Through a recommendation on Bluesky I came across the Ronzheimer podcast hosted by Paul Ronzheimer, the main journalist out of the Axel-Springer media house. Listening to him talk to German notables, it becomes clear that he’s not the sharpest knife in the block. There is no spark or wit in either of the two episodes I listened to. His questions are superficial and unoriginal. I don’t understand why anybody would listen to this.
Let’s talk about the episode with Veronika Grimm. It goes entirely as expected. Ronzheimer gives Grimm a bunch of easy passes that allow her to spout the talking points the German government has been pushing about the economy.
Grimm and the government want everybody to work more for less money. The threat is that if we don’t, the economy will become even more uncompetitive than it already is.
We’ve heard them rant against people who are working part-time. Nothing is going to change because of these rants. It would be better to examine why people need to work part-time and try to figure out solutions. The vast productivity and effectiveness gaps present in almost every German company and institution need to be fixed by investment, not papered over by pushing people to work more hours.
Doing any of these of course requires a politics based on changing something. That’s not something this German government can do.
But what takes the cake is Grimm also suggesting to roll back the “telephone sick note” to increase productivity in Germany. Me dragging myself to the doctor’s office on Monday morning and waiting three hours to get a piece of paper is really going to make the country more productive.
With thinking like this we’ll never get a better economy. In the Netherlands sick notes do not exist and working part-time is incredibly common. Last I checked they are doing better than Germany on all fronts.
