Consumer sentiment rises to five-year high

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Consumer sentiment rises to five-year high

Even the escalation of the debt crisis in cyprus has not been able to put a lasting damper on consumer sentiment in this country, the market research institute gfk announced in nurnberg on tuesday. "Consumers appear to be very relaxed about their own economic situation in view of stable labor market figures and income increases."

Consumers’ buying mood in april was correspondingly buoyant. However, the burgers were less optimistic about the economy. Nevertheless, the consumer climate index for may, calculated by the gfk, rose to its highest level since october 2007: it climbed from a revised 6.0 points in april to 6.2 points today.

Germans don’t let the cyprus crisis spoil their desire to spend money. On the contrary, the controversial decision to include deposits of more than 100,000 euros in the crisis management for the first time actually cut the high flight of the local consumer climate. "The mere fact that it is basically possible for the state to get its hands on savings is enough to scare consumers," explained gfk consumer expert rolf burkl in an interview with dpa.

Many are concerned that they could one day suffer a similar fate.

Germans’ propensity to save had fallen to an all-time low in april. The willingness to save is seen as a mirror image of the propensity to buy, which recently increased slightly. Supported by stable employment, income growth and low inflation, this sub-indicator reached its highest level in more than a year.

After all, consumption is one of the few alternatives to a bank account, burkl explained. "I can go to the stock exchange and speculate. But after the dotcom bubble burst, many bundesburgers have become a bit more cautious."Especially as confidence in the financial markets is still in tatters following the lehman bankruptcy.

"From that point of view, people are looking for a value investment. The money (…) will not be "pointless consumed, but value acquisitions are purchased, especially real estate," reported the consumer expert. In line with this, the retail sector is not making any major leaps at the moment despite the good consumer mood. Sales fell by 1.4 percent in nominal terms and by 2.8 percent in price-adjusted terms in march compared with the previous year, according to the federal statistical office. However, march 2013 had two fewer sales days than march 2012. In february, sales had already fallen by 2.6 percent year-on-year after adjustment for prices.

The german retail association (HDE) spoke of stable development and expressed confidence for 2013 as a whole. "We have the entire summer business ahead of us. In this respect, we expect a good development," said HDE spokesman kai falk.

According to the gfk, the collective bargaining agreements concluded so far this year indicate a real increase in income for many employees. Since inflation is also developing rather moderately, many of the 2,000 or so respondents to the representative study expected their own incomes to improve in the coming months.

By contrast, after three consecutive increases, respondents’ optimism about the economy fell slightly in april and slipped below its long-term average value. "It appears that consumers are increasingly gaining the impression that the moderate recovery of the german economy predicted for this year will be rather sluggish or may even fail to materialize altogether," the gfk explained.

Excitedly panting, havanese rod toni sits on the dressing table. Christine paulus, owner of the dog salon schnipp schnapp, has just trimmed his fur. Shortly afterwards, he proudly presents his new hairstyle to his wife, ruth scheller, who picks up her favorite. "Now it looks neat and tidy again," says the iphofen resident happily. For six and a half years, she has been taking her toni to christine paulus every eight weeks. That has been preserved. Only last year, when she was abroad on business, did she have to find another hairdresser out of necessity.

Fredy reich, who enters the store shortly after ruth scheller with his havanese-mix rod rocky, is also one of paul’s regular customers. "I actually only have regular customers and only take on new clients in exceptional cases," says the hairdresser. This is because she only has four morning appointments a week for family reasons. Only when customers move away or animals die do capacities become free.

Reich brings his ruden every three months to cut the fur: "it is very warm in the summer. At the moment he always lies down on the cold stairs to cool down. Besides, the dark hair sticks together very easily. Therefore, at the moment he is very difficult to comb."Paulus now changes that and happily welcomes the little dog.

She has been running the salon in the kitzingen housing estate for ten years now. The passion is still as rough as when he was first born. "I have always had animals, whether dogs, cats or horses. Animals have always given me a lot, and that’s still the case today," says paulus with a twinkle in his eye.

The woman from kitzingen had actually taken a completely different path and completed an apprenticeship as a machinist before a three-year stay in america got her hooked on the dog, in the proverbial sense of the word. "I worked in a veterinary clinic there, and the vet had a dog groomer. Then i thought i’d like to do that when the kids are out of the house, too," says paulus, who then completed her training in a dog salon in germany and has since regularly attended further training courses and seminars. Finally, all breeds had their peculiarities. There are undercoat dogs like sheepdogs and golden retrievers that have their undercoat cut to prevent them from overheating. For non-hairy animals like bolonka zwetna, poodles or havanese mixes, like rocky is, the ever-growing fur has to be trimmed, explains paulus, while she shortens the dog’s wool. The dog sits patiently on the dressing table and barely moves.

"Pugs don’t like to have their nails cut." christine paulus, dog groomer

However, not all animals make it as easy for her as rocky, who is also very cooperative during the next bath. "With some dogs it is already bone work, if the animal does not cooperate. Recently i had a yorkshire terrier that completely escalated. He didn’t want to be touched," says paulus, showing the bite and scratch marks. "Pugs don’t like to have their nails cut."Sometimes the four-legged friends were also muzzled. She has also had animals that she could not control. But these were dogs that even their owners had not mastered. But that is the exception, she says, and lathers rocky up properly in the wash tub.

The animals are usually washed twice to make sure they are really clean. Paulus also uses different shampoos. After all, every coat has different characteristics. "If i want to cut him neatly, i have to clean him accordingly. Otherwise the tools or even the cutting machines get broken". Before these are finally used, however, rocky is vigorously dried with a high-performance dryer. The rude man also has to endure unpleasant moments, but he does not get angry.

"It’s like with children. A certain consistency is necessary. I exude a natural authority over the dog. Then the animal that I have the say, but still feels comfortable," believes paulus, who benefits here especially from her experiences in america. A certain knowledge of the dog’s anatomy is essential from her point of view and she gently grabs rocky by the scruff one last time to trim the hair under his eyes and nose. Then, after about an hour, the havanese-mixed dog is finished and, like toni before him, rushes euphorically into his master’s arms.

At the annual general meeting of the neuses fire department, chairman michael zwingmann looked back on a club year that was as busy as it was eventful. The club currently has 327 members, including twelve new members. "The new generation is an important and life-sustaining part of the associations, of course also for the fire department", zwingmann was convinced. He is all the more pleased to have a good and strong children’s fire department in neuses.
Once again, the defense force participated in or organized a series of secular and religious festivities. This will remain the case in 2018. Highlights of the past year were the visits to various festivities of friendly fire brigades, the florianstag held in neuses and the once again very successful neusiche kerwa.
According to the commander andreas hofner, the defense department has 41 active. After youth director dominik muller resigned for professional reasons, two new youth directors were found in valentin piontek and lukas hummel. Numerous service and training events were held in 2017. During the regular inspection on 7. July the defense received a very good overall result.
In 2017, a total of 20 operations were carried out, three of which involved fire prevention. The fire involved an extractor hood on the damm, a house fire in au and the fire at the horing butcher’s shop in kronach. Altogether 527 employment hours with 225 employment forces resulted in.
For 20-year loyalty to the fire brigade the commander thanked thomas klein and for 25 years alexander horn, andreas heller and sebastian schmidt.
Since 2002, the need for a water-carrying vehicle for the neuses fire department has been pointed out in the inspection reports of the district fire inspectorate. In 2015, mayor wolfgang beiergroblein promised to purchase and inaugurate such a vehicle during his term of office. "We should sit down this year with the city and the leading commander martin panzer to develop a vehicle concept in order to initiate a procurement for 2019 at the latest, he appealed.
Respiratory protection officer alexander horn reported on two operations involving heavy respiratory protection. Currently they have 15 respirators. Eight separate respiratory protection training sessions were held in 2017. Twelve gear carriers visited the respiratory protection facility in kronach.
Valentin piontek, head of the children’s fire department, was full of praise for the eagerness of his now 25 "losch frosch. They put their knowledge to the test at the children’s firefighting olympics in wickendorf. This year, five children can be passed on to the youth fire department so that they can then go on to active service. Piontek also gave an outlook on the future of the youth fire department, which he will now lead together with his deputy lukas hummel. This currently pays two members. The demand for young firefighters should be pushed further.
Mayor beiergroblein was impressed by the performance record that had been shown. For a long time, the fire brigades have become all-round helpers with an increasingly large area of operation. "You are role models in society", he announced. Firefighting is an obligatory task of the municipalities, which had to give the active firefighters the necessary tools – taking into account the available financial resources.
With regard to the vehicle mentioned, he stands by his statement and is ready for discussion. "I stay very close to it and would like to keep it", he assured.
KBR joachim ranzenberger thanked the fire brigade for organizing florian day. In 2017, there were almost 1400 firefighting missions in the district of kronach. Knowing that you can get fast and qualified help in an emergency is a great quality of life," he said. The children’s fire departments with 250 children in the district went very well. Under other things stefan pyka suggested the acquisition of a defibrillator on the part of the fire-brigade, in order to carry this with itself with employments. One wants to consult about this.
For 25 years of active service, deputy commander alexander horn and andreas heller were awarded the silver state badge of honor. The honor of sebastian schmidt – also for 25 years of active service – will be made up for.

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