The Schlosshotel Kronberg with its golf course.
Image: FAZ
Fear for our prosperity is growing. How do people who have a lot of money deal with it and how do those who have to turn every cent around? Visiting both worlds.
Dhe atmosphere is exuberant in the Kronberger Golf Club casino. There are canapés, and when the champagne glass is empty, refills are given immediately. A charity tournament is planned for the weekend. Since the board called on the club members to donate three weeks ago, almost seventy thousand euros have been raised, which is something that people in one of the richest communities in Germany are rightly proud of. The money goes directly to the account of the Ukrainian Maxim Soldierov, who provides the club as a restaurateur and knows where the donations are best kept. “Of course it’s not that smart from a tax point of view, there’s no receipt,” remarks one of the men at the table. He is wearing a jacket with a golf club emblem sewn on. But taxes are negligible at the moment, that goes without saying.
There is a lot of talk about renunciation, although it remains unclear who should or must renounce what in the future. No economist can yet quantify how hard the war will hit Germany. What is certain is that it will not be enough to eat a little less meat, do without rapeseed oil, turn down the heating and leave the car parked more often. Economics Minister Habeck wants to protect Germany’s “industrial substance”. He is against a boycott of Russian oil and gas. But if Putin decides to stop supplying gas to Germany, there would suddenly be a forty to fifty percent lack of energy supply in this country. The BASF boss warns of a “destruction of the entire economy”.