German Economics Minister Robert Habeck has proposed a solution for the country’s current economic woes: borrow more money to create a “special fund” so that subsidies for various groups can be increased. Seems like a good idea to me. What could possibly go wrong?

Many thanks to Hellequin GB for translating this article from Apollo News. The translator’s comments are in square brackets:

Habeck fantasizes about new trillion-dollar special assets — all financed with new debts

Economics Minister Habeck is causing outrage in the Bundestag. The Green Minister is fantasizing about a new special fund worth trillions using figures made out of thin air.

Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck spoke to the Bundestag on Thursday about the problems of the German economy. In response to considerable criticism from the opposition about the current dire economic situation, he then spoke of the possibility of another “special fund” to stimulate the German economy again. He knows “that a discussion about the debt brake is not right, given the current possibilities.” There is “maybe, but still a way to come together in this sense,” said Habeck in the direction of the Union faction. [What a word-salad this children’s book author can throw together.]

Habeck’s suggestion: “What if we introduced a special fund to solve the structural problems?” It seems to be Habeck’s new favorite word. If Germany has no money for its daring plans, then it will have to go through debts from a special fund.

The Economics Minister continued: “(A special fund) that then pays out with what the companies want: namely, through TaxCredit tax breaks, to create tax depreciation options.” That is what he is hearing from opposition circles and from the Liberals: “An Economic Opportunity Act times 10, maybe times 50, to move this country forward. What we need is a joint conversation.”

The already planned Growth Opportunities Act is currently stuck in the mediation committee between the Bundestag (Parliament) and the Bundesrat (Federal Council) because there is no agreement yet. The volume of this project is around €7 billion per year from 2024 and a total of over €32 billion in the next few years. An “Economic Opportunities Act times 50”, as Habeck calls for, would be a financial mega-project worth €1.6 trillion.

The Economics Minister seems to have simply plucked the “times 50” out of thin air in the debate. But that seems to be Habeck’s last line, under pressure from Germany’s increasingly gloomy economic figures: simply spend more money, take on more debt — without fully outlining the dimensions himself.

The special fund idea caused outrage even in otherwise Habeck-friendly public broadcaster circles. Gerd-Joachim von Fallois, the Phoenix correspondent in the ARD capital studio, said critically: “The economic figures in Germany are devastating. Germany is sliding into recession, something is wrong. And the only thing that occurs to the responsible federal minister is that we have to get more money in order to distribute more subsidies.”

Afterword from the translator:

From a failed painter to a children’s book author: Germany sure knows how to ‘choose’ them.

If there is no money for green projects, and the debt brake prohibits further loans, and even the previous type of ‘money creation’ has been condemned by the BVG, then Habeck tells the assembled Bundestag about a new special fund worth trillions. Investors assumed that the German state would turn the stocks they bought cheaply into expensive stocks to sell because the law required all German citizens to use green technologies. This would mean that the money would move from the pockets of German citizens into the pockets of investors. Now that won’t happen. Robert Habeck cannot turn straw into gold.

Why does Habeck’s grand PLAN remind me somehow of this?