Editorial

Have we all gone mad? Or are we letting others drive us crazy? Or is the theory of the unconvincible bull correct in asserting that economic crises are primarily the result of mass hysteria, fuelled by the professional bears from the business press who sadly have on their side the advantage of the self-fulfilling (shouldn’t it be the „self-foolfilling“) prophecy?
Why oh why do we listen to self-proclaimed “experts” who in one and the same article confuse recession with depression and a function (economic performance) with its first derivative (growth)? We are not actually in the throes of an economic crisis. The great majority of companies, particularly in the mechanical engineering and other metal processing sectors, are built on very firm foundations, and the majority of order books are still full – and let’s hope it stays that way!
All we are currently facing is a stock exchange crisis – which we should, in fact, welcome with open arms because it means that stock exchange prices are finally edging closer to the real value of corporations and countries. The term commonly used for this process is consolidation, and it was high time it happened. And if a few greedy crackpots go to the wall in the process – so what! Because too much greed dulls the intellect and because too many people driven by greed are at work in the financial institutions and investment funds around the world – why else would one apply to work for a bank? – many professionals in recent years have suffered painful losses – in contrast to many amateurs who have been showered with annual gains of over 40 per cent several years running.
Had these bankers invested in solid companies from the “old economy” rather than in hot air, they would be far better off today. Instead, they suddenly remembered something called commercial prudence and promptly fell back on reserve parachutes such as “Basel II”. Those who rely on regulations do not need to think.
So the global stock exchange crisis snowballed into a finanical crisis and then into an economic crisis within a matter of days, prompting opportunistic radical liberals to point fingers at the state. “Oi, Germany! I’m just a poor editor and am suffering from an economic crisis myself. Please shoulder my debt! I’ll make do with an annual salary of just EUR 500,000.”
On a more serious note before I close: On a global scale around 2% growth is still expected for 2009 (as released in mid-November), even though China’s growth looks set to fall to “just” eight or nine per cent after scoring almost twelve per cent (what a terrible recession, tut tut tut). And even if we did slip into a global depression – it would give solidly financed companies the opportunity to increase their market share: provided they do not panic-save but invest, above all, in their market presence.
Hans-Georg Schätzl
Editor-in-chief

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