The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday, Aug. 19, edition that Germany has hit a rough patch. The Globe's Matt Lundy writes that its output has fallen or stagnated in each of the past three quarters, and the International Monetary Fund projects it will be the only Group of Seven economy to shrink in 2023. Germany faces a series of challenges, including a greying work force, steep electricity costs and a high-stakes shift to greener industrial policies. Its automakers face a rush of competition from electric-vehicle start-ups in Asia. Complicating matters is a subsidy war that has broken out between rich countries. Germany is not sitting idle. Intel will spend more than $44-billion on a pair of chip facilities in the central city of Magdeburg, with the German government kicking in one-third of the cost -- just one of the semiconductor projects it has recently lured with generous subsidies. Inside the offices of the federal Finance Ministry in Berlin last week, Florian Toncar was mulling over the Intel investment. "It's a massive subsidization. Probably the overall effect will be positive for Germany," Mr. Toncar added, because of the strategic importance of computer-chip supplies.