[Skybird]

The Russia sanctions and Corona measures are having their full effect, ending Germany's business model: The world export champion has been relegated to the 2nd Bundesliga. The export surplus has been pulverized to just a marginal 0.5 billion euros in May. This means that the trade surplus in the first five months of 2022 fell by 70.7 percent year-on-year.

Germany is losing massive productivity and competitiveness, which will cost jobs, social security and prosperity. Who should be the number and transfer master in Europe in the future to steadily save the EU and the euro?

Italy? France? Spain? Joking aside, Germany will no longer be able to afford it if you destroy its industrial base and have no new one. One has catapulted oneself into the sidelines by political wrong decisions and a hubris. The question that then arises: Will the EU and the euro survive?

The chances are dwindling in parallel with the economic destruction of the German economy. Which would bring even more dislocation. So we see a vicious circle that reinforces each other. A solution is not in sight far and wide. Quite the contrary.

If we were to be honest, we would have to admit that we are standing in front of the shambles of a grandly failed energy policy that was ideologically blinded, pulled through come hell or high water. While we switch off, everyone else switches on. The fact that the EU has now also classified gas and nuclear as "green" with the taxonomy is a gong on the 12 and the total declaration of bankruptcy of the German energy policy of recent years. It must also be admitted that the Russia sanctions have failed and are hitting us the hardest, while Putin is earning more money than ever with his gas and oil sales.

We must not forget: Germany is dependent on cheap raw materials and their availability. While we are losing the basis for our economy and security of supply, other countries such as India, China, Brazil and Turkey are only too happy to buy the important raw materials from Russia. Which brings us back to the issue of competitiveness and productivity. It is particularly amusing that India resells Russian gas to us at a higher price. You can't make this up....

The former draught horse of the German economy, the car manufacturers, can be held up as a prime example of the decline. In 2021, production already fell by 11.7% to lose another 2.9% year-on-year in the first half of the year. Whether our car companies will complete the transformation process and survive is written in the stars. Likewise, whether the mobile future is actually electric and where the electricity required for this (I won't even start on the raw materials) is actually supposed to come from? The fact is that neither the sun nor the wind are currently capable of providing a base load.

"What a time to be alive. This English saying is truer than ever, because we are living history. Everyone can feel it: the turning point is in full swing and things are crumbling on all sides. In view of this overall situation, I find it particularly sporting that German politicians are now taking 2 months off for a relaxed summer vacation, while we are in the midst of the biggest crisis in decades due to war, inflation, energy crisis and broken supply chains - much of which the summer vacationers have brought upon us themselves. "Bella Ciao"

Marc Friedrich is a bestselling author and financial expert. His new bestseller The Greatest Opportunity of All Time was chosen by Buchreport as the most successful business book of 2021. I red another book by him some years ago: very competent, but worrying to read already back then.