Ricarda Lang, head of the Green Party, wants to raise the minimum wage in Germany to a good 14 euros – just like that, no big deal. This would represent an increase of more than a third – 34 percent – within 15 months. With this proposal, the law school dropout with 14 semesters of law without a degree (but a seat in the Bundestag) reveals that she only knows the working world from the outside and has little idea of economic contexts.
“Politicians who only know the world of work from hearsay have a big advantage: they don’t think twice about who their economic policy demands and proposals will benefit and who they will harm. How should he know?” Hugo Müller-Vogg rightly comments in “Focus”.
Off the cuff and without any practical experience, Lang finds it easy to criticize the decision of the minimum wage commission, which provides for an increase from 12 euros to 12.82 euros within the next two years. She even called it a “slap in the face” to low-income people.
In view of inflation, such an increase is too low, said Lang – who thus demonstrated about as much economic competence as people who think that the government only needs to print more money to finance more spending. If you’re laughing now, you should stifle it – according to critics, the European Central Bank’s “bond purchases” are nothing more than such money-printing programs, only masked.
Lang is apparently unaware that the minimum wage was increased from 10.45 euros to 12 euros just over twelve months ago, on October 1, 2022. Or it may not realize that such a 15 percent increase has far-reaching consequences.
“If it were increased by a further 2 euros to 14 euros on January 1, 2024, this would correspond to an increase of 34 (!) percent within 15 months. The unions have never demanded such drastic wage increases in any sector of the economy,” Müller-Vogg calculates: “For good reason: wage increases of 34 percent would mean the end for many companies and force job cuts in others.”
In fact, the nominal wage index rose by only 2.6 percent. This reflects the general wage trend in Germany. Actually, this should not have escaped Lang’s notice either, because her “diet” has risen by exactly these 2.6 percent due to the linkage to the nominal wage index (this is not an evil allusion, the salaries of members of the Bundestag are really called that). Lang now receives 10,591.70 euros a month, and thus around 127,000 euros a year.
A considerable income for a college dropout, by the way.
“The increase in the minimum wage to 12 euros, on the other hand, had nothing to do with wage development. It was the fulfillment of an SPD election promise, i.e. a political wage increase,” Müller-Vogg warns: “Lang has never worked in a company that is exposed to fierce competition, in which wage costs play just as important a role as the purchase prices for preliminary products. Consequently, the Green Party politician does not know what the situation is like in many small and medium-sized enterprises. So it’s easy for her to demand something that others have to pay for – as long as they’re still solvent.”
For Lang, what she passes off as “social justice” trumps economic laws. Because when the state forces entrepreneurs to pay higher wages than they can, they go broke.
Indifference or comprehension problem?
But Lang apparently did not see through this logic. That’s why it also wants to cash in on landlords. And it does so by tightening the rent brake and limiting rent increases within three years. Lang either doesn’t seem to understand or doesn’t care that landlords are threatened with losses as a result.
What she also doesn’t understand is that government intervention in rents means it’s getting harder and harder to find investors for the housing market. And without investors, there are fewer apartments.
But such simple free-market logic seems alien to the Green Party leader.
As puzzling as it is how a 29-year-old college dropout with no professional experience could become the head of a governing party in Germany, it is equally obvious how massive the damage she is doing.
The Green Party leader seems like living proof of the Dunning-Kruger effect. The represents the cognitive distortion in the self-image of incompetent people. They tend to overestimate their own knowledge and skills – and to underestimate the knowledge of experts. “If you’re incompetent, you can’t know you’re incompetent” – that’s how co-discoverer David Dunning explained the effect named after him and fellow researcher Justin Kruger. In other words: Those who have no competence often do not have the competence to recognize their lack of competence.
It depends on you – on your support! 1000 thanks!
ZDF has had my deciphering video about Markus Lanz’s methods blocked three times on Youtube. The shot backfired. I uploaded it to the free internet on Rumble. It has been viewed a whopping 6.5 million times. Apparently because the algorithms don’t slow down “critical” content like they do on YouTube. One reader calculated that this meant that more viewers had seen my critical analysis of the program than the program itself. My decrypted video on the ZDF’s diatribe about Hans-Georg Maaßen has also been clicked 6.2 million times on Rumble. That gives you courage! But it also costs a lot of time and energy – in this specific case, a night shift. I am all the more grateful for your support. Without them, my work would not be possible, because I receive neither compulsory fees nