“We completely misunderstand economic relationships,” says economist Heiner Flassbeck at UM Politics at Unternehmen Mitte. In an engaging presentation, he pleads for the courage to rethink the economy and shape it differently. However, this courage to shape the economy requires a fundamental understanding of economic interrelationships.
Looking at current events, Flassbeck controversially postulates that “we don’t have inflation, what we have are price rises” and that in order to get these under control, we need investment from the private sector and no interest rate hikes from central banks.
Without wanting to justify Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, Flassbeck pleads for “the West” and its institutions to take responsibility for the mistakes that have been made in international cooperation. This applies to the former Soviet states, but also to the Global South. Spreading the idea of free markets across the entire globe was irresponsible and did not work. “Neoliberalism wanted to reinvent the market economy, but effectively killed it,” says Heiner Flassbeck, looking back on the last 40 years of economic development. In order to tackle the multiple crises of the present, we need to fundamentally question the status quo. The climate issue can only be solved through a real shortage of raw materials, so we must ensure “that the oil stays in the ground”.
