My thoughts on the current world situation
In Germany, we have hoped a little too much in recent years that things would somehow continue to improve and progress on their own. Without effort, without a clear edge, friendly to everyone – without really having to commit ourselves. We have become accustomed to low interest rates, rising share prices, working from home, an open woke culture and supposed peace. We have become accustomed to the fact that it is only fair if we cultivate a welcoming culture for almost every citizen of the world and also single-handedly save the global climate. We have tolerated our value systems being called into question and loud minorities having more say than the silent center of society. We have all become really comfortable together – or hoped that this was the new “normal”.
But it was always clear that things couldn’t go on like this forever. But it was nice.
We now know that things really can’t go on like this, because we are in the midst of a world full of crises. We have spent the last few months mainly complaining: corona, supply chain crisis, China crisis, rising interest rates, economic crisis, war in Europe, war in Israel, massively rising energy prices, an exodus of jobs, refugee crisis and, not to forget, the climate crisis. We seem to be slowly realizing that this is a systemic crisis. We can’t do anything if we only deal with individual aspects.
It doesn’t help to have a chancellor who tries to cheer us up with an increasingly indifferent expression. And it won’t help a vice chancellor who wants to tell us that we will soon have achieved the climate turnaround.
Crisis management is something we all have to do
Now each and every one of us has to question the issues we have personally “grown fond of” and make adjustments everywhere. This is how systemic crisis management works.
That’s why we have our democracy, that’s why we have voters. That’s why we have a liberal basic order in Europe.
The broad middle class has a good sense that Twitter, Facebook and the social media attention world dominated by the USA and China is not reality after all.
Unfortunately, the press, which is still fundamentally functional in Europe, has allowed itself to be drawn too much into the metrics of the attention economy and is clogging up our valuable time with lurid headlines. Or it advocates the mantra that it is better not to say anything because any questioning of the peace, joy and happiness world that has been voted out by reality somehow sounds too left-wing or right-wing. And the woks like to put everyone from the center in the populist pigeonhole as soon as there is discourse and questions or arguments are raised.
A return to views from ten or fifteen years ago ultimately still represents the views from the center of society – and should not be dismissed as right-wing or left-wing. It’s okay to recognize things from the last few years that haven’t worked in these times of seemingly endless advancement since 2008.
It is freedom to recognize and correct mistakes. It is the strength of science. It is the principle of our democracy at local, city, state and federal level.
And at all levels of our society, we must once again question what was wishful thinking and what is in line with reality. Each of us must start with ourselves and revise our assessments.
Each of us should have an opinion on the following topics of the realities surrounding us and take part in discussions. An appeal to society!
Innovation and capital marktes
It is not enough to have a few great universities and produce new findings. Only when innovations have a benefit in reality can something really great emerge. No innovation can come about without the market.
But the innovation engines that can still afford billions in R&D budgets and acquisitions are almost exclusively based in the USA and China.
Today, world-class innovation can in fact only be created in conjunction with extremely efficient markets.
Bosch, for example, as a foundation, does not have the right corporate form to be able to implement the still good ideas of German engineers on the global market. This is because a foundation simply does not have access to the necessary capital for a – quite possible – shift towards becoming a semiconductor developer and manufacturer.
Our planet
We mainly think of CO2, global warming and collapse when we think of our environment.
But we need to understand and acknowledge that we only represent a part of this world. If we are convinced that we can and must save our planet, then this can only be done by recognizing the reality: reducing CO2 emissions is only possible with technology and market mechanisms. We must be able to produce CO2-optimized solutions at a better price, to persuade others to follow us.
Bans and treaties are not suitable mechanisms, because other nations have other interests. The UN’s SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) contain 17 goals for the sustainable development of our planet. We have agreed on these as nations. This is the basis for having an impact on our planet. All this to promote sustainable peace and prosperity, to protect the planet. It is absolutely presumptuous and downright arrogant to proclaim CO2 reduction as the only true goal in preserving our planet.
Prosperity and capitalism
When Indira Gandhi presented her report ¬¬¬¬ to the Club of Rome (Limits to growth) in 1972, she made it very clear that India and other countries consider it their right to increase their prosperity.
