Former Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble has opened an exhibition on the Freiburg School in Freiburg. The exhibition can be seen in the Sparkasse until December 3rd.
The thinker Erasmus von Rotterdam (1466-1536), the most famous resident of the Sparkasse Freiburg-Nördlicher Breisgau, and the leading figures of the Freiburg school such as the economist Walter Eucken (1891-1950) have a lot in common. Erasmus took people for who they are. He viewed the radical iconoclasts of the Reformation with skepticism, for example, because he rejected the veneration of saints as unreasonable, but wanted to tolerate it because it expressed the piety of the common people, whom the scholar valued. The realist and reformer could not gain anything from the belief in a post-revolutionary paradise on earth.
“Inflation is the greatest threat to social justice.” German politican
Eucken and his fellow campaigners from the Freiburg School such as Franz Böhm (1895-1977) or Leonhard Miksch (1901-1950) had enough of the promises of fascism and communism, which instead of milk, honey and happiness brought people death, ruin and coercion. Rather, the scientists relied on the traditional market economy, for which they however demanded a clear regulatory framework. The members of the Freiburg school were deeply convinced of the tremendous potential that people could develop through free markets. But they also knew in the light of their experiences that without order, without rules, because of greed and egoism, harmful monopolies, among other things, threatened. A concentration of power that was not useful to either economy or society.
The exhibition was prepared for four years
In view of these similarities between Erasmus and the Freiburg School, it is fitting that the exhibition on this school of thought takes place in the Meckelhalle of the Freiburger Sparkasse. It is close to the office where Sparkasse boss Marcel Thimm works today and where Erasmus once sought refuge from the extremism of his time. The members of the Freiburg School were also persecuted at the end of the Nazi period.
The South Baden CDU politician and former Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble referred to the two faces of human nature when he presented the exhibition “In what order do we want to live?” opened. The Freiburger Schule action group headed by Margot Selz, the Walter Eucken Institute with director Lars Feld and dozens of fellow campaigners had worked on it for more than four years. Exhibition patron Schäuble, referring to the philosopher Kant, said that people were gifted for freedom, but were also made of crooked wood. Because nothing has changed, the Freiburg School has lost none of its importance. You stand for a life in prosperity and dignity. The former Federal Minister of Finance referred to the fight against inflation. Eucken once identified stable prices as the cornerstone of the economic order. Schäuble said: “Inflation is the greatest threat to social justice.” Small savers and low-wage earners are the losers of the inflation. The CDU politician assumes that the higher inflation will remain for a while.
“We have to bring ecology and prosperity into a better balance.” German politican
The South Baden politician regards a solid financial policy as the best remedy for economic instability. His position is that one should save in good times in order to have money available in times of need. Schäuble rejected billion-dollar, debt-financed government investment packages for climate protection. Rather, the economy must become more productive in order to provide the funds that are necessary for climate protection. “We have to bring ecology and prosperity into a better balance. A black zero in the state budget and a green zero in terms of ecology do not have to be in conflict,” said Schäuble. He considers the “internalization of external costs” to be a sensible approach.
In other words: Anyone who pollutes the climate by burning fossil fuels, for example, should pay for it in the form of higher prices. It would then be left to the people to decide how to adapt their behavior. That is better than if the state dictated what citizens were allowed to do and what not, down to the smallest detail. Schäuble also regards this path as a further development of the Freiburg School. The state provides a framework in which people make the most of their situation. The fact that the Freiburg School is anything but old-fashioned is also shown by the exhibition, which can be seen until December 3rd during the opening hours of the Sparkasse.
–
