Germany in a state of acquiescence? - Open your mouth!

I had a little trouble with the title, because Germany is said to have coped best with the Corona crisis and the majority of the population supports the government's policy. So say the media. When I talk to most entrepreneurs, I hear something different. To say something against it? One would rather not!

It is important for decisions to have reasonable statistics that help in the evaluation.

Therefore, it is incomprehensible to me if test results are given in absolute terms and are not related to the number of tests. Otherwise, statistically, due to the always present errors of a test, an increase in the number of cases can still be proven even in a completely healthy population, if no one is sick. Just need to test more ...

Perhaps comparative tests on representative comparison groups would have been interesting at an early stage to see how high the actual number of unreported cases is.

But presumably politicians don't need to know math and statistics.

And the fear of making mistakes is something that politicians and managers of large corporations have in common. After all, both are only in it for the time being. Unlike an entrepreneur, who is personally liable for his mistakes.

The current figures, especially the below-average excess mortality in Germany, speak a clear language.

I don't understand why children, pupils and students have to stay at home for months when the risk groups are more likely to be found among the elderly. There are also older people who can decide for themselves whether they should be afraid of the virus or not.

Most hospitals are on short-time work. The first insolvencies (clinic in Freiburg) have already occurred. It's strange that our health care system has reached its breaking point, at least theoretically, or could have reached it?

By democracy, I mean that even contrary opinions of scientists are allowed without immediately dismissing them as conspiracy theorists. What Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi, a German specialist in microbiology and infectious disease epidemiology and professor emeritus at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz and head of the Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hygiene there from 1991 to 2012, has to say is, at least for me, a pleasant contrast to the scaremongering of Prof. Drosten and Mr. Lauterbach.

In general, our "critical" media have been very much on a cuddle course with the government in recent months when it comes to political decisions, especially the public broadcasters. The fact that Mr. Kleber sometimes didn't burst into tears was really brave.

Let's take a closer look at the politicians' "gifts" for damage limitation:

A company with a 5% return on sales that lost 3 months of sales this year through no fault of its own due to the shutdown needs more than half the profits of the next 10 years to pay off the loan plus interest. Tax deferrals and social security deferrals must also be paid at some point.

That helps liquidity, but that's about it. And when the coffers are plundered for the KUG, contributions will rise.

The VAT cut from 19% to 16% creates a gigantic administrative burden, brings hardly anything to companies and consumers, and leads to current purchases being postponed until July, because they wrongly assume that their prefabricated house ordered in January will then be cheaper if they delay construction. And you certainly don't buy a new car in June, if at all this year.

If anything makes sense now, it's non-refundable grants based on the damage done.

Above all, concrete specifications on how industry and public life can be restarted as quickly as possible without enforced restrictions.

For the future, we need a concrete plan on how to deal with similar situations professionally without hysteria and scaremongering. I don't think we can afford the same fuss again for at least the next 30 years.

Actually, it is quite astonishing that mankind has not yet died out, since viruses and bacteria have existed as long as mankind has existed.

Decision are necessary. Sometimes you don't know if they are right or wrong. You have to make them, and when you see that they are going in the wrong direction, you correct them. And you do it quickly! Every mid-size entrepreneur who puts his own money on the line knows that.

Stirring up fear is not a professional way of dealing with things! Do we really want a society that goes crazy when other people get too close? Closeness is a basic human need.

Despite a sharp drop in traffic, particulate levels in Stuttgart have risen. But that's stupid. Doesn't fit into the picture at all ...

Actually, the average temperature worldwide should also have a dip, after all, CO2 emissions have dropped drastically over months. And if that has an effect, you have to be able to measure it.

• Let our children and students return to kindergarten, school or university as soon as possible. Otherwise they'll go crazy. Zoom, teams and the like are not an adequate substitute!
• Leadership quality in politics, without just looking for majorities among the people.
• An expert composition that consists not only of profiling-addicted virologists, but also includes general practitioners, mathematicians, social scientists, economists, entrepreneurs, and so on.
• Causal research. What is one explanation of the comparatively high case fatality rates in Bergamo, for example? Why the large differences in the courses of events in different countries? How high is the number of unreported cases of infected persons who did not even realize that they had contracted Corona?
• Media that also report critically on decisions made by the federal government and allow alternative voices to have their say.
• Good news again, or is there nothing positive left in the world?
• Oh, I forgot, the quota ...
• Statistical expertise. The thing about sensitivity and specificity is not that hard. Especially tests that are not proven have a significant margin of error.
• Review of tests by independent bodies. Checking yourself has something of a clergyman absolving himself when he has started something with altar boys.
• No promotion of denunciation.
• No overly strict controls like in an inn in Geislingen: a supposed guest comes in to eat, but has no mask with him. The innkeeper says: It's not so bad, go to the table. Unfortunately, it was a controller, the already shaken host may pay 2,000 EUR fine.
• More trust by politicians in their citizens and companies. Not everything has to be regulated and controlled down to the last detail, especially not if the expertise is lacking.
• And last but not least, the most important: speak up when you disagree. As a CCI, entrepreneur, manager and employee, worker, parent and grandparent: We must bear the consequences. A democracy does not include rigidity of acquiescence, to return to the image above.

When I wrote my newsletter on German Angst in March, I couldn't have guessed how hysterical it would get this time. The fear is not real, the jobs lost and the expected increase in bankruptcies, the people who lost their livelihoods are.

Your Stefan Merkle