Saturday, May 27, 2023

Europe’s Economic Engine Is Breaking Down -- Bloomberg -- May 27, 2023

Locator: 44766GER.  


Be careful looking at this graphic
:
 

Link here.

Archived.

This article may or may not be behind a paywall. I don't know. 

Issues:
  • most pressing: energy
    • renewable energy has been a debacle, and yet Scholz soldiers on -- making matters worse
  • next: sputtering innovation
    • problem: bureaucratic regulation favors big corporations; not start-ups
    • worse: most obvious -- automobile sector
    • China's BYD overtook VW to become the best-selling car brand in China last year
    • BYD's EV: costs a third of its VW rival; greater range and connectivity with third-party application
  • third problem:
    • banking practices archaic
  • fourth problem:
    • hesitating on digital technology
    • despite infrastructure that had it ranked 51st in the world for fixed-line Internet speeds, it had the fourth-lowest spending among OECD countries relative to the economy’s size. 
  • politics:
    • in disarray
    • Scholz won the chancellery with the lowest level of support in the postwar era as voters ditched the tradition of handing a clear mandate to either the Social Democrats or the Christian Democrat-led conservative bloc.
    • with Scholz’s messy three-way coalition racked with bickering, Germany is poised for instability, and the far-right Alternative for Germany has seized on the political vacuum, vying for second in some polls.
    • comfortable pensioners pitted against struggling younger generation
  • population
    • and worse: Germany's population shrinking AND getting older

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