Germany’s traffic-light coalition of Social Democrats, Greens, and Liberals is unable to escape crisis mode. The coalition’s top leaders, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the Social Democrats, Vice Chancellor and economy and climate minister Robert Habeck of the Greens, and finance minister Christian Lindner of the Free Democratic Party, have been facing one mess after another. … [Read more...] about Deutschland Debacle
Dragging Down Europe
The key message from the International Monetary Fund annual meeting in October 2022 was that Germany would fall into recession in 2023 with the worst ecomomic growth among the major countries. This did not come as a surprise. It showed how difficult it would be for the world’s leading export country to preserve its international competitiveness without access to cheap Russian … [Read more...] about Dragging Down Europe
Heat Pump Fiasco
Berlin’s focus has shifted. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s “tank battle” and the insufficient German military support for Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invaders are no longer the major issues. Germany’s new defense minister, Boris Pistorius, is now the country’s most-liked politician. And Germanyapproved a new €2.7 billion worth of arms for Kyiv—the largest amount so … [Read more...] about Heat Pump Fiasco
Germany in Crisis
With 10 percent inflation, a looming recession, and the threat of deindustrialization, Europe’s largest and strongest economy is experiencing the worst erosion of the fundamentals of its prosperity since the post-war economic miracle in the 1950s and 1960s built Germany into an economic powerhouse. As many of Germany’s 84 million citizens contemplate the end of their … [Read more...] about Germany in Crisis
Energy Idiocy
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has exposed Germany as Europe’s largest, strongest, and most globally connected economy in its dangerous dependence on the flow of Russian gas. Russia reduced gas supplies in June for the main pipeline Nord Stream 1 to below 40 percent, before cutting them altogether on July 11 to allow for routine annual ten-day … [Read more...] about Energy Idiocy