> Gas prices are double or even triple what they are in the US. It’s ok, the economy isn’t collapsing.
The Economist about Germany's economy: "a national business model build in part on cheap energy from one autocracy and abundant demand from another (China) faces a severe test". Combine the cutting off from Russian gas with shutting down all nuclear power plants, and you do have something like a collapse of the economy, at least a significant decline in its industrial output.
I believe the Economist talking about gas as in LNG and the author is talking about gas as in gasoline/petrol, likely pocking at this indicator role for economies state the latter tends to have taken on in wider coverage [0] both because it does indeed impact nearly all transactions even before we talk about individual transport, but also because it is one of the few commodities whose price the average person is faced with regularly. Here in Central Europe, no matter how our vs the US economy does, we have always been paying multiples for our fuel, though that didn't automatically mean collapse even if it feels that way to some.
Point of the author being, higher gas prices can't be directly compared between economies and all that so shouldn't be used to paint EEA members as these economic hellscapes (which always get a chuckle from me), though sudden and severe upward or downward movements could hint at a wider trend.
As someone from one of the DACH countries, it was honestly a nice read and I get their points on concepts like Überweisung, though I will say, if the author was surprised how one opens a Ritter Sport, they should take a look at the official way to open Haribo [1]. Then there is Mannerschnitte [2]. Also, yes, publicly founded mental health care requires significant improvements.
Yes but that's about industrial (natural gas) prices, not consumer (natural gas) prices. They can be very different.
> with shutting down all nuclear power plants
With shutting down the last 3 (I think) nuclear power plants. The nuclear shutdown process started in 2000. They had plenty of time to invest in enough replacement capacity, but didn't. And it was quite clear at least since 2009 that Russia is not a serious partner, so again, they had plenty of time, and did nothing.
While the factors you mention may (or may not) cause Germany to dip into a recession in the near future, calling it a "collapse of the economy" is of course gross hyperbole. Boom and bust cycles are an expected and well studied feature of developed economies.
Germany is in serious trouble. The US and China are in protectionist markets.
EU is starting to realise their labour and manufacturing are expensive and not unique anymore.
The business model is broken.
The Economist about Germany's economy: "a national business model build in part on cheap energy from one autocracy and abundant demand from another (China) faces a severe test". Combine the cutting off from Russian gas with shutting down all nuclear power plants, and you do have something like a collapse of the economy, at least a significant decline in its industrial output.