Today, at the beginning of this wake-up call, we want to take a deep breath in the campaign finals and, for a change, deal with Armin Laschet’s attempts to catch up a little later. Instead, it should now be about those booming investments that pay attention to ecology, social issues and good corporate governance. This ESG (“Environment, Social, Governance”) market is now worth more than two trillion dollars – and apparently a murky pond that is happily fished if you follow Tariq Fancy.
The ex-boss for sustainable investing at the money power Blackrock considers ESG today to be a “dangerous placebo”he tells my colleagues. Investors believed they were doing good, but that only obscured the “inconvenient truth” that politicians must tackle climate change with clear guidelines, Fancy believes.
After the revelations at the Deutsche Bank subsidiary DWS Group, there will be even more cases of “greenwashing”: “A number of dominoes will fall.” The expert is now investing himself in funds that make a measurable contribution to decarbonization.
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From Albert Camus, a French writer and philosopher, we learned: “Man is always the victim of his truths.”
Let’s stay a little longer in the financial market, which undermines the logic of economic textbook wisdom as if it never existed. The phrase that you have to pay money when you borrow money is such an antique.
With the issue of federal securities in the first eight months of the year, the federal government has, believe it or not, received “payments of around 4.251 billion euros,” writes Parliamentary Finance State Secretary Sarah Ryglewski in response to a question from the Bundestag member Fabio De Masi (Die Linke ).
The economic bloom is a consequence of the global investment crisis and the negative interest rates on the capital market, in the case of Germany minus 0.55 percent: Investors give the state more money when they borrow than they get back later. German government bonds have the top rating “AAA” – and such a “Triple A” is worth a big gift from people who otherwise have no money to lose.
When it comes to money, everything is a little different at the moment, which can easily lead to fear – for example when it comes to inflation. Isabel Schnabel, Director of the European Central Bank (ECB), has now sharply opposed this. In Germany in particular, “many ‘experts’ and the media are currently serving people’s fears without explaining the causes of the price development,” she argues.
In view of the 3.9 percent inflation in Germany, it is wrong to speak of “Weimar conditions”, according to Schnabel: “Put simply, inflation is so high today mainly because it was too low in the previous year.”
The economist: If you ignore the effects of the pandemic, inflation is currently “still too low rather than too high”. Anyone who anticipated an imminent tightening of monetary policy will see themselves wrong in view of this analysis.
The Social Democrats at around 26.4 percent, the conservative ruling party after many years only at 20.5 percent – no, that’s not the latest Sunday question from Forsa in Germany. That is the result of the preliminary vote count in Norway. The social democratic party leader Jonas Gahr Støre, 61, can prepare himself to replace the politician Erna Solberg and her party Høyre as prime minister.
The two largest parties in the country have each lost. The Labor Party received 27.4 percent in 2017, Høyre 25.0 percent. According to these numbers, it could be enough for a slim majority of a center-left coalition, which would consist of the Social Democrats, the Center Party and the Socialist Left Party.
Incidentally, election winner Støre now wants to implement what Comrade Olaf Scholz has promised for Germany as well: less taxes for middle and low incomes, more taxes for the wealthy.
Which brings us to the general election. 13 days before the election date, SPD hero Olaf Scholz assures that if the worst comes to the worst, he will decide on his own which of his party will be minister. Saskia Esken therefore does not have a “wildcard” for higher tasks. “In Hamburg, where I was head of government, I never let myself be influenced by all the government formations.”
Experts without a party membership card could also enter the cabinet, according to Scholz, which is somewhat reminiscent of Gerhard Schröder in 1998. At that time, the social democrat brought Compunet founder Jost Stollmann into his shadow cabinet. Scholz does not name any names. After all, you could write a great book about all the great shadow ministers who then turned into nothing or something else.
And with that comes Armin Laschet, who wants to prevent the implosion of the CDU People’s Party, the possible loss of power and his own dismantling with a 100-day immediate program.
The tried and tested ballot box tax cut is used in many places: more child allowance, “dynamic” commuter allowance, employee allowance increased to 1,250 euros, solos for everyone, guaranteed no tax increases and a kind of stop line for additional wage costs of a maximum of 40 percent – the table of gifts sees all of this of the maybe-rather-not-chancellor. The reform of corporate taxes drawn up by the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry has not yet been incorporated into this magic package. You feel reminded of school cones on the day you start school, which also contain sweets of all kinds.
That Laschet was ultimately victorious in the dirty skirmish with CSU boss Markus Söder, he owes two grandees of the CDU: Wolfgang Schäuble, 78, and Volker Bouffier, 69. The norm of adherence to principles has not yet been replaced by the principle of daily reach . In an interview with Handelsblatt, Hesse’s Prime Minister Bouffier supports his protégé: “It will be a rock-hard final spurt.” He says in detail about …
- the current situation: “I don’t want to talk around, it’s very difficult at the moment. But the situation is also unfair: SPD candidate Olaf Scholz refuses any discussion. At most he says: The Chancellor and I … There should be no going on and yet he is conveying the need to keep going. “
- Laschet’s ability: “He rules successfully – and not Legoland, but the largest federal state in Germany.”
- rising gasoline prices: “We have to bring both together. Climate protection, yes, while preserving jobs and prosperity. People will not go along with you if you forbid them to drive or fly. ”
What goes unmentioned is the fact that Laschet currently sometimes acts like an opposition leader when he talks about future politics – because then he cannot hide the weak status quo of the Angela Merkel era.
And then there is the Austrian Strabag building contractor Hans Peter Haselsteiner, 77, a strolling trouble spot in his country. So he bought the large art collection of a wrecked entrepreneur and transferred it to the Albertina in Vienna.
And he made the liberal party Neos big with his money. Haselsteiner’s latest act also affects the Federal Republic of Germany: From December 12th, he has the private Westbahn commute back and forth between Vienna and Munich. One day his trains will even continue to run – as far as Zurich: “In this case, we would fully live up to the name of our company.”
The Westbahn was only in the black for a very short time. That is an investment with a 25-year horizon, says the owner. In order to save costs, Haselsteiner also wants to rent cheap electric multiple units from the state-owned Chinese railway company CRRC. His compatriot Alfred Polgar knew: “The idealist goes straight through walls and bumps sore in the air.”
I wish you a powerful day in which you will overcome many walls.
Greetings you warmly
you
Hans-Jürgen Jakobs
Senior editor
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