celebrate such measly growth. But the country had spent so long fearing a slide into recession that even its third-quarter expansion of 0.1%, announced on November 14th, felt like a success. After the economy shrank by 0.2% in the second quarter, strong domestic demand and a surprisingly good export performance were enough to avoid Germany’s first technical recession since 2013.
Since March 2018 the finance ministry has been in the hands of Olaf Scholz, a centrist Social Democrat. Yet hopes for a much more expansive fiscal policy have been dashed. The black zero was written into the coalition deal between Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats and Mr Scholz’s. Big government programmes, such as a recent package to reduce Germany’s carbon emissions, are designed to satisfy fiscal rules rather than the other way around.
One worry is that the slump will not be bad enough to trigger meaningful action. Another, says Jens Südekum, an economics professor at Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, is that a late, hastily implemented stimulus could cut against Germany’s long-term investment and restructuring needs. For example, subsidies or tax cuts could encourage car companies to keep plugging old technologies.
Some Germans have tired of foreign criticism. Public investment grew by 3.8% last year, they point out . Eckhardt Rehberg, who is leading thein discussions over next year’s budget, says capacity constraints and red tape make it hard to spend more without accelerating costs in construction. Local governments often fail to spend allocated funds as it is. In Germany’s tight labour market, companies cannot meet orders, and a chronically understaffed public-sector workforce struggles to manage them.
Such rows will not end soon. Meanwhile the outlook is uncertain. Germany’s export-heavy economy remains exposed to risks like a no-deal Brexit and the uncertainty around America’s trade spat with China. “German business expectations have fallen off a cliff,” according toMarkit, a research firm. The European Commission thinks German growth will outpace only Italy’s in 2020. Amid such worries, critics will continue to decry the German government’s tightfistedness.
No, cut spending taxes regulations & printing, less Govt
So the answer is to always spend money that doesn't belong to you?
There are still billions of debt to cover, made in last 5 decades. europe is not nazigermany were money was printed non stop & not backwardsusa were billions for weapons, wars are always on the counter. From the taxpayers directly to gopcronies & nra.
They are always afraid of dooms day
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