An the debt brake will not be shaken. The Ampelans assure us that almost every day. However, one should not sense too much principle of loyalty behind this confession. The prohibition of additional national debt (over 0.35 percent of the gross domestic product) is contained in the Basic Law. An amendment to the constitution requires a two-thirds majority in the Bundestag. The traffic light would need the Union, which is not available.
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Rainer Hank
Freelance writer in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
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The SPD, the Greens and the FDP are faced with a difficult task: How can you spend money if you don’t have any? It doesn’t work logically. Rhetorically, yes. This is currently being prepared in the coalition negotiations in two steps. First there is an act of linguistic re-dedication (“re-framing”). Then vehicles are created to spend the budget without being added to the budget. The search is on for 50 billion euros every year. What for remains vague: climate, digitization, infrastructure, so the ritualized triad.
Call debts by name
As far as language is concerned, the Greens Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock are in top form. First of all, “debts” have to become “loans”. Debt sounds negative, it sounds like “guilt”. Loans, on the other hand, are something positive that sounds like investing in the future: Every successful company takes out loans, says Annalena Baerbock – a statement that is also remarkable because the Greens have now discovered the capitalist company as a role model. It now fits in well with their concept.
This argument could be read a bit more flowery at Robert Habeck’s in the FAS last weekend. Even the proverbial Swabian housewife will renovate the roof when it rains in the house, even if she has no money at the moment. Otherwise it will be even more expensive in the end. So she get a loan. Of course, you can also squander money nonsensically, adds Habeck: “A Swabian party animal who goes into debt completely, drinks champagne and throws parties, shouldn’t get a loan for it.”
As a Swabian, I have to vigorously contradict the head of the Greens from the north conceptually: Swabian party animals are a contradiction in terms, one a contradiction in terms. But if they do exist, for example in hidden Swabian party rooms, it would be their private matter if they got into debt. Hopefully the house bank has had a few securities.
Every politician wants to spend money
Good credit, bad debt. That is the Greens’ rhetorical revaluation strategy. The idea is to be washed clean by not obtaining the loans by selling government bonds, but letting the state-owned KfW bank take care of the business. These are typical shadow households, which in the end are nothing more than national debt. Because the state is liable for the debts of the state bank. And the state, that is (also) me, Ms. Baerbock never tires of insuring.
