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Keep your fingers crossed. I hope they can do something to end the German malaise. I sort of wish the Japanese well in that regard as well.

But I have to admit i have mixed feelings. In the 1970s, when their economies were doing well, it looked like the Germans and Japanese were going to bury us economically, and it was scary. They can both still manufacture things better than we can.

The conservative Christian Democrats and their Free Democratic partners will restore Germany's alliance with the United States and downgrade Berlin's ties with Russia if they win elections in September,

Good to hear, but they might want to down play such talk until after the elections if they want to win.

"They can both still manufacture things better than we can"

Two entirely different economies and societies.

They cannot manufacture anything better, it is just in their respective niches (known more properly in economics as the law of competitive advantage) that they excel. Sometimes at triple cost.

Back in the 80s they were saying that all of the capital in the US would be owned by the Japanese, and that we would be reduced to undereducated servitude, and living in heavily guarded enclaves to protect us from crime.

Sorry, with all due respect to the NYT, it didn't happen.
And I laughed all the way to the bank as, one by one, my friends who invested long term in Japanese equities saw their returns fall steadily behind mine.

Later, when European equities were surging, I stayed away and watched those short term gains evaporate in the long term consequences of that negative social environment.

To me, it was all MSM hype about how the US was falling behind "progressive" nations, but you see, I play with my own money, so such comments from the poorly informed media fell on jaundiced ears.

Good political allies make good trade partners and a Germany with an economy more rooted in Capitalistic, rather than Socialist principles, would be good for us.