Entrepreneur Frank Thelen visited Markus Lanz to talk about economic issues. But then journalist Ulrike Herrmann drove him violently into the parade. She accused him of having no idea what inflation is – and then got personal.
If you want to explain complex economic issues in a talk show, you can quickly slip on thin ice. Robert Habeck was the first to find out, after his “Maischberger” appearance, the impression was left that the Economics Minister didn’t even know what bankruptcy was.
Now entrepreneur Frank Thelen has also suffered a small talk show crash. As a guest at Markus Lanz, the former “Lion’s Cave” investor had to be told that he didn’t know how inflation works and apparently had no idea about the economy either.
<x-embed class=”js-embed embed u-typo u-typo–article-text” consent=”pending” privacy-link=”https://www.stern.de/datenschutzbestimmungen-4541848.html” privacy-settings-link=”https://www.stern.de/wirtschaft/news/javascript:window._sp_.loadPrivacyManagerModal(237312)” srcdoc=’
‘ vendor-id=”5e71760b69966540e4554f01″ vendor-name=”Twitter”>
In his remarks, Thelen complained about the “excessive money printing policy” of recent years, which is now leading to high inflation, when journalist Ulrike Herrmann drove into his parade. “I think your analysis of inflation is completely wrong,” Herrmann said. The high inflation is not caused by the state going into debt, but because energy is so expensive because Putin is shutting down the pipelines.
“It’s really embarrassing”
But that’s not enough of the exchange of blows. When Thelen later insisted that the central banks’ money printing fuels inflation, Herrmann rebuffed him that this was the wrong economic theory and had long been refuted. “If you’re an entrepreneur and invest on the basis of a false monetary theory, then I see a problem there. It doesn’t surprise me that you’ve gone broke several times,” Herrmann then said personally. And: “If you don’t even know where inflation comes from, it’s really embarrassing.” Boom, that was, at least verbally.
The excerpt of the conversation went so viral on social media that Thelen subsequently commented on the “false statements” of his talk show opponent in a Twitter clip. He even quotes the Federal Agency for Civic Education on the subject of money inflation as a condition for inflation, in order to prove that he is right (“Therefore, unfortunately, here is the truth”).
<x-embed class=”js-embed embed u-typo u-typo–article-text” consent=”pending” privacy-link=”https://www.stern.de/datenschutzbestimmungen-4541848.html” privacy-settings-link=”https://www.stern.de/wirtschaft/news/javascript:window._sp_.loadPrivacyManagerModal(237312)” srcdoc=’
‘ vendor-id=”5e71760b69966540e4554f01″ vendor-name=”Twitter”>
What remains to be said is, firstly, that the high level of inflation is currently being driven primarily by skyrocketing energy prices. Secondly, low interest rates and accommodative central bank monetary policy also tend to favor high inflation rates (although we have just come out of a phase of low interest rates and low inflation). For this reason, the European Central Bank is currently trying to combat inflation with a significant increase in key interest rates. And thirdly, Thelen’s earlier bankruptcies as a private entrepreneur have hardly anything to do with all of this. Maybe a talk show just isn’t the best forum to discuss monetary theory seriously.
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
