[holgerschurig]

> and their per capita figures are in a grim state

- and Germany is one of the european countries with okayish inflation rate, most other european countries are far worse https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/inflation-rate%20-...

- and it's by now economic-wise at position #3 of the world ranking, now even before Japan (which has twice the amount of inhabitants). If you look up Germany on a real globe, you'll notice how tiny it actually is

- the unemployment rate is quite low (especially given that people like you call the econimic sitation a "grim state") https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/1224/umfrage/... --- it's actually lower than in the years then people Germany "the locomotive of europe"

- the stock index "DAX" for german stock company is at an all-time high https://www.finanzen.net/index/dax

So really, the worrying thing here is that people tend to think binary. Either Germany is super-strong, even too strong for it's neighbors. Or it is too weak, so that people actually worry. In my book, both views are extreme and don't replicate reality.

> It would be extremely impressive if they can remain a manufacturing leader through this

There is no indication that this will change. Examples: Germany's battery production has doubled in the last year. And there is no end in sight --- https://www.produktion.de/technik/co2-neutrale-industrie/bat...

For the solar industry, I identify two reasons of the decline:

- first, the "high" of the german solar industry was based on subsidies. That meant that the companies build plants ... but they didn't really optimize the costs. Once this large scale subsidies were reduced, the industry wasn't competitive

- second, the EU is blind on subsidies done in China. Over there, they have a weird conglomerate of socialism and capitalism. Basically the companies, even when privately owned, are still under control of the chines communist party. And the party decides that "this industry is vital, we push it so squelch abroad competition". They do this e.g. by heavy state investments. The EU turns a blind eye here, they don't ask for tariffs that equalize the market situation for the various competitors. Similarly, market access is asynchronous. If an abroad company wants to make a plant there, they have to accept a Chinese partner --- which will do industry espionage. Whereas Chinese companies buying or making plants in Europe (or USA etc) aren't required to have a local partner.