The question is whether it is due to the mistranslation of the English title “Limits to growth” to “Grenzen des Wachstums” that we in Germany took a wrong turn in the “degrowth” direction at some point.
All other countries on this planet, including China and Russia, as inwardly communist systems, are aware that prosperity can only function with cheap energy and participation in markets on the world market.
Market growth does not always mean more physical consumption.
And can we as Westerners deny other countries prosperity? Hardly.
If we understand this, then it becomes clear that it is best not to erase ourselves from the maps with degrowth goals.
Geopolitics
With our unilateral gas contracts, we have painfully learned that there are nations with geopolitical interests and that we cannot remain neutral on the world stage. We are still an industrialized nation with interests. We are therefore economically dependent on access to cheap energy. We have to protect our own interests if we don’t want to go under. To do this, we need a strong Bundeswehr and a positive view of defence technology, of the people in the Bundeswehr and of the Bundeswehr as an organization.
We need to de-bureaucratize the entire procurement sector so that we are able to act again.
In addition, we don’t have to show responsibility for every ethnic group on this planet and lecture others with our index finger. That is arrogant, but in our current constitution it is actually ridiculous. We should show clear solidarity with all liberal democratic systems and adopt a reality-based policy with all others.
Monetary policy
Over the past 15 years of research, some scientists have made politicians believe that the old relationships between inflation, interest rates and money supply no longer apply and that it is only necessary to print enough money to solve almost all problems. MMT (Modern Money Theory) was a land of milk and honey for investors for many years, because the flood of money also made poorly managed companies more valuable.
Today, a number of proponents and academics have massive doubts about MMT and are turning to more traditional models.
Classical and neoclassical economic theory as well as Keynesianism contradict MMT and have once again found supporters and scientific approval.
Populism
When politicians can no longer explain to the people in the middle what the right thing to do is, populists get a boost. They are responsible for the simple statements. They simplify to the point of untruth but still have an important function: they hopefully wake up the democrats again and get them out of their reverie.
It is good if we start replacing people in party leaderships. We need new faces in the centrist parties, new people who are not associated with the numerous old mistakes they have made.
And we finally need more capable people in the center of politics again – this is the only way we can counter populism.
Minority protection
We must protect our minorities. But we don’t need to let minorities dance on our noses. It is okay to see heterosexuality and family as normal and to protect the values behind them.
It is clear that the protection of minorities must not take precedence over an inclusive view of the many. The many must include the few. This is an active process and means responsibility from each of us.
At a certain point, we took the easy way out and granted new rights to every minority. By granting rights to others, we have shifted the real problem onto everyone instead of taking responsibility for it ourselves. We need to reflect on this and change it.
It is the task of the majorities and the strong to think about the concerns of the minorities, to include them.
It will require a lot of trust-building in society, but the broad majority must no longer hide from the loud minorities and their insistence on rights. Especially as this is completely lacking in solidarity with the many weak and silent minorities in our country.
Achievement and responsibility
It is easy to complain about a young generation that is supposedly no longer willing to work. This completely ignores the fact that over the years we have adapted the systems in such a way that performance is no longer worthwhile.
This is the case with the false incentives of the Citizen’s Income. Likewise in companies where we have given ESG or other bureaucracies decisions on candidate selection, projects and programs. As a result, we have created systems in which no one feels or is responsible.
Performance is no longer worthwhile in woke bureaucracies because no one stands up for anything. The processes are responsible for irresponsibility.
So if we want to allow people to have fun with design and the desire to perform again, then we need to create systems in companies, authorities and associations where people can take responsibility and don’t have to fight against bureaucracy and egalitarianism.
Everyone can participate
And each of us can make our own contribution: recognize the achievements of others, allow fewer thoughts of envy and no longer insist so much on our own rights.
And everyone can also play their part in saving the world. As long as we don’t expect the state to destroy economic investments through legislation, we can channel money into early green technologies by foregoing consumption. In this way, everyone is invited to help advance Germany as a technology location!
There are certainly many more important points than those mentioned here. The world is diverse, but it does matter if we don’t take care of most things in our lives. We need to think in broader contexts again and realize that the big picture depends on many small details. And therefore also on our own attitude and the attitude we convey to others!
