Germany’s Slow-Motion Self-Destruction (No Enemy Required)

Germany used to be the quiet overachiever in the room. Making cars everyone wanted. Designing machines everyone needed. Cranking out chemicals that powered entire industries. The stereotype was almost too perfect: organized, efficient, reliable.
So how did we get to a moment where people are whispering things like “future Detroit… in Stuttgart?”

Let’s rewind a bit.

When Germany beat the odds (post–WWII miracle style)

America once flirted with the idea of turning Germany into a farming nation. No factories. No cars. No big business. Just potatoes and sadness. That was the infamous Morgenthau Plan.
Thankfully for everyone who enjoys German-engineering-level dishwashers, the world decided that a functioning Germany was pretty useful. Cue the opposite policy: rebuild everything and build it fast.

Germany absolutely crushed that assignment.

Now fast-forward to right now

Things feel weird. Germany deindustrialization (yeah, that’s our keyword phrase for today) has become an actual concern, not just an edgy economic think-piece title.

Take BASF. One of the biggest chemical companies in the world. Historically, a German showcase. Now?
It’s making profits “everywhere but Germany.” They are investing the big bucks in China while Ludwigshafen feels like a slowly deflating balloon.

And the iconic car industry?
Oof.

Even in my own little friend circle, two people had family laid off from auto suppliers this year. These were the folks who once felt untouchable. You work near Stuttgart? Job security for life, right? That idea is fading fast.

Why is this happening?

Several reasons pile up like a messy laundry basket.

Here’s the shortlist:
• Sky-high energy costs since losing cheap Russian gas
• Bureaucratic hurdles that could drive anyone to madness
• A “green transition” pushed faster than the tech can keep up
• The United States occasionally acting like a frenemy (nice smile, knife behind back)
• China building… everything

None of these problems alone sink a whole economy.
Combined? It looks like someone forgot to stop that self-destruct sequence.

Everyday worries, national scale

There’s a mood in Germany right now.
People aren’t angry at each other (well, except on Twitter). They’re nervous. They shop a little more cautiously. They glance at headlines that say things like “Factories Closing” and think, “Hopefully not ours.”

A country doesn’t collapse with fireworks and dramatic music. It happens slowly. Familiar logos disappear from buildings. Neighborhoods get just a little quieter on Monday mornings.

The strange hope in frustration

Germans are annoyed with their politicians. Really annoyed. And that irritation might be the spark Germany needs. History shows the country gets its best work done when no one believes it can pull itself together again.

Germany has pulled off miracles before.
It could do it again.
Though first it might need to stop kicking itself in the shins.

For now, this tension hangs in the air. The world’s most famous exporters are trapped in a fight against their own leadership’s decisions, and every factory shutdown feels like another reminder of something Germans absolutely hate: wasting potential.