New World Order

First of all, I would like to wish you a happy new year for 2025. If you haven't noticed, the world around us has been changing at a dizzying pace in recent years. The avalanche began with Covid-19 and was felt in the first quarter of 2020, when many companies around the world rethought their course and, in the process, created work-from-home models for employees.

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The global labor market has changed significantly, and many companies have realized that they can become more efficient and, in the long run, employ fewer employees. At the same time, many areas of the labor market have been significantly affected, such as travel agencies, event companies (which relied on face-to-face meetings), sports and entertainment games, and any field that attracted a large audience. In order to better understand the changes in the job market, read the following article -?Global changes in the job market. The collapse continued with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and then the global focus was on this arena and suddenly no one cared about Covid-19.?

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European countries began to express concern due to a global crisis because on the one hand they were dependent on Russian gas and on the other hand they feared an escalation that would lead to a regional war in Europe that would spill over to other countries besides Russia and Ukraine. For years, Russia has supplied gas to many Western countries through a pipeline infrastructure. In fact, almost half of the gas that reaches Western countries comes from Russia, which is considered one of the largest gas exporters in the world (it is important to note that about 40% of the gas that reaches Germany comes from Russia). Following the crisis in Ukraine, calls for Germany to completely disconnect from Russian gas have intensified, but this was not easy due to the fact that over the years a strong and extensive infrastructure of gas pipelines connecting Russia and Germany was built, and in effect Germany became dependent on Russian gas. Despite this, many citizens in Germany still supported boycotting Russian gas and finding other ways to import gas from other countries to Germany.

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Of course, the crisis in Ukraine caused gas prices to rise for Western countries, and the money Russia received for the gas was immediately invested in military equipment for the Russian army against the Ukrainian army. In practice, Germany could not completely disconnect from Russian gas, as this would severely damage German society and the economy.?

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The Ukraine crisis created not only an economic crisis but also a humanitarian crisis, as a result of which over a million Ukrainian refugees arrived in Germany. At the same time, as the labor market tightened during 2021 and 2022, inflation arose and gradually rose as the ratio of job vacancies to unemployment increased. For more on inflation, read the article I wrote about two years ago -?Inflation.

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The avalanche continued and created another crisis with the outbreak of the brutal surprise attack in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, which ignited the Iron Sword War. This war somewhat removed the spotlight from the war in Eastern Europe, but at the same time, both wars (both in the Middle East and in Europe) are still ongoing and exacting enormous human costs. In addition, another avalanche occurred very recently between November 27, 2024, and ended on December 8, 2024. It was of course the collapse of the Syrian dictatorial regime in Syria after more than fifty years of rule. On December 8, the rebels officially announced the liberation of Damascus and the end of the Syrian regime. This announcement brought thousands of Syrian refugees around the world out to celebrate in the streets and created a sense of euphoria for many (however, Syria's future is still unknown, and the current situation is far from stable).

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On top of that, we are also now facing elections in Germany on the estimated date of February 23, 2025. There is uncertainty about the European Union and NATO (read more in the next article -?The European Union and NATO) due to the fact that after the elections in the United States, an isolationist policy will probably be adopted that will not necessarily support the European Union economically as before. To understand better the economic changes in the European Union, watch the following video - Europe's Missing Trillions.

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You have to understand that we live in completely different times due to the global changes we are experiencing. We have to adapt ourselves to the new era of the 21st century. One of the fascinating books I read recently is Karriere mit System, written by Bodo Sch?fer.?The book that was just recently launched is not available in English but only in German, so if you speak German you can read it. Of course, one of the most effective ways to improve your German is by reading books. You can read about that in my next article -?How can you boost your German?

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Sch?fer describes and compares two recent periods that we experienced in the 20th and 21st centuries.?

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The first era is called the industrial era, in which the world economy focused on manufacturing plants, creating models of machines, creating spare parts, and everything related to industry in the old sense of the word. Because of this, there were fewer startup companies back then, and people enjoyed permanence in their workplace as salaried employees.?

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Our parents worked for 40 years in one?workplace and then retired. On the other hand, the period in which we are currently living is called the information era. During this current?era, we are exposed to endless information that allows us to initiate and create new things. Because of this, the value of an academic degree has decreased dramatically because the amount of information is exposed to the entire population and many companies are interested in results and practice, not theoretical knowledge without experience. You can read more about the academic degree in my next article -?Academic studies - is it really important??

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According to Sch?fer, we should not be afraid of change and leaving our comfort zone, but we should know that change is a part of life. The only thing that is certain is that nothing is secured over time, and therefore we must accept the change and adapt ourselves to the current era. In light of this situation, many companies are performing a restart from within, reducing the number of salaried employees and building new strategies that will help them cope with the information era. According to Sch?fer, there are 5 different roles for you in the labor market that actually describe income options: salaried employee, freelancer, business/company owner, expert and investor.

These options are often presented in his book in the shape of a star. Salaried employees and freelancers are on the right side of the star, while business/company owners, experts and investors are on the left side of the star. While the monthly income of the left side is more limited, the right side has more potential to earn due to the fact that the left side can leverage it by creating a system that will ultimately work for it.

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It is important to remember that no matter which side of the star you choose to be, Bodo Sch?fer demonstrates in his book that you will be able to position yourself, maximize your profit and earn more than you earn today. The question is how can you best adapt to change? The answer according to Bodo Sch?fer is to constantly learn new skills and enrich yourself with knowledge that will help you in the future. Or as I always say, your best investment is in yourself. The book?karriere mit system?is a must-read that will better prepare you for the changes and challenges of the 21st century.