The German government, in all its professed wisdom, now finds itself staring into the abyss of a ballooning budget gap for the years 2027 to 2029—172 billion euros, if you can believe such financial ineptitude, when the earlier shortfall was already an eye-watering 144 billion. This gaping hole, as one might expect, is hardly a result of prudent stewardship. Instead, it is propelled by predictable populist largesse: the so-called “mother’s pension” will now bleed the treasury a year earlier, while the state gleefully compensates local governments who groan over lost revenues—“growth booster” they call it; I call it fiscal charity for the masses and their small-time business ventures. Add to this the inexorable rise of federal interest payments, and the incompetence is almost poetic.

The economic outlook, naturally, remains as sullen as the prospects of a provincial lottery ticket holder: a third straight year of stagnation awaits, though hope, that most pitiful of virtues, lingers among politicians who trust recovery (read: miracles) will swell tax revenues and salvage their accounts. Talk of accelerating bureaucracy (as if the German state knows anything of speed), or, less convincingly, reducing federal personnel, is little more than theater for the gullible classes.

Meanwhile, Lars Klingbeil proposes spending the sorts of sums that even I, with my considerable portfolio, would hesitate to flush away—over 520 billion euros in 2026, with investment plans that would make any half-witted nouveau riche blush at their recklessness. New borrowing and special budgets—darling words in government circles—fuel a debt spiral that is as inevitable as it is ruinous.

And, of course, the military’s 100-billion-euro windfall, conceived to impress Washington and frighten Moscow, is set to vanish by 2028. Rather than accept the hard constraints of the debt brake (which, incidentally, was championed by my social betters to safeguard Germany from precisely this sort of populist madness), the government now clutches at technicalities to justify ever more debt for “defense.” Broader reform, mercifully, is facing resistance, as the opposition—no doubt sensing an opportunity to posture as the last guardians of fiscal sanity—drags its feet.

One must step back and contemplate the scene: ministers squabbling like fishwives over scraps for infrastructure or benefits, none with the composure or discernment of true leadership. Is it any wonder the country circles the drain? Frankly, the whole affair is an embarrassment. Had the reins of power remained with those of means, breeding, and education, such an unseemly predicament would never have arisen. But then, that is the curse of democracy—handing the estate keys to those who have only ever peered at the manor from the gates.