by Peter Löcke //
"Nobody. Absolutely no one."
When the former state secretary and top economist Professor Heiner Flassbeck here on this channel When Markus Langemann asked who in top government circles had a clue about economic matters, his answer was sobering. Is that really the case? Does nobody even in the ministries of finance and economics have a clue about finance and economics? Flassbeck must know, because he advised these ministries. Well then. This encourages me to write about the economy as someone with half a clue. After all, unlike politicians, I am aware of my half-knowledge. Actually, I only know one thing. The economic principle. Everyone knows this principle and applies it every day. Without knowing it.
In order to do business well and efficiently, people consider two things. Firstly, his goal, the desired result. They look at what they want. Then he looks at his possibilities, the means, the much-cited resources, usually money. Then he tries to reconcile the two. There are two possible approaches. But all theory is gray, let's get down to practice.
If I want to do my shopping well and efficiently, I have two different tactics at my disposal for my weekly bulk purchases. I look at my budget of a hundred euros as an example and want to buy a large amount of food and other essentials as economically as possible for this fixed amount of money. Or I choose a different approach. I write a shopping list with specific products. I don't deviate from this shopping list and I want to spend as little money as possible on these products. Minimum principle or maximum principle? Presumably everyone applies either one or the other variant of the economic principle and has the same experience as me in 2023. Crap! At the end of the month there is far too much money left over thanks to inflation. My theory is that this could be due to a policy that doesn't follow the economic principle.
Is Germany an attractive business location from a global perspective? Of course not. Why would a large corporation with its finger on the pulse of the globe build a factory building in Dresden of all places? In a Germany with the comparatively highest energy prices and taxes in the world? That defies any economic logic, any economic principle. Unless, of course, a German economics minister comes up with the ingenious idea of luring the company, in this case the Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC, with a reported five billion euros in subsidies. Construction of the factory is due to begin at the end of 2024, and the joint venture wants to start manufacturing semiconductor chips at the beginning of 2027.
Hooray! 2000 new jobs! Germany is an attractive industrial location!
That's the consensual sound of German gazettes. It seems to be a journalistic principle to pay homage to Habeck. Reading through the editorials, I was particularly struck by the pictures. Impressive Habeck pictures, as if from an image brochure. Why the German Economics Minister needs his own photographer in view of the pictures produced by Süddeutsche, ZEIT and the like is beyond me. But that's another topic.
Back to economic logic and semiconductors. I have questions, because as a semi-literate person I am completely on the ball. From which money printing machine do the tens of billions of euros in subsidies come? Perhaps Christian Lindner knows more. Does it pay off if around 2.5 million euros have to be invested to create a single job? Hardly. Why didn't Habeck transfer one hundred thousand euros each to 5000 medium-sized companies to save them from bankruptcy? I forgot. A baker like that can stop producing for a while and then reopen his store. With fewer and fewer taxpayers and more and more recipients, who is supposed to keep the whole German store running? That contradicts every logical and economic principle. Do the traffic lights and the associated journals really believe that the whole world is watching Germany's ghost-driver project in awe and then happily imitating it? Of course not. If the German path were a smart one and not a dead end, the rest of the world would already be following it.
I have doubts and doubts are healthy. Robert Habeck has no doubts. He is very proud of himself at the moment. It is the best thing he has done in his political life so far. Habeck told DIE ZEIT. People scare me without any doubt. Repeatedly saying that you are going through with something here, even against the will of the people if necessary, is a sign of megalomania, narcissism and a denial of reality. Dear Mr. Habeck! Return to reason and simple economic principles. First comes the food, then the red-green morality of saving the world.
I would like to ask Professor Flassbeck for his opinion. Unfortunately, I can't. He would probably repeat the statement he made in the interview that nobody, absolutely nobody, in the current government knows anything about economics. So at the end of my day, I did my own field study in the economy. In the pub. A pub is the lecture hall of life. Here you meet people who are not averse to alcohol. During my people-observing field research, I came across two types of the genus homo alcoholicus.
There are those who want to achieve the highest possible level of intoxication for a fixed budget of, for example, thirty euros. And there are those who want to spend as little money as possible on the way to the fixed goal of being intoxicated. Minimum principle or maximum principle? The two variants of the economic principle.
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6 Responses
Diese Art von Wirtschaftspolitik ( der Schwampel ) kommt mir bekannt vor, das ist aber schon einige Zeit her, das war vor 1989 in der DDR genau so, habe ich schließlich bewusst miterlebt, da war ich 33. Wie kommt so etwas zu Stande, es liegt nicht an der Dummheit, die haben genug Berater die es Wissen, das sie ( die Bearbocks und Habecks und Lindners ) es nicht wissen spielt da keine Rolle, denn sie plappern ja nur das nach was von den Beratern kommt. Nun ist die Frage die, wenn die Berater es Wissen aber nicht danach handeln, warum sie das tun ? Nun ganz einfach, sie wollen ihre Ideologie durchsetzen, die sie von NGOs und Stiftungen eingeflößt bekommen, zu meist von US oder NATO NGOs und Stiftungen der Reichsten US Konzerne und noch so einigen anderen wie den Rüstungskonzernen und ihren Stiftungen und NGOs. Die Ideologie ist ihnen Heilig und alles was da nicht passt wird bei Seite geschoben, und das ökonomische Prinzip passt da am wenigsten und damit passt die Marktwirtschaft nicht mehr, denn die funktioniert ja nach den ökonomischen Prinzip ( wenn sie nicht manipuliert und Missbraucht wird, anderes Problem ). Ja was nun, die Marktkräfte funktionieren nicht nach den Richtlinien irgendeiner Ideologie sondern nach den Gesetzen des ökonomischen Prinzipes und sind damit zur Durchsetzung einer Ideologie ungeeignet, darum wird sie durch die Planwirtschaft ersetzt, und die kenne ich, die geht genau so los. Dabei spielt keine Rolle welche Ideologie durchgesetzt werden soll, das führt zwingend zu einer Planwirtschaft. Nur der Grad und die Form der Planwirtschaft ist von der Ideologie abhängig, so war die Planwirtschaft der DDR eine sehr exakte und durchdachte Planwirtschaft, sie unterteilte sich in Ideologisch herausgegebene Fernziele ( Parteitagsbeschlüsse der SED ) , dann 5 Jahresplan und Jahresplan, alles wurde fein säuberlich abgerechnet. Dazu gab es einen gigantischen Apparat, das war die Planungskommission ( Chef war Gerhard Schürer, entspricht heute den Graichen ) und der Oberste Ideologe war für die Wirtschaft (Günther Mittag im ZK der SED, entspricht heute Habeck) hatte das Sagen wo es lang zu gehen hatte um die Ideologie ( da war es die Marxistische -Leninistische, heute ist es die Klimatische- NATOistische-Wertewesten Ideologie ) durchzusetzen. Wie das endete ist bekannt, es führte in das wirtschaftliche ökonomische Chaos mit Mangelwirtschaft, Wertarmen Geld und einer florierenden Schattenwirtschaft und Tauschwirtschaft nach den ökonomischen Prinzip, darum hatten Wir DDR Bürger nach der Wende ein Problem mit den Begriff Schwarzarbeit, die gab es in der DDR nicht, die nannte sich da Subotnik oder nationales Aufbauwerk usw. und wurde vom Staat gefördert, weil sonst die Planwirtschaft schon eher aufgeflogen wäre. Die Lehre aus dieser Geschichte ist also: Wird ein Ziel oder mehrere aus einer Ideologie heraus für die Wirtschaft festgelegt, um die Ideologie durchzusetzen, so entsteht zwangsläufig immer Planwirtschaft, weil nur mit dieser die Ideologischen Ziele zu erreichen sind, mit Marktkräften funktioniert das nicht, sie spüren sofort an ihren Zahlen das die Ideologie Mumpitz ist, weil sie gegen die ökonomischen Gesetze verstößt ( Die haben den Rang von Naturgesetzen, da hatte Marx Recht ). Nun erlebe ich das nochmal und das verwunderliche ist, dass es die deutschen Unternehmer ( eigentlich Kapitalisten ) bisher mitmachen, sie schaufeln gerade ihr eigenes Grab ( Karl Marx ), aber es wird nicht durch die Arbeitnehmer ( Vormals Arbeiterklasse ) geschaufelt sondern durch ihre eigene “ Demokratische die freiheitliche Grundordnung mit der soz. Marktwirtschaft“ beschwörende Regierung . Dabei schaufelt diese Regierung, die diese Grundordnung den US Imperialismus zum Fraß vorwirft, das Grab für beide, die Arbeitgeber und Arbeitnehmer, also für Deutschland an sich, das ist neu, das konnte Marx nicht voraussehen, Beide saufen im gleiche Boot ab, wenn sie weiter dieser Politik gehorchen. Das erzwingt einen neuen Widerstand, keinen Klassenkampf nach Marx sondern Gemeinsam aller gegen diese Ideologen und ihrer Macher und ihrer Durchsetzer, dabei sollten die Sicherheitskräfte und das Militär genau nachdenken auf welcher Seite sie sich einreihen, habe ich auch schon erlebt, ich war 1989 bei der NVA und es hat nicht viel gefehlt und die Revolution wäre im Blutbad erstickt worden, am 16.10.1989 wurde die Gefechtsbereitschaft auf normal ( weis ) zurückgenommen, weil Gorbatschow der GSSG ( Gruppe der Sowjetischen Streitkräfte in Deutschland 400.000 Mann ) ein eingreifen verboten hat und eine Wehrpflichtigen-Armee wie die NVA nicht zu motivieren ist gegen das eigene Volk vorzugehen. Die Bundeswehr ist keine Wehrpflichtigen-Armee mehr, warum wohl ?
"Dear Mr. Habeck! Return to reason and to simple economic principles."
However, a return to reason and market economy principles implies that Mr. Habeck once practiced them, or at least knows the basics of market economy thinking. I can assure you, Mr. Löcke, that this is not the case. Mr. Habeck fabricates economic policy according to his wishful thinking, which has absolutely nothing to do with reality and reason. Anyone who orders high technology in Africa and South America also goes to the bakery and asks for oil sardines.
The GDR's planned economy could be forgiven for subsidizing the economy, it was inherent in the system and there was no market. Perhaps our "Economics Minister" liked this, including the inevitable end, and is working towards it a la "I've never been able to do anything with Germany". Unfortunately, the 15 billion subsidy for 2 factories is by no means the end of the story, a lot more money will have to be flushed down the toilet to keep the nonsense going.
Ich wollte denselben Satz zitieren. Bin wie Sie der Ansicht, daß für einen Sozialisten wie Habeck keine Rückkehr möglich ist, da es keinen Ausgangsort „der Vernunft und der simplen ökonomischen Prinzipien“ gibt.
I don't believe that politicians are making mistakes. It looks that way, of course. Nobody has an interest in legislative projects that work against the voters being recognized as such. A shortage of teachers, a shortage of doctors and far too few university places for decades, hospitals that are being closed at the drop of a hat, precarious employment wherever you look, incredibly high state and social security contributions for low-wage workers and young people while a Chinese company is being supported with €5,000,000,000. A national defense that has been dysfunctional for decades, an environmental and agricultural policy that leaves us with nothing but a huge pile of rubble, etc., etc., all of this is in effect politics against its own people. There was Infineon, a German chip manufacturer, which was allowed to die like a primrose, knowing full well that even our defense industry now has to have its chips baked 150 km away from the People's Republic of China. Is this all stupidity? I already doubted that with Kohl. He drove the education system further and further into underfunding and corrupted it with external funding for research and teaching. That wasn't the case when the Max Planck Institute was still called something else. It was recognized that the strength of a country with few raw materials was research and teaching and dual education with apprenticeships and vocational schools. Quite simply.
I am delighted that people are starting to think about how the market actually works and are looking for insights into the causes of certain specific problems in the market. I would like to add my own personal thoughts to your reflections.
First of all, I think it is important and necessary to identify and name the specific object of knowledge. When we talk about the exchange of goods, entrepreneurship, producers and consumers, we are talking about the market as an object of knowledge.
The next logical approach would then be to name what the market actually is. The market describes the interaction of all people with each other in order to satisfy personal needs, which not only differ from person to person, but also change constantly over the course of each individual human life. In other words, it is a very complex system that deals with human action, which cannot be explained using empirical science, but with the method of the logic of human action, also known as praxeology, about which there has been sufficient knowledge and reading freely available to anyone interested for over 100 years.
Every person must act, because if they did not act, they would not be alive. Now there are exactly and exclusively 2 ways to act. Either peacefully and friendly or aggressively and hostile.
Shopping in a supermarket or other store (seller, entrepreneur, possibly also producer) always means accepting the respective house rules of the entrepreneur when entering a store, which means that all goods that want to be taken out of the store must also be paid for by the respective person (buyer, consumer). The vast majority of people worldwide automatically accept this simple, silent rule and exchange their money for goods or services with which they seek to satisfy their personal needs.
Here, voluntary and peaceful cooperation and interaction takes place between people who are mostly strangers, where no one is interested in what religion, way of life, worldview, attitudes, origin, gender, etc. a person comes from and adheres to, which already reveals the peacefulness of a natural, free market.
Money
is therefore demonstrably a medium of exchange that is used worldwide and makes bartering between complete strangers possible. However, since people around the world are not allowed by their governments to use the commodity as money, i.e. as a medium of exchange, that they would voluntarily and amicably agree on with their exchange partners, but are forced to use the money specified and issued by the respective government, a first problem already arises and a serious state intervention (by people like you and me) in the market. Peaceful and voluntary exchange of goods is hindered and obstructed by the state (by people like you and me) and the market is massively distorted as a result. Added to this are the state-imposed taxes, levies and other prohibitions, rules, ordinances and regulations (imposed by people like you and me) on both producers and consumers, which lead to further market distortions and distortions between the people trading with each other.
The government, government ministers and politicians belong to the ruling class (people like you and me) who impose their rules on all other people under threat and use of force and can only do this because most people believe that there needs to be a ruling class that they are obliged to obey and quite a few people even volunteer to work as enforcers for this ruling class in return for payment (from tax money = stolen money from peaceful fellow human beings).
It is already clear here that the incentive structure as an individual acting in the market differs fundamentally between the people who work for the state (people like you and me) - whether as government, ministers, civil servants or politicians - and all other consumers of tax money (people like you and me) - via subsidies, pensions, social welfare, grants, etc. - and everyone else, the producers of tax money (people like you and me). -and everyone else, the producers of tax money (people like you and me), are fundamentally different. The frequently circulated and quoted statement: "The state is us" clearly shows that the state is by no means "all of us", as people are divided into net tax producers and net tax consumers.
Some are continuously robbed under the threat and use of violence and others are the robbers and share their loot with others.
In order to gain more knowledge about the function and mode of action of the market, the simplest field studies can be carried out and checked independently in the real, very personal everyday life of each individual.
If you work, for example, as a pharmacist, restaurateur or craftsman, whether as an entrepreneur or as an employee of such an entrepreneur, in order to earn your money and to finance your life with this money, you have entered into a voluntary, peaceful and consensual cooperation both as the entrepreneur and as his employee. Unfortunately, the state and its actors (people like you and me) do not allow this, neither the entrepreneur nor the entrepreneur's employee. A large number of different fee-based and regulated authorization certificates must first be obtained from the state and one of its authorities (people like you and me) for both the entrepreneur and the employee (made a supplicant of other people with whom neither the entrepreneur nor his employee wants to enter into a contract, (made the petitioner of other people with whom neither the entrepreneur nor their employees/workers want to enter into a contract, but are forced to do so under threat and use of force) and even if all the forced authorization certificates can be presented to the state (people like you and me in authorities) and the entrepreneur is allowed to open and run their business and hire employees/workers, the state (consisting of people like you and me) knocks on the door again and demands money from both the entrepreneur and their employees/workers again. The entrepreneur is also forced to take a large part of their salary from their employees on behalf of the state (people like you and me) and not even hand it over (taxes and duties), but pass it on directly to the state (people like you and me).
Anyone who fails to do so and tries to defend themselves against this renewed hostile attack will be classified as a criminal, prosecuted, sentenced, imprisoned and expropriated.
It is not only inflation, dear Mr. Löcke, that makes your money increasingly worthless, which by the way is also the fault of politics, the state, people like you and me, but much more serious and complex and the more brutally, massively and mercilessly the state (people like you and me) accesses the foreign property of its forced subjects, whether directly through taxes and levies or indirectly through laws and bans, regulations, ordinances, rules, etc..., the poorer more and more people will become, the fewer goods fewer and fewer people will be able to produce and the greater poverty, suffering and misery will spread.
Simple economic laws that only require the use of your own logical mind. As I said, I am therefore very pleased that more and more people are beginning to take a closer look and start asking more questions.
Kind regards
G. Schmidt
It's frightening: in the Netherlands in particular, I see how the export engine of agriculture is being driven to the wall. Less use of fertilizer is ordered, otherwise expropriation. There is obviously a plan behind all this madness: destroy the key economies of a country and you destroy the whole country. This is noticeable in the people: I have rarely seen the jovial Dutch people more thin-skinned than at the moment. It's as if Lead has been laid over the country. Aggressiveness is spreading in daily life. The centuries-old equanimity of the North Sea fighters is gone. Corona has done its perfidious work here and prepared everything we are now experiencing. Social distancing, my fellow human being is my enemy because he can infect me. Beautiful transformed world.