The Germans have not understood that their country is in trouble

It is not enough to have fiscal and external surpluses. Germany is going to suffer significantly from: The slowdown in global trade under the effect of the world’s deindustrialisation and the return to regional value chains; The contraction of “old” industry (internal combustion cars, chemicals, industrial capital goods); The need to abandon coal and lignite as energy sources. This points towards significant manufacturing job losses, weakened growth and rising energy costs in Germany. But the population does not realise this: it continues to demand rapid wage increases, adding another cause of economic deterioration: the decline in German companies’ cost competitiveness and profitability.