These days, the media are full of the “Federal Budget 2011” and the “Financial Planning Until 2014”.
The total federal debt at the end of 2010 will be around 1,800 billion Euros. During the year 2010, the increase of the federal deficit will be around 141.3 billion Euros.
In 2011, everything is supposed to improve. Our government will “restrict” the debt increase to 57.5 billion Euros and limit spending in by 3.8 % relative to 2010. To be sure, nobody knows how this can be achieved and everybody knows that it cannot work. Incidentally, the estimation for 2010, as well as the plans for 2011, fail to take many risks into consideration (such as social costs, insurance for the handicapped and health insurance, the general employment situation, more financial problems with insolvency of banks, insurances, countries,…). Moreover, the plans are based on a strong economic growth, on a very optimistic view of the world and an almost total disregard for demographical developments, environmental risks and their consequences.
Then there is the question whether all those rational considerations, estimations and plans still make any sense at all. I often get the impression that the socio-economical system, both of the Federal Republic of Germany and all over the world, has long since developed its own rules and that the situation cannot be controlled any more.
Warnings come from many places: How can we burden our children with this kind of debt as their heritage?
On the other hand, it is all the same anyway if you consider what we managed to destroy over the last decades:
Those who are worried might even be sincere about it. Yet our debts are not the real problem. Monetary indebtedness is relatively easy to do away with. All you need is the scratch of a pen after a political change, a currency reform, or, even less complicated, a good inflation. To be sure, much can go amiss. A new hand is dealt, some rich people will be poor, much will be levelled our and, of course, there will always be some who win by the crisis. And then there will be a fresh start of the entire game. It is a process that repeated itself with beautiful regularity during our history – and there is no reason why there should not be another repetition.
But all this is not really a threat. We leave our children far worse. Among other things they will inherit:
- A ratio of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere worse than any during the last 20 million years;
- Many other substances in the air that are detrimental to the climate;
- Oceans that have been emptied of fish, soiled and sometimes irreversibly poisoned;
- Plundered raw materials and an enormous amount of waste;
- Uncontrollable radio-active material, partly stored in “final disposal zones” that can no longer be repaired;
- Hundreds of smouldering or burning coal seams;
- Leaking oil and gas springs, both on water and land;
- A countryside that is totally sealed and covered by concrete;
- A drastically reduced variety of species in an eco system that is totally off-balance.
We even managed to soil the arctic and Antarctic ice. And we will probably continue to generate more of the same during the next few years by gene and nano technologies.
Those are the real burden we are leaving future generations to deal with.
And that is why we should really start not only getting concerned, but also getting up and doing something, both individually and collectively.
As far as the almost two billions in virtual debt of the Federal Republic of Germany in a more or less fictional currency like the Euro are concerned, let me quote Karl Valentin:
It would already get too much attention if I ignored it.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
Loading ...