The eurozone is teetering on the brink of the next sovereign debt crisis. Meanwhile, tthe largest economy, Germany, is setting a poor example with its balance sheet trickery at the fiscal level.
If you travel through Germany, you can still sense the old spirit of the German merchant class in some regions, such as cities like Lübeck or Flensburg on the Baltic Sea. The impressive merchant house, the architecture that expressed what it takes to achieve economic success, still stands today as a cautionary example for future generations. Seriousness, courage, trustworthiness and visionary power - these were values that earned the German merchant class from the 18th century on respect anywhere in the world.
And this has been reflected over long periods since these days, when the spirit of merchant ethics slowly began to take hold in German politics, which until the great world wars was of course rather particularized, but nevertheless reflected the breath of openness and respectability, and was lived out in the growing, booming middle class. The business ethic and the success based on it served as guidelines for politicians for a long time. In this way, what belonged together in Germany merged: an ethic of responsibility with economic success.
If you look at today's politics, you have to realize that there is virtually nothing left of this spirit of respectability. The green rainbow stalinism has infiltrated any social strato - it's a mind virus that attacks exactly the known fundamental principles of a stable and economical growing society. Germany's current fiscal situation looks bleak, the country is in recession and the state's debt is rising.
The serious merchant role model has become a political balance sheet trickster, and Germany has become accustomed to removing large parts of expenditure such as the green transformation, this but funny apocalyptic dream, military expenditure for the Ukraine war or even the well-encapsulated energy subsidies for the collapsing economy from the state's official balance sheet into so-called shadow budgets.
So if you want to analyze Germany's true debt problem, you have to delve deep into the labyrinthine paths of political trickery, balance sheet falsification and counterfeiting. If Germany sets the standard as the largest economy in the eurozone, then extreme caution is required when investing in this location. The crisis of the economy, the collapsing culture and society has only just begun and it will certainly not be solved with these vulgar political instruments.
Well documented, we know from the past that the moment balance sheet trickery becomes a habit, the ship has already sunk. There is nothing left to fix here, the day when the central bank will lose influence over the financing costs of the growing debt mountain, and the bond market will determine where it goes, is inexorably approaching.
The looming social and economic crisis, reflected in the aforementioned balance sheet trickery by politicians, will in the long term force society back onto a path of respectability and proper economic activity. One day, the Germans will return to the qualities of their old merchant culture and thus usher in a new era. Until then, turbulent times lie ahead!
(Lübeck, Buddenbrook House where Thomas Mann was born)