, Columnist
What Was Elon Musk Smoking When He Chose Germany?
The 25-year saga of a missing traffic light in Berlin speaks volumes about contemporary Germany.
Every traffic light should cause such bliss.
Photographer: Joerg Koch/Getty Images
This article is for subscribers only.
Hear, hear! Armin Laschet, boss of Germany’s center-right Christian Democrats and candidate for chancellor, just hit bull’s-eye with his ad hoc analysis of what ails Germany. Spontaneously naming this affliction “bureaucratic ping-pong,” he illustrated it with a nondescript intersection on the eastern outskirts of Berlin.
Some 25 years ago, it appears, the local mandarins decided to install a traffic light to make the crossing safer. Then the ping-pong paddles came out.