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Today marks the start of the routine annual maintenance work on the two lines of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. Experts are warning that Russia may not turn the pipelines back on after July 21st, which could leave Germany with empty gas storage tanks this winter.

Combined with the expected gas shortage, particularly high energy prices, supply chain problems, inflation, rising grain prices due to drought and war, increasing rent prices, and the insistence on compliance with the debt brake in 2023, it all feels like sitting under the sword of Damocles - just waiting for it to fall.

It also seems to me that, at some point, people simply become apathetic and don’t want to deal with these threats anymore. You can’t expect people to stay in panic mode forever. I find myself torn between wanting to stay informed and just wanting to tune it all out. It’s hard to know how much to worry, or what to prepare for, when so much feels out of my control.

I don’t know how much of this is just more and more doomsaying and fear-mongering, but it’s clear to me that inflation and price hikes will result in poverty for many people.¹

According to the IMK, low-income families bear the highest inflation burden, while single households with high-income bear the lowest. At the same time, the situation worsens particularly badly for the poor, as they spend larger portions of their budgets on energy and food. ↩︎