The end of the transatlantic West and regulatory challenges

The past few weeks have made it clear: the end of the transatlantic West with its claim to be a global system-builder and standard-setter can be described just as plausibly after Donald Trump's reception of Xi Jinping, as can the societal move away from the self-evident view of democratic legitimacy and market economy control as two sides of the same coin. The results of the recent state elections speak this language.

Experience-saturated expectations that a dynamic economy with increasing employment will experience increasing acceptance in society, which will not be fundamentally shaken by temporary crises, have lost their value. The fact that today's investments create tomorrow's jobs has become questionable in the face of agentic AI. Finally, some voters have lost the certainty of assessing where international solidarity is required and where the military threat is located.

All of this must influence economic policy and its actors, no question. But it is precisely in such times that reliable orientation for day-to-day actions and clarity in the central principles are required. Because under pressure, those ideas that the Chancellor himself had previously relegated to the realm of economic foolishness reflexively come to light. A fuel discount as a reaction to a world market price shock - nothing more needs to be said, where the heating oil discount already appears. However, regulatory sermons are of little help.