The example of German industry shows us how quickly the wrong political framework can lead to a secular decline that will also drag neighboring regions and their intertwined economies into the abyss. The decision to turn away from cheap Russian gas and at the same time show the export market China the red card will break the neck of German industry. Even the modest upswing of the present can no longer help industry, the heart of the European economy, to get back on its feet.
What is needed is a turnaround in policy, a reduction in bureaucracy, a reduction in fiscal burdens and an energy policy that focuses on openness to technology and free markets rather than on green dirigisme. The era of German industrial dominance has come to an end, labour productivity is shrinking as capital is leaving the country (136 bio. Euro last year). With its departure, german society must also say goodbye to the idea that all social problems can be solved with a fiscal watering can, in which an overgrown welfare state silences people with ever new support services. The volatility that this infantile policy implies will one day take to the streets.
I really wish more people realized that this stuff started before Covid and Russia/Ukraine. Europe created a global energy disaster with their stupid "green energy" and has managed to largely escape the blame.
reply
Sadly, this is all good news for the bureaucrats. All of this decay translates always in "the state needs to intervene more!". It's a downwards vicious cycle that has no bottom unless people wakes up, for otherwise people itself are going to demand for intervention.
Concentrate all cannons on the youth. Wake up the youth. Anything else is futile.
reply
20 sats \ 1 reply \ @TomK OP 26 May
You're right. And: strong families. (Don't do the Breedlove)
reply
Exactly
reply
Leftist policies are undefeated at creating defeat.
reply
Left, right - all are statists
reply
That's true.
reply
I like the idea of Green and clean energy, but truth is every great idea that stood for it has been killed by big oil corporations to not have the invention come to life.
Had a decentralized media been a thing, you could spread ideas like wildfires and that would quickly destroy corporations.
reply
21 sats \ 2 replies \ @andia 26 May
The challenges faced by German industry, and by extension the European economy, are exacerbated by Europe's subordination to the dictates of the United States. This dependency influences political decisions that may not align with Europe's best economic interests. The move away from affordable Russian gas and the strained relationship with China are partly a result of aligning with U.S. geopolitical strategies. For Europe to regain economic stability and industrial strength, it must assert more independent policies that prioritize its own economic needs and resilience.
reply
42 sats \ 1 reply \ @wingalt 27 May
Sadly Europeans think the US is their allies while they get stabbed in the back over and over again (i.e., Northstream pipeline, Russia sanctions, green policies making them depend on US natural gas...). The US is an empire and a bully it has no friends
reply
But UK is clearly stearing the wheels
reply