Get out of the comfort zone: How the national economy can be stopped from falling
It's been official since Monday: Germany's stagnation is below average European economic growth. Ironically, the largest economy in the euro area pulls the overall balance down. It can't stay that way.
Employer President Rainer Dulger has found an apt picture of the state of the German economy . One can imagine the economy like Gulliver tied up with many thin threads - a strong giant tied up with many bureaucratic obstacles. Every single thread cannot harm the giant. All in all, however, they make him unable to move.
It is not only the bureaucratic obstacles that ensure that Germany is currently being passed to the bottom of the table in Europe. All other problems are well known: The German economy also lacks a reliable infrastructure - both for transport and for the digital world. A boost and new economic growth also require affordable energy prices, more skilled workers from Germany and abroad, and planning security. These findings are not new. Unfortunately, the state and administration lack the ability to reform and innovate. Incidentally, this also applies to a part of the economy itself, which leaves a lot untouched when it comes to digitization, electromobility and customer orientation. Or what should you say when you hear in a specialist shop: Oh, the best thing to do is to order it from Amazon.
More pace from politics
The traffic light government does not have everything under its control and cannot improve everything immediately. The so-called progress coalition could and should do much more than has been possible so far. That would be feasible if the government acted unanimously and unbureaucratically. The construction of the LNG terminals, for example, was realized at a remarkable pace. The Social Democrats spoke pompously of a new Germany speed. Unfortunately, there are currently no projects in sight that would be implemented as quickly and pragmatically as this. On the contrary: if you wanted to analyze in detail why the German economy is in the doldrums, you could explain it by looking at the coalition's heating law.
Twenty years ago, Germany was considered the sick man of Europe, until then Chancellor Gerhard Schröder implemented tough labor market reforms. This was followed by the German job miracle and an economic upswing that made Germany so strong that it was able to become the mainstay of Europe in the euro crisis.
Those days are over. The weak economic development is now even noticeable on the labor market, which has been robust for 15 years. Germany can no longer solve every problem with money because the economy is no longer booming and the social security funds are now low tide. Triggered by the Russian war of aggression and the resulting inflation, but reinforced by the reform backlog in the republic, the economy is also experiencing a turning point: Creativity and the willingness to move out of one's comfort zone are now required. It's time to unleash the giant. It is also time for Germany to stop just knowing everything better all over the world. It's time to do things better again: climate protection with realism, industrial policy with pragmatism, digitization,
In the end, by the way, Gulliver escapes from the midgets. But his journey remains arduous and instructive.