is that the same analyst or is that the podcaster who said it?
Andrew Sleigh (24:34)
The
same podcaster has now said that just, you know, re-flipping what Morgan Stanley said and said, no, no, no, no, no, it should be 60 % gold or gold meaning gold, silver, if you want to keep more of your assets because it's getting that serious. so anyway, I thought, well, right on you for saying that because that's absolutely far more accurate to the truth than.
The banks have all been forced to say something because they're looking bad in this environment. they're I'm sure they're high net worth people have been have been all over them saying what are you doing? You're not selling me. You're not recommending gold and gold's gone through the roof and silver's gone through the roof and etc. So ⁓ they reluctantly have said something about it. ⁓ so if I if I asked you guy if you think digital currency ⁓ or
and or ID. It'll be ID first anyway before digital currency comes into play. They have to get that done. do you think by the end of this year in Germany, it'll be in play if you had to give your opinion on it?
Kai Hoffmann (25:46)
I think we have a form of that already with our personales. I actually don't have one. I still have the old one that doesn't have an RFID chip or anything in it. I've been sort of reluctant getting that new one. ⁓ So I have a password, of course, which is digital, I'd say, but I don't have a card terminal or anything that I'll have to put my ID into to unlock maybe access to my bank account or something like that. So I'll try to fight that one off as much as possible.
As I said, but I'm quite hypocritical when it comes to that. I have certain things I don't like to do, but at some point I'll be forced to do. As I said, I'm a bit of a hypocrite because I pay everything with credit card these days because I like my bonus miles and all that. That's how they get you. But I'm not sure if there's a certain date on the digital ID in Germany when it really comes to fruition because we already have that ID card that theoretically everybody has to have.
Andrew Sleigh (26:28)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay.
Kai Hoffmann (26:42)
because you need to be able to identify yourself when you're being stopped on the street. So there's an ausweispflicht. You need to be able to show proof of ID, right? When it comes to that, I do have my driver's license, but the driver's license doesn't have that ⁓ RFID chip in it. So I've been using that for the longest time, sort of like in the US. And so far it's gotten me everything where I needed to go and people have accepted it because they don't really care, quite honestly. ⁓ Like being at hotels or wherever it is doesn't really matter. So I don't have a real date for you there, ⁓ Andrew.
Andrew Sleigh (26:50)
Show papers please. Wow.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay, I just, we've been hearing very little coming over the European Union and ⁓ lots of stuff earlier this year. And then all of a sudden it was kind of like crickets. So did they give a deadline for October for digital currency and then go around to the banks and say, be ready for October, knowing that there'd be stragglers and there might be a month or two that there's still banks preparing and maybe do they plan to launch this for January? Who knows? I guess time will tell.
Kai Hoffmann (27:38)
Like I haven't heard much
about that because I knew like October was going to be the soft launch. But of course I read the news daily and I follow it like fairly closely on what is happening. But I haven't really heard much about the CBDC launch or the digital euro. That's what we call it over here apparently. I haven't heard much about that yet. It's not or the media is being very hush hush about it to be honest. So it's actually a good point to do some more research on it because I knew as you you said like October was supposed to be the launch date. But I haven't heard much about it.
Andrew Sleigh (27:54)
Yep.
Kai Hoffmann (28:08)
and what is it, October 28th, so.
Andrew Sleigh (28:08)
They've done the,
yeah, they've done the soft launch in the UK. So they're testing the digital currency. Right now there's been articles that have come out with that. So ⁓ it's not far away in my opinion. we're going to be, guess we're going to, time will tell and we're going to find out. And that's going to have a bearing on our audiences and how they take this information and help to protect themselves. So.
⁓ We're getting close to the wrap up. ⁓ What else do you have for a ⁓ closing statement before we finish with what's happening in Europe? If you had to comment on anything else.
Kai Hoffmann (28:52)
I think that we need to wake up
over here. ⁓ We're very quick to criticize others, meaning Trump, Millet, absolute garbage, the guy with the chainsaw, but it's bearing fruit. We're very much focused on ourselves and policies that don't take us where we need to go. The world is sort of going past us. It feels like we're on a three-lane highway, but we're stuck in the right lane doing 80 kilometers an hour while everybody else is doing 120 or even more.
Just look at AI, look at energy policies. We're so caught off or so caught within debates that are not very fruitful and don't get us anywhere. Being at green policies, and again, I'm all for a green planet, clean air and all of that, but the way it's being approached is nonsensical. It's not pragmatic. It doesn't really help us further, get further along where we need to go.
⁓ It doesn't create jobs, it costs jobs, it kills our economy, it kills our industries. ⁓ Knowing where we are coming from here in Germany, yes, we had a lot of heavy industry back in the day, but we're also quite innovative and that's completely being killed off. Because also it's like nothing works without subsidies. Now we're even thinking about adding subsidies for hybrid vehicles, which is absolutely nonsensical in my opinion. Like why would we do that? ⁓ I think it's just a...
Andrew Sleigh (30:06)
without subsidies, not even thinking about adding subsidies for a favorite vehicle. Which is absolutely nonsense, but anyway, we'll on to questions. We'll keep it at that.
Kai Hoffmann (30:15)
maybe an olive branch to the auto industry, but I think that doesn't make any sense whatsoever. If you can buy an X5 that weighs three tons and actually pay less than a diesel Volkswagen Passat on a monthly basis, which uses way less gas, is a lot lighter and is way more, let's say, energy efficient. It really blows my mind. I think we've really lost track of what is important.
Andrew Sleigh (30:18)
Any sense whatsoever, we'll be right next slide.
way less gas, a lot lighter, and it's way more, let's say, energy efficient.
what
is important.
Kai Hoffmann (30:41)
And as I said before,
I'm quite jealous of what is happening in the US and the nuclear deal that was announced today is the best example for it. The US understands what is happening and is really maybe shifting policies to the detriment of many Americans. And rhetoric is killing a lot of ⁓ maybe message or is killing some of the messages that are being put out there. But in my opinion, it's going in the right direction. And I wouldn't really bet on the death of the dollar just yet.
Andrew Sleigh (30:50)
that's really maybe shifting policies into the detriment of many Americans. Like, Raderick is killing a lot of that. Maybe message, or is killing some messages that are being put out there. But in my opinion, it's going in the right direction.
Kai Hoffmann (31:09)
Because the US is implementing a lot of policies, I keep coming back to AI for example, but also energy policies that make a whole lot of sense and will sort of future proof the US. And not just from a military standpoint. And the military used to be that main driver for the US inserting dominance worldwide, but I think that is slowly changing. China is catching up, for example, but the US is doing a great job fighting and maybe retaining control of AI dominance. And that'll be the next frontier. And as I said before,
Andrew Sleigh (31:11)
implementing lot of policies and I keep coming back to AI for example, but also energy policies that make a lot of sense in the sort of future.
Kai Hoffmann (31:38)
Europe has the greatest regulatory guidelines, but we have no AI technology or any AI larger language models, anything to fall back on.
Andrew Sleigh (31:49)
Well, that's a good way to end this.
I want to congratulate you on your channel. for our viewers here in North America, Kai is the ⁓ host of SOAR financially on YouTube and you've had some fantastic guests there locally. go and check him out. And Kai, thank you so much again for coming over across the pond and ⁓ visiting us at Sprout Money. And I hope you have a great rest of the fall. And ⁓ I guess we'll chat again sometime soon and get an update.
Kai Hoffmann (32:20)
Absolutely. It was a pleasure to be on Andrew and we'll talk soon.
Andrew Sleigh (32:24)
Thank you.
Cart
Share: