War, corona, inflation and more: Germany is struggling with a multi-crisis - away with the ban on thinking
Created: 07/04/2022Updated: 07/04/2022 18:31
By: Georg Anastasiadis
Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the ARD interview.
A commentary by Merkur Editor-in-Chief Georg Anastasiadis.
© John MACDOUGALL / AFP / Klaus Haag
Germany is struggling with a multi-crisis due to the Ukraine war, pandemic and other critical developments.
Now some bans on thinking have to be removed, comments Georg Anastasiadis.
Even experienced economists are sweating on the forehead of the current chain of various crises: war, corona, labor shortages, energy shortages, inflation.
The tried-and-tested recipes from the textbook fail in stagflation, and interest and fiscal policies are reaching their limits.
The Chancellor's idea of a "concerted action" in which everyone joins forces, agrees on moderate salary settlements and the state gives tax breaks to one-off payments to employees points in the right direction, but must not be limited to collective bargaining policy.
In order to cope with the multi-crisis, we have to make many adjustments.
The Chancellor's idea of concerted action points in the right direction
Speaking of labor market policy: companies are desperately looking for employees – but far too often the CSU-led Bavarian state government sends home well-integrated migrants who have been working in the local bakery or in the tavern for years.
This exacerbates the labor shortage, drives up prices, deprives the state of revenue and harms everyone involved.
Speaking of energy policy: there is a risk of gas collapse and power blackouts in winter – but the Greens and SPD are refusing, for purely ideological reasons and under flimsy pretexts, to extend the operating times of nuclear reactors, which even the EU is now demanding from Berlin.
A debate about domestic fracking gas, which could be extracted much more gently today than it was ten years ago, is stalled.
This also drives up prices and threatens Germany as an industrial location.
Keyword tax policy: The traffic light sponsors fuel with tank discounts, but does not cancel the VAT on the drastically expensive basic food, which is a burden on families in particular.
Many households lack the money to live on when the additional gas payment comes.
But the FDP in particular is slowing down, worried about breaking even.
It's true: In Germany, mental blocks must be removed - but in all and in many political fields.
