The Chancellor wants tougher corona measures.
At the same time, the GroKo is afraid of the anger of the self-employed.
What to do?
A comment by Merkur editor-in-chief Georg Anastasiadis.
Does the anger wave follow the second corona wave?
In Germany, acute dangers are currently not only due to the
second
wave of corona infections
.
The
wave of anger
that is currently building up among hoteliers and
landlords could
also
become
explosive for the federal government in
the
pre-election
year - keyword
ban
on
accommodation
and
curfew
.
The unexpectedly violent protests against it surprised politicians.
The concern is justified that the existential
fears
in this industry are acting like a catalyst and are
fueling
the
resistance
in the wider population to
tougher corona measures
.
New Corona aid should benefit the self-employed
The move by Federal Minister of Economics
Peter Altmaier
to
redesign
the
Corona aid in
such a way that the
self-employed
can in future receive not only bridging
aid
for fixed company costs but also an "entrepreneur's wage" from the state treasury is anything but altruistic from the point of view of the CDU, CSU and SPD.
It's not cheap either.
Still he is correct.
After almost eight months of the
corona crisis, the
financial reserves of many people affected
exhausted.
Letting significant parts of the middle class slide into Hartz IV is not a sensible option for action.
Especially since, as the autumn report of the five leading German economic research institutes indicates, there is little hope of a quick end to the dry spell.
People not only worry about health, they are afraid of existence
It is true that the economy recovered quickly and vigorously after the lockdown-induced slump in the second quarter.
However, some industries, especially
gastronomy
and
tourism
, will continue to face enormous problems as long as the measures restricting contact remain in force.
For the people there, the
fear of their existence
is even more acute than the concern for their health
.