The finance minister wants to save on social spending in order to finance the rearmament. But there are alternatives, because defense policy is distribution policy.
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A Fuchs tank in a Rheinmetall production hall © Swen Pförtner/dpa
The following situation: In a country – let’s call it a model country – there are 100 people and two factories. A bomb factory and a butter factory. Half of the population builds bombs, the other half makes butter. The borders are secure and there is enough to eat. Everyone is happy. Now a war breaks out, the government of Musterland withdraws ten people from the butter factory and assigns them to the bomb factory.
Question: What happens to butter production?
Of course it is declining, and this describes the dilemma into which the federal government has maneuvered itself. Because instead of “butter” you could write a social budget and instead of “bombs” you could write a defense budget. And when Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) calls for a “moratorium” on social spending to finance the Bundeswehr, then he is basically calling for bombs instead of butter. But is that really the alternative?