Sunday 31 October 2021
“No bogus arguments, please”
FDP defends share pensions against fear of reform
In order to spare the Germans losses in old age, the traffic light parties want to introduce a share pension. Social politicians fear that international hedge funds will become even more powerful with such deposits. FDP General Secretary Wissing warns against such “sham arguments”.
FDP General Secretary Volker Wissing defended the entry into a share-financed pension plan planned by the traffic light partners against criticism. Without the introduction of a capital-building element in the pension insurance, the tax subsidies and contributions would continue to rise, Wissing told the newspapers of the Funke media group: “I can only ask everyone not to use pseudo-arguments to set the situation in concrete,” he added added.
The social association VdK had expressed concerns about the plans of the traffic light partners from the SPD, Greens and FDP to get funded for the statutory pension. International pension funds have shown that investments are not necessarily socially acceptable. VdK chairwoman Verena Bentele complained that the pension funds invested “in hedge funds that are destroying jobs or in the Berlin housing market”. In addition, many questions are unanswered, such as where the ten billion euros for the planned state pension capital stock should come from.
“Nobody can want that”
Wissing said: “We are ready for reform and have a common interest in ensuring social cohesion in our society.” Those who work for a lifetime must be able to live off their pension: “Therefore, in addition to pay-as-you-go financing, a capital-forming element must be introduced into the pension insurance.” If not, tax subsidies and contributions would keep rising: “Nobody can want that,” he added.
The pension expert at the Ifo Institute, Joachim Ragnitz, had also criticized the plans to fund the pension. Ultimately, such a measure would only benefit sellers of stocks in the short term, he said. In contrast, the Düsseldorf economist Jens Südekum had argued for a share pension. “The proposal is good and important,” said Südekum. However, millions of people should not necessarily try to build stock savings plans individually. “It would be better to bundle it with a sovereign wealth fund that administers a global equity portfolio for the citizens and is refinanced through contributions and, in the initial phase, also through loans,” said Südekum, who is a member of the scientific advisory board of the Federal Ministry of Economics. “Despite borrowing, this project would be compatible with the debt brake.”