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Stop-&-Go. Chancellor Kurt Kiesinger's new coalition government, fretting more about the possibility of recession than about the pressure of inflation, last month called on Karl Blessing's constitutionally independent Bundesbank to implement a "decisive relaxation of credit restrictions." That approach failed to win Blessing's blessing. Fearful that an easing of monetary restraints alone would lead to increased inflation, Blessing insisted that West Germany's federal, state and municipal governments curb their often lavish spending. Otherwise, he said, the country will wind up with "the same stop-and-go policy that has worked so badly in England."
Hoping that Blessing will agree to easier money when the Bundesbank's council meets this week, the Kiesinger government has given repeated assurances that it will push hard for a stabilization law establishing budgetary controls. Meanwhile, the country's economic woes are bringing about other much-needed changes. With profits suddenly more elusive, German businessmen have begun to streamline their often inefficient and haphazard operations. Recession-minded workers are taking pains to increase productivity while cutting down their chronic absenteeism. At the same time, there has been a belated realization that something has to be done about the structure of the coal and steel industries, which have, thanks to unrealistic government subsidies, long overproduced. If inflation can be halted and recession averted, West Germany could emerge from the current crisis with a more mature economy than it has ever had.