Shortly before 11 a.m. on June 8, liquefied petroleum gas escaped from a tank in the Texas coastal terminal of Quintana Island.
A cloud of gas formed, which ignited.
The adjacent gas liquefaction plant caught fire.
It is one of the largest in the United States, accounting for around 20 percent of liquefied gas exports to Europe.
The news triggered a surge in gas prices in Europe.
In normal times, the fire would be a side note.
Winand von Petersdorff-Campen
Economic correspondent in Washington.
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Johannes Pennekamp
Responsible editor for economic reporting, responsible for "The Lounge".
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The same usually applies to an event many thousands of kilometers east of Texas: A week ago, a few hundred dock workers went on strike in Emden, Hamburg, Bremen and Wilhelmshaven.
But times are not normal.
And ports are like a magnifying glass through which to watch what's brewing in the global economy.
Dismembered supply chains, container ships stuck in traffic and a lack of truck drivers – people have gotten used to that.
When dockworkers went on strike in northern Germany, something else was at stake: inflation is eating away at their purchasing power and savings, and they are asking for significantly more money.
They have that in common with the airport workers in Morocco who paralyze air traffic.
And with the truck drivers who went on strike in South Korea last week.
The military had to move out there and drive the most important goods to the container ships so that the supply chains did not tear even more.
Delayed supply and inflation are damaging economic momentum
The supply chain problems and the extremely high inflation are ingredients for a crisis cocktail that is not good for the global economy.
Unfortunately, there are a few more toxic ingredients: The central banks, the Federal Reserve and the ECB, are initiating the turnaround in interest rates and are thus stressing financial markets around the world.
The next corona wave is rolling in several countries, including Germany.
Skilled workers are lacking everywhere.
China locks up its citizens and turns from a place of longing for German industrial companies into a concentration of risk.
And above all there is the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and the danger that Vladimir Putin will turn off the gas completely for Germany.
Have you ever experienced such an accumulation of crisis ingredients, Mr. Fuest?
"I don't think we've had that before.
The danger of a recession is very high,” the President of the Munich Ifo Institute replied on Wednesday.
It's the day the European Central Bank called the heads of the national central banks to a special meeting after interest rates on Italian government debt jumped to more than 4 percent.
It is the day that Gazprom will continue to cut gas supplies.
It's the day the Fed will hike rates the most in 28 years.
A recession is becoming increasingly likely
A looming recession.
Technically, that's two straight quarters of contraction in the global economy.
In fact, there is a risk of higher unemployment and, in the worst case, a downward spiral, which would be extremely painful, especially for poorer people, given the high inflation.
America, it was hoped, would save the world economy from the worst.
During the pandemic crisis, the government there put together a $1.9 trillion stimulus package that supplemented the financial injections previously granted.