Merkel has not addressed the problems facing Germany. Indeed, she has made several over them worse. The four problems are competition from China, the economic failures of Europe, external security, and mass immigration.



In the short and medium term, the rise of China (and more generally) Asia has been huge plus for Germany (and terrible for Southern Europe). China / Asia has been a huge buyer of Germany’s medium Tech exports (capital good) and an ever expanding source of cheap consumer goods. What’s their not to like? Of course, these trends have been catastrophic for Southern Europe. Southern Europe concentrated on lower-tech consumer goods and has been devastates by Asian competition.



Has Germany responded to these trends by demand (or even supporting) protection for Southern Europe? Not exactly. The German approach has been “we make money from global free trade and the rest of Europe can go to h…”.



Of course, the world isn’t standing still. China / Asia will move inexorably upscale over the next few decades. China / Asia will (over time) be able to make the medium Tech capital goods Germany now exports. Of course, they will be able to make them at considerably lower cost than in Germany. Germany will loose its lucrative Asia markers and (worse) lose its global markets.



Has Merkel done anything to prepare Germany for the coming shifts in the global economy? No. In fairness to her, I don’t see any awareness of these issues anywhere in Gerrmany. Germany is sleep-walking into disaster. Pathetic but true.



The second deep issue is the economic, political, and social failure of Europe / Euro. A Europe with a prosperous North and impoverished South cannot survive. Actually, it probably can survive. However, a Europe where Germany dictates terms to Club Med is doomed. Club Med will eventually rebel and revolt. When it (Club Med) revolts Germany will find that it has precious few allies. German arrogance has seen to that.



What has Merkel done about this? She has made it vastly worse. Her insistence on the Euro, ‘free trade’, public sector debt enforcement, and ‘no transfer union, no debt union’ is a catastrophe. In this case, there are plenty of Germans who foresee the dark future. Did/does Merkel listen to the voices of sanity? Not exactly. The clarion call of ‘ever deeper union’ has been her idée fixe.



The third critical issue is external security. Germany (and Europe) has abandoned the necessary commitment to arms that a sovereign nation must have. To state this bluntly German and Europe just aren’t spending enough on defense to hold their own against Russia and the rest of the world. Europe has resources (technology, people, and money) that utterly dwarf Russia. However, Europe has been conspicuously unwilling to use them. The European ‘strategy” has been to whine about Trump, rather than build the military machines Europe needs to defend itself.



What has Merkel done about this? Nothing would be a good summary. Of course, that isn’t exactly true. She has criticized Trump. Have other voices in Germany raised the alarm? Yes and Merkel has ignored them.



The fourth doomsday issue is migration. Merkel’s record has been a consummate disaster. Mass migration leading inexorably to mass crime leading to a mass cover-up. Of course, Germany has decades of experience with migration from MENA (Middle-East, North Africa). After many decades, MENA immigrants remain poorly assimilated, poorly educated, and hostile (in some cases) to Germany.



Back in 2005, Der Spiegel wrote an article “The Death of a Muslim Woman "The Whore Lived Like a German"”. It is the sad tale of the life and death of Hatin Surucu. What were her crimes? Dating (ethnic) German boys and wearing jeans. In 2010, a leading figure (Thilo Sarrazin) in the German SPD wrote a book (“Germany Abolishes Itself” – “Deutschland schafft sich ab”) wrotes a book describing Germany’s decades of failure with MENA immigration.



In spite of Germany’s long and bad history with MENA immigration, Merkel opened the flood gates in 2015. She still defends her debacle. The definition of insanity is “Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results”. By that definition Merkel is insane.



Overall, Merkel has been a disaster. A disaster for Germany, a disaster for Europe, and a disaster for the West. While Berlin has burned she has devoted herself to splashing gasoline around.



She will not be missed.