The reward of renunciation is catastrophe

The reward of renunciation is catastrophe Corona Crisis By Heiner Flassbeck and Friederike Spiecker [This article published on 6/17/2020 is translated from the German on the Internet, https://makroskop.eu/2020/06/der-lohn-des-verzichts-ist-die-katastrophe/] There is no return to the normality of before the crisis. The new lessons must be learned quickly, otherwise an economic catastrophe threatens. The course must now be set right, especially with regard to debts and wages. Everyone wants to return to normality - also economically. But most of them do not want to admit it yet: The normality of before the crisis will no longer exist. After the crisis, the economy will no longer be the economy we knew before. It has turned out quite differently than the politicians and probably also the virologists and epidemiologists had imagined. The operation "Great Holidays", after which the world was supposed to simply return to the old familiar life after three or four months, failed grandiosely. We do not want to talk again about the reasons for the failure. What matters now is not to make new serious mistakes that could damage economic development in Germany and the whole of Europe for decades to come. A pattern that leads to completely wrong decisions is already looming. Just like after the financial crisis of 2008/2009, the coalition partners in Berlin are overtaken by panic fear of their own courage. After successfully combating the financial crisis with public debt at the time, the debt brake was written into the constitution at breakneck speed and the goal of a black zero was pursued for years - to the detriment not only of the German economy but also of the EMU partners. Now the repayment mechanism that was set up at that time is casting its shadow in the current fight against the crisis. And the second major issue, which will be just as decisive for the long-term economic damage the Corona crisis will cause in Germany and Europe - namely wage settlements in the next 12 to 24 months - already seems to be heading in a fatal direction. Repaying public debt quickly? The first voices are already being raised in the CDU calling for tight schedules for the repayment of public debt. Paul Ziemiak, the CDU Secretary General, speaks of ten years in which all public debts, which are now being made additional, are to be completely paid back. He justifies this demand by saying that the previous policy of black zero now pays off in the crisis because Germany has "gained" leeway "that other states envy us for today".