It is fascinating how much money the federal government suddenly has at its disposal.
For years, it was so chronically short of funds that many things that were sensible to urgently needed unfortunately had to be dispensed with: investments in climate protection, for example, in renewable energies in order to quickly overcome dependence on fossil fuels from Russia, for example .
On investments in modern infrastructure, be it roads, bridges or fiber optic cables.
To better schools and day care centers.
To better pay for nursing staff or higher Hartz IV rates.
And these are just a few spontaneous examples.
A full list of necessary investments is beyond the scope of this column.
Last Sunday, Chancellor Scholz announced at a special session of the Bundestag on the occasion of the Russian war in Ukraine that the Bundeswehr should receive an additional 100 billion euros.
You get a "special fund," a huge sum.
Did the Federal Republic of Germany win the lottery?
And a million times?
In Parliament, many MPs jumped enthusiastically from their seats.
Applause from almost all sides, including the Greens and Social Democrats, who for years had had good reasons against the militarization of Germany and for disarmament and arms control.
A touch of Kaiser Wilhelm II wafted around the Reichstag building.
One no longer knew any parties, one only knew the Bundeswehr.
It was the Fukushima moment in German foreign and security policy.
But this hasty stimulus policy, one could also say panic policy, is rarely helpful.
Before the reactor accident in Fukushima, Angela Merkel wanted to extend the operating times of the nuclear power plants.
After that, she wanted to shorten it drastically.
It didn't matter that the safety of the German nuclear power plants hadn't changed at all.
And that Vladimir Putin's murderous war against Ukraine by the billions in the Bundeswehr will not end any day sooner.
After all, there are also beneficiaries of the new German policy.
Unfortunately, it's not the much-cited nursing staff, maybe not even the soldiers, but it's definitely Rheinmetall's shareholders.
The price of the weapons manufacturer jumped by 50 percent after Olaf Scholz' subsidy program for the armaments industry.
Congratulations!
I don't want to be misunderstood.
I too want our soldiers to be well equipped.
However, Germany currently has the seventh highest defense budget in the world at over 50 billion dollars per year.
The question is rather what the good money was wasted on - and why the Bundeswehr can't handle money.
Perhaps training in housekeeping would make more sense than a special fund.
Otherwise the 100 billion will soon be gone.
