In times of economic war, the chancellor also arms himself verbally, even if he finds it obviously difficult. The usual low-pitched way in which Olaf Scholz spoke the word “double boom” into the camera in his corona isolation office last week almost seemed to want to deny its desired resounding effect. But in view of the sum of 200 billion euros behind it, it is clear that the federal government is now actually delivering the heaviest weapons to fight the crisis, which began long ago due to the sharp rise in energy prices.
This is intended to prevent the impending stall in a number of sectors, which could have unforeseeable consequences for their international competitiveness and thus for the prosperity of the country (and thus in turn that of the EU); and citizens should be protected from financial overload; Mass private bankruptcies would not only mean a series of tragic individual fates, they could also lead to considerable social tensions.
“Doesn’t anyone have to worry anymore?” Was the question Anne Will used to caption her talk show on the subject. The caring formulation – a paraphrase of the chancellor’s statement that nobody need worry – could also be understood as one with a critical undertone: Is the state perhaps overdoing it by subsidizing energy prices and thereby reducing the will of the citizens to use less gas and electricity? , which would then bring about the shortage for the industry all the more quickly?
Antje Höring, head of the business department of the “Rheinische Post”, took this horn. Prices are an important signal for people to save energy, she lectured and referred to Klaus Müller, head of the Federal Network Agency, who had missed the corresponding will in the first weeks of September. According to Höring, the government is instead going through the country with the watering can and also wants to help those who do not need this help, as was the case with the tank discount. In her view, it would be wiser to provide more targeted support to those in need. Höring is planning, she indicated, to merge the data records of the energy suppliers and the social security funds in order to define the support as precisely as possible in terms of recipients and scope.
Amazing confidence in management
From a practical point of view, this idea seems a bit naïve: Apart from data protection concerns, it shows an amazing confidence in the efficiency of the German administration and its IT systems, especially under time pressure. SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert summed up these concerns when he said that the argument against subsidies for everyone is that an authority would first have to be created to compare citizens’ energy supply contracts with their income tax assessments. For a left-wing social democrat, this is undoubtedly a statement that he only makes in very difficult times.
Above all, however, Höring, with her call for the use of precision weapons to counteract the financial overload caused by energy prices, underestimates how many people see their modest prosperity, which is often financed on credit, at risk. The panic, for which Sabine Werth, founder and chairwoman of the Berliner Tafel, saw the first signs among her clientele, is also germinating in better-off circles and in business. All parties feel this, which is why there is a basic consensus on the use of large-caliber financial weapons.
Christian Dürr, chairman of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag, used the opportunity to point out that the “hard working middle” of 48 million people receive direct help that they also urgently need. Dürr conceded that the FDP, headed by Finance Minister Christian Lindner, is not only responsible for huge amounts of debt, but also massively intervenes in pricing, with the dutiful comment that this is of course not easy for a market economist. But in view of the extent of the crisis, it is necessary, especially since the energy price brake only covers basic needs. Will refrained from asking the question about the long-term consequences of circumventing the debt brake through ever new special funds. And Dürr’s assertion that the formal rescue of the debt brake will prevent every department from pushing through further credit-financed requests for their plausibility. There will be opportunities to explore this further.
