So, it appears we are expected to grow excited at the prospect of Germany’s economy managing to crawl, ever so feebly, towards a slightly more positive outlook. The ifo Business Climate Index, that most cherished barometer of national economic health, has scraped itself up from 88.4 to a riveting 88.6 in July. One would be forgiven for not popping the champagne. We are told that manufacturing, once the grave concern of every prudent fortune-holder, is now feeling a touch sunnier, even if order books continue to gather more dust than signatures. Capacity utilization, that bellwether of industriousness, barely twitched. Meanwhile, automotive, pharmaceuticals, and energy have apparently had a splendid May, but IT services are in some sort of funk, and retailers, as per usual, whinge about unsatisfactory conditions after expecting some miraculous consumer spending revival.

Transport and logistics are said to have taken a turn for the better—a modest bright spot one can enjoy while seated in first class, one supposes. Construction, too, is feeling slightly less morose, even as their order books stretch emptily into the future. Overarching all of this is the nearly paralyzing conclusion: the German economy’s “upturn” could do with a good deal more vigor and, frankly, better company. Economists themselves are unconvinced, muttering about growth driven more by bureaucratic tinkering than by any pulse of true entrepreneurial dynamism.

Permit me a moment of candor — not, of course, that the sangfroid of my own estate rides on the fortunes of either Mittelstand producers or the average retailer scurrying to make this quarter’s numbers. This “recovery” is, I’m afraid, what one must expect in a country content to let bureaucratic intervention substitute for genuine innovation and hoping government largesse will paper over a lack of productivity. One might generously applaud the dogged optimism of small business owners; yet, one cannot help but be bemused by such pedestrian ambition. If only these worthy folk would turn their gaze upwards, they might see that true growth does not trickle down from the tepid enthusiasm of public institutions, but rather flows from vision—and, dare I say it, the class and caliber of leadership found in the more rarefied echelons of society.

Of course, the masses are content to be soothed by incremental improvements, paltry as they are. If one’s notion of economic triumph is a mere 0.2-point movement in an index, then, by all means, break out the pretzels and cheap sekt. But let us not pretend that this is anything remotely deserving of celebration. One expects better—one demands it. Any genuine revival worthy of my attention (and my investments) will require far more than this half-hearted shuffle.