I am again at it: calculations. In order to make it easier, I will approximate the numbers. For instance, let us assume the population of Germany is 90 million. In reality, the number is probably a little less.
Let us further assume that the debt of our “public authorities” throughout the year 2010 increased by 180 billion €.
Before we start the calculations, here are a few remarks:
The assumption that the number is 180 billion is just wise guess. In the internet, you find numbers stating the additional debt to the tune of 80 billion Euros (Federal Debt) and 325 billion Euros (all public authorities). The numbers differ strongly, also depending on when they were published. Neither was I able to precisely research the cost (debt incurred) of saving banks and the Euro.
Accurate numbers for “outsourced debts” as incurred by privatizations were also something I could not find anywhere. All I know for sure is that those debts are not included when we are talking the numbers I found titled “debt”. Yet in my opinion, if you have to pay regularly over a long period of time to a private corporation for using their motorway or a jail building, then this is basically the same as debt, isn’t it? It is like leasing a car.
Looking at the total debt marching towards 2 trillion Euros (see the incorporated debt clock), 180 billion in one year sounds rather realistic. After all, it is less than 10 % – which means it is a growth by percentage that is negligible. But even if my basic assumptions were wrong and the additional debts were only half of what I am assuming, it would still look bad.
But let us get back to the calculations:
My assumptions make it easy to do the calculations: simply divide by 90 and here is what you get:
1 million citizens have accumulated an additional debt of 2 billion € in 2010.
Let us continue:
That is a debt of 2,000 € per person.
Well, now you will say 2,000 € isn’t that much money. Peanuts. After all, you pay three times this sum if you want an automatic drive in your small Tiguan (Spar-SUV of VW)!
Being a biker, I protest and continue as follows:
For lunch, I like eating at the Althachingg. You can get a warm lunch there for 5.90 €. A year ago, it was still 5.00 €, then they increased the price – giving good reasons – to 5.50 € and now we have reached said 5.90 € (the ten cents short of six is for avoiding embarrassment) – so much on inflation in this country.
But it all means that I can still have a warm lunch with beverage and a (small) tip for 10 €.
Now here is the last step of this very simple calculation:
The aforementioned 2,000 Euros in debt are a number that takes all of us into account, no matter if we are talking toddlers, very old people, students, employees, retirees or the unemployed. So if I – as you all know I have seven children and a wife – were to imitate our government and indebt myself by 2,000 Euro for each one of my family members, I could go eating out at the Althaching on every working day of the year (200 times) with my family of nine!
If I had to finance this family meal from my income, I would have to pay more than 35,000 € for the same purpose. After all, I have to pay tax and social dues from my income, while I get the entire credit (with the possible exception of a small disagio).
Consequently, here is what I advise all my readers to do because there is no alternative:
Stop working, collect your alimony from the state and above all: indebt yourself!
All you have to do is find someone stupid enough to give you credit.
But if the Free State of Bavaria guarantees for the BayernLB, then he will also have to guarantee for you all and me. It is just for moral and equal rights reasons! After all, we are most system relevant, aren’t we? Without us, there would be no system.
And my children are also system relevant. Because without them, “Germany would dispose of itself”!
Even our old Thilo recognized that. And he is someone whose career is mostly based on his striking name (it almost sounds like it could have been taken from the Harry Potter books). At least as far as I am concerned, his comments on genetics are not the only reason why he does not rank among those with top intelligence …
But maybe it is a good idea for Germany to dispose of itself? It would mean Bavaria will also dispose of itself and then the BayernLB would disappear. All of a sudden I understand the real genius of the banker!
RMD
(Translated by EG)
P.S.
Solution: of course, “Thilo” is Mr. Sarrazin.
P.S.1
A short time ago, we had an interesting IF blog discussion about why the turnover among restaurants grew so massively. Here is a new insight of mine:
🙂 If you can get away with these kinds of increase in price, it is not so hard to finish with a growth of turnover.
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