Good morning, dear readers,
we start the weekend with stories that tell of the power – newfangled: resilience – of the democracies that have recently been doubted. We learn: nothing is inevitable, no fear insurmountable, there is no “fate” of any “Putinization” or “Orbanization”. The first optimistic report comes from the USA. There, the congressional committee on the attempted coup of January 6, 2021 voted unanimously to summon former US President Donald Trump.
Republican politician Liz Cheney said it was “our duty to seek answers from the man who set this all in motion.” With a demagogic speech, Trump incited violent thugs to storm the Capitol, much of which points to a network of ringleaders and Trump loyalists. Conclusion: What happened in Washington was treason. And in the end, the place for high traitors is not a parliamentary committee, but a regular criminal court.
Yesterday’s January 6 Committee meeting also unearthed new evidence of Trump’s actions. Videos of his intimate Roger Stone were shown, for example, who did not want to wait for the votes to be counted in November 2020: “Let’s go straight to violence”. The man maintained close contacts with the right-wing extremist groups Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
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CNN, in turn, aired films showing congressional leaders fleeing the mob to Fort McNair, two miles away, begging for help. Among those speaking out against Trump is his former Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao, who resigned in protest on January 7, 2021. Because of her personal values, she couldn’t continue: I came to this country as an immigrant. I believe in this country. I believe in a peaceful transition of power. I believe in democracy. And so I made a decision for myself. In these times you can not read such sentences often enough.
The second commendable initiative is to be reported from Brussels. There, Germany and 14 other countries launched the “European Sky Shield Initiative” – a better, uniform air defense system for Europe. It is intended to close gaps in NATO’s protective shield. If the defense was previously aimed at Iran, it is now aimed at Russia. Germany, which is flirting with the acquisition of the Israeli “Arrow 3” system, had pushed the action.
However, Chancellor Wolfgang Schmidt (SPD) does not want to hear anything about the often-demanded “leadership” in the anti-Putin fight through Germany. At a conference in Berlin, Olaf Scholz’s mostly quiet confidante reported that the Federal Republic is a moderator in Europe and has yet to grow into a leading role: people are still in their “teenage years” here. When he calls for tanks for Ukraine, he even thinks of a German “V2 syndrome”: We think there is this miracle weapon that can magically make things disappear. The Nazis still wanted to win the Second World War in 1944 with “V2” rockets. “Everyone has stupid thoughts, but the wise man keeps them silent,” comments Wilhelm Busch.
The third creative feat of the last few hours is the basic agreement of the federal and state transport ministers on a nationwide local transport ticket. A monthly 49-euro ticket is to follow the nine-euro ticket that was tried and tested in the summer. Although this is only a declaration of intent, the Federal Government, which is currently trying very hard to achieve positive effects, will have to be measured by the success or failure of this measure.
The 1.5 billion euros offered by the federal government from 2023 should not be enough – the federal states are demanding as much again. The best ticket is of no use if there is no bus, Bremen’s Senator for Transport, Maike Schaefer (Greens), rightly points out. It is now up to the Prime Minister and ultimately to Chancellor Olaf Scholz not to gamble away their joker in the traffic turnaround.
This Sunday, 2,300 delegates from the Chinese Communist Party Congress will line up for the grand coronation mass. After a week, Xi Jinping, the Almighty, should finally surpass Mao. The 69-year-old will be elected for his third term as general secretary, possibly even for life.
On the one hand, observers praise him for good governance and the creation of a middle class, on the other hand, a completely unsuccessful corona policy is now threatening the Chinese economy, as we analyze in our weekend title. The US economist Kenneth Rogoff has a decidedly critical attitude: “The harmful concentration of power, the completely underestimated problems on the real estate market – China has huge problems.”
The Taiwan issue in particular poses a risk for the German economy. As far as we know, some companies are currently conducting a stress test to see whether they could survive in the event of the complete loss of their China or Taiwan business. In fact, there is a double dependency and thus a double cluster risk: on the one hand on China’s mineral raw materials and on the other hand on the huge sales market there. Corporations like Infineon or VW make almost 40 percent of their sales in the empire of the world’s most powerful state capitalist, the Republic of Xi Jinping. One can easily ignore the warning of Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” that Germany must not again “make itself existentially dependent” on a state, as it did with Russia.
It’s been five years since the crimes of film producer Harvey Weinstein became known and the hashtag #MeToo became a code for sexual violence. My colleagues Mareike Müller, Hannah Steinharter and Teresa Stiens wanted to know what has happened in German companies since then. Her brilliant piece “The Compliance Trap” proves: It’s not much.
Women get in touch, explicitly describe sexual abuse of power and then the matter often trickles away. The three authors write that internal processing often does not work. Do compliance procedures often protect perpetrators better than victims? Are compliance departments just a means of protecting the facade? In an interview, Simone Kampfer says: Not everything that happens in the #MeToo context is punishable – and a company does not have to accept everything that is not punishable. As a partner at Freshfields, she is increasingly involved in #MeToo investigations into companies.
My cultural tip for the weekend: “Why it’s so hard to be a good person” by Armin Falk, an instructive book by the renowned behavioral economist, which, with many case studies, is a lot smoother than the cumbersome title. Our everyday life is an unreasonable demand, writes the author, man is surrounded by “moral stumbling blocks” when trying to distinguish between good and evil. A big problem is the “diffusion of responsibility” in groups.
Falk’s conclusion: Get out of the “feel good corner, where we make ourselves comfortable with a good self-image despite selfish behavior”. The book is on the shortlist for our “German Business Book Prize 2022”, although next week we will also be offering an undoped readers’ prize for the first time. Who do you think should win? Here you go directly to the vote.
And then there are silver coins, which investors are anything but metal-solid to own, at least if the goods come from outside the EU such as the American Eagle, Krugerrand, Maple Leaf or kangaroo. A letter from the Federal Ministry of Finance recently informed that the usual practice of taxing such foreign coins at a lower rate does not comply with EU law and is therefore not permitted.
The Precious Metals Association warns of the existence-threatening consequences for coin dealers. And the small investors who are attached to silver are unsure whether they could be prosecuted for tax evasion. The turmoil is so great that the price of silver has risen sharply. For our leisure fantasies that were stimulated in this way on Saturday and Sunday, we read from the German poet August Schnezler: “I value gold and silver very much / I could probably use it / If only I had a whole sea / to immerse myself in it.”
I wish you unexpected experiences in a relaxing weekend.
It greets you cordially
Her
Hans Jürgen Jakobs
