Illner talk on inflation: Lindner: “There are opportunities for new prosperity”

Illner talk on inflation
Lindner: “There are opportunities for new prosperity”

By Marko Schlichting

Germany is in crisis mode: war, embargo, inflation. The guests at Maybrit Illner discuss how the country should deal with it. The most important finding: Germany could emerge from the crises as a winner through a change in the economy.

Inflation has Germany firmly in its grip. The result: Within a year, the cost of groceries has risen by an average of six percent, electricity has become more expensive by 18 percent, and gas prices have risen by 29 percent. According to a recent Forbes statistic, the price of heating oil has increased by a good 140 percent within a year.

The reasons for this are the crises of the past few months: Corona and the war in Ukraine. Supply chains are broken. In addition, Germany must find new fossil fuel suppliers as quickly as possible in order to become independent from Russia. The current crises must be overcome, especially inflation. In the ZDF program “Maybrit Illner” on Thursday evening, guests from politics and business talked about how this can be achieved.

Don’t cushion inflation with wages

While the President of the Employers’ Association of German Machine and Plant Builders, Karl Haeusgen, sees an opportunity to deal with inflation in the current economic stimulus programs in the USA and the EU, Monika Grimm is skeptical about the economy. In view of the collective bargaining that is about to begin, she expects higher wage agreements, which could lead to further cost increases. A wage-price spiral could emerge, say some experts.

The new DGB chairwoman Yasmin Fahimi rejects this. “This wage-price spiral doesn’t exist because inflation doesn’t develop because of wages, but because of the price situation.” Planned investments by the economy should not be at the expense of employees’ salaries, she demands. “Now wanting to carry out the inflation on the backs of the employees through falling real wages would mean nothing other than going through another crisis with a management that ultimately says: We have to use wages to cushion what has to be shouldered now. That we will not participate.” Fahimi advocates an increase in wages in order to strengthen purchasing power and thus the economy. And she warns, looking at Finance Minister Lindner: “The state must not come along as a chamberlain. It must now enter this crisis as an investor.”

Lindner’s relief program

“We have to do something as a state,” says Finance Minister Christian Lindner, who represents the federal government in the group. That’s why the traffic light government is trying to curb the loss of purchasing power with state relief packages, “so that the unions don’t have to fight the burden of inflation entirely through collective bargaining demands at the expense of companies and their competitiveness.”

The federal government has also provided a lot of money in public investment funds: by 2026 it will be 350 billion euros. “The problem will be using this money sensibly, because planning and approval processes in Germany take too long due to bureaucracy,” fears Lindner. Some of his goals: reducing bureaucracy, new trading partners around the world and a transformation towards “clean” technology. “Then we also have a chance to come out of this crisis stronger.”

“Tell citizens what to expect”

Monika Grimm is impressed by these suggestions. “We have to tell the citizens what to expect, but also the opportunities,” she says. Business models of many companies would have to change, but many employees would also have to adapt, for example through further training. Lindner is of exactly the same opinion. He sums it up like this: “I expect political leadership not to increase people’s fears. My message is: There are opportunities for new prosperity and new social security if we change.”

source site-34