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Updated 19:11
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New “Corona debts” and mountains of old debt add up to a terrible mortgage on the future. The grandchildren should pay for it, but they can’t do that, says Gunnar Schupelius.
Every day in lockdown costs the state a lot of money that it has to borrow because it spends more and earns less. On the one hand, the state now has to pay wages (short-time working allowance) and subsidies (bridging aid, etc.), on the other hand, tax revenues are falling because less is earned.
The Senate responded with a gulp from the bottle and took on a total of 6.6 billion euros in “Corona debt” for 2020 and 2021. This has increased Berlin’s mountain of debt to more than 65 billion euros.
In addition to this official mountain of debt, there is a second one that is hard to see. It is 57 billion euros and will grow to 68 billion euros over the next five years.
It is the mountain of pension burdens that Berlin is pushing ahead of itself. The burden is calculated over 30 years, so around two billion euros per year only have to be paid for the civil servants’ retirement salaries. The burden increases as more and more civil servants are retired. There are currently 60,000 civil servants on duty and 62,000 out of service in Berlin.
Far too late, Berlin built up a pension reserve that is supposed to cover the expenses for pensions, but is far too late because too little is being paid in. This reserve amounted to 1.2 billion euros at the end of 2019. According to plan, a total of 41 million euros should be paid in there in 2020, and 23 million euros in 2021. However, the House of Representatives decided on December 10, 2020 with a red-red-green majority that “transfers to the pension reserve should be dispensed with in order to curb loan requirements”.
► Read all of Gunnar Schupelius’ columns here
This decision is clearly a balance sheet trick: To cap the corona debts, you simply stopped the feed into the pension reserve. There is now a lack of money and has to be replenished later, probably with new debts.
This type of housekeeping is not very trustworthy, to say the least. The problems are cleverly shifted into a distant future, according to the motto: After us the flood! The grandchildren have to pay for it. But how should the grandchildren pay for it?
Incidentally, the mountain of pension debt is not the only shadow budget that Red-Red-Green has created. The municipal housing associations and the BVG are also encouraged to take out loans on the capital market, for example to buy up apartments or to finance expensive electric buses.
The ruling politicians drive on sight and at the expense of the next generations, who groan under the tax burden or are expropriated by zero interest rates or monetary devaluation. They will thank you.
Is Gunnar Schupelius right? Call: 030/2591 73153, or email: [email protected]
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