By Jonas Aston | "I want you to have it better than me one day". Each of us has heard this sentence at least once in our lives. In this sentence there is loving affection, but also the subliminal threat that you should be diligent and make something of your life. Over many generations this worked out and the children were mostly better off than the parents. In the meantime this is however everything else than natural. Many young people are happy if they can at least maintain the prosperity they know from the parental home. The phrase "you should be better off than me" is increasingly becoming wishful thinking. The goings-on of politics in recent years are calling the promise of upward mobility into question for the long term.
Between 1978 and 2010, disposable income for 25- to 29-year-olds fell 11 percent compared to the national average. Going forward, the outlook does not look rosier. Quite the opposite: the trend will intensify and that is anything but surprising. In fact, nowadays it is almost impossible for young people to build up assets. In a European comparison, Germans have a high income. However, the wealth of the Germans is extremely low. This is mainly due to the low home ownership rate. The reasons for this are mainly the two lost world wars. In addition, there are the expropriations on the territory of the former GDR and the strongly developed tenancy law in Germany.
This makes citizens incredibly dependent on rental prices, and it is precisely these that have been massively inflated in the past. It is not uncommon today to pay 50% of one's income for housing. The tax and contribution ratio is higher in Europe only in Belgium. High rents and high taxes affect young and old alike. Nonetheless, the mortgage is disproportionately larger for youth because of numerous adverse developments.
This can already be seen in the budgetary behavior of the new traffic light government. On a global scale, Germany has always been the one-eyed man among the blind when it comes to debt, and there is no comparison with the financial behavior of the Greeks or Italians. Even the USA or Japan have a much higher public debt ratio of 130 or more, respectively. 260%. At the end of 2019, Germany's debt to GDP ratio was less than 60%. Only 2 years later, at the end of 2021, this figure was over 70%. The national debt has thus increased in just 2 years by over 10%. And here is not even the new debt, disguised by Finance Minister Christian Lindner as "special assets", in the amount of 100 billion euros included. Also not factored in is the decline in GDP, which further increases the debt-to-GDP ratio. Although it was not exactly possible to speak of an economic boom during this period, we have therefore been living completely beyond our means for the past two and a half years. In the future, we will have to foot the bill for this. Either through higher interest and repayment rates or through higher inflation, in doubt through both.
The situation on the labor market is equally dramatic. Everywhere there is talk of a shortage of skilled workers, but the current labor shortage may be a mere breeze compared to what is in store for the future. Germany is the third oldest country in the world after Japan and Italy. 1.4 million children were born in Germany in 1964. In my year of birth, 2001 came just 700.000 babies born. The real shortage of skilled workers will therefore only occur when those born around 1964 take their well-deserved retirement. However, a problem then becomes not the supply of labor but also the financing of their pensions. Millions of net contributors will become net recipients in the not too distant future. These droves of retirees are then to be financed by my low-birth-rate generation. In addition, my generation will have to finance an increasing number of people who are either unable or unwilling to work.
And here I have not even come to the current energy crisis to speak. Obviously the federal government tries to eliminate the lack of workers by increasing insolvencies. German companies have never invested so much money as in China and have never invested so little money in Germany as is currently the case. Business also apparently no longer sees the future in Europe but in Southeast Asia.
But I don't want to dismiss them with this sentence now either. Europe still has a lot ahead of Asia. In the future, many negative developments are laid out in Germany, but this does not mean that the situation is necessarily hopeless. I am of the opinion that every situation, no matter how bad, can get worse, but also every situation, no matter how good, can be improved. That's why we shouldn't bury our heads in the sand in this country either. Things can and will get better again. For this, however, the policy must finally change!