GERMANY: POWERHOUSE TO POORHOUSE

Germany an economic basket case? Only a few years ago this would have been thought utterly impossible. Now it is emerging as a serious threat, one German taxpayers will experience ever more directly.

No one is supposed to say so but the destruction of the Nordstream pipelines and ending the possibility of receiving inexpensive gas from Russia is leading to the steady destruction of German industry.

Due to the reduction (if not complete ending) of the supply of inexpensive energy from Russia, Germany’s energy costs have soared, making its products ever more uncompetitive on the world market. Within this market China is increasingly the supplier of choice, creating much sought-after products delivered at attractive prices. The price of Chinese products is far lower than anything the West can deliver due to China receiving copious supplies of very reasonably priced Russian energy.

In addition to no longer having unhindered access to Russian energy, successive German governments since 2014 have chosen to squander ever larger amounts of their hard-earned taxpayers money by pouring it into the black hole/money pit of Ukraine.

Now the present German government led by Chancellor Merz is going to take young men from Germany’s work pool and force them into uniform with a view to going to war with the Russian Federation sometime between 20027 and 2030. The German taxpayers will once again have to shell out more millions per year for this enterprise.

How likely is it that German youth will respond meekly to being dragooned into military training and the rigors of army life? If the anarchic, often violent tendencies of certain sectors of Germany’s youth are anything to go by it must be suspected that trouble is ahead. If the chaos of violent protest erupts on the streets of major German cities this will bring expense increases of their own. The policy to have mandatory conscription into the German army is a recipe for disaster bringing in its wake potential massive destruction of property and certainly the destabilization of normality costing many additional millions, if not billions.

In the midst of the likely turmoil, lacking any cheap and reliable energy sources, either via nuclear energy or through the now cauterized Russian supply, Germany is looking at an inexorable downward spiral.

German products have earned respect all around the world for their efficiency and reliability at a cost that has been considered worth paying. Now however, with the increasing reliance on U.S. liquid natural gas (LNG) which costs multiple times more than Russian gas those prices cannot help but soar.

How many will be willing to purchase expensive German products in future when equivalent Chinese products surpassing them in quality become ever more enticing?

In addition to all else the German political elite, instead of concentrating on assisting German industry to thrive across global markets in terms of consumer products it aims instead to concentrate on building its manufacture of military vehicles. This will further erode Germany’s competitive edge as its commercial sector will inevitably decline.

Until very recently we were told regularly that Germany was ‘The Powerhouse of Europe’. Its people had worked hard and diligently to maintain this enviable reputation for their nation. Now, unless Germany rethinks and reverses its present suicidal policies it looks increasingly likely to be called ‘The Poorhouse of Europe’ instead.

GERMANY: POWERHOUSE TO POORHOUSE