this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2023
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The change in the geopolitical order, disrupted by the invasion of Ukraine, has exposed the weaknesses of the German economic model. The German model, points out Wolfgang Münchau in one of his analyses for Eurointelligence, hinges on three ingredients: cost competitiveness, technological leadership in its industry and geopolitical stability, and ‘all of them are gone,’ he adds. On the one hand, the cut-off of Russian gas — which accounted for more than 50% of the gas consumed in Germany — has impacted the electro-intensive industry, forcing businesses like the chemical company Lanxess to restructure their business and close plants.

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[–] UnfortunateShort@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

And I claim he is dead wrong. It's hard to overstate just how much money is in and goes through Germany. Despite its size (in land and people), it's one of the largest economic and scientific powers in the world. The crises left but scratches so far.

Power was already expensive before, Germany and the EU are maybe less, but not unstable and there are tons of research and patents originating in Germany.

With a few course corrections, some of which have taken place, some more being underway and some maybe still necessary, I don't see why Germany or its economy should collapse any time soon. At least that's what Münchau seems to imply might happen.

Please feel free to tell me that I'm an idiot, if a couple years from now he turns out to be right. I really doubt it tho. There are even experts who actually claim we're in relatively good shape rn and I strongly agree with them. There is quite a bit of room to improve in some areas, but hey, just witnessed two major crises and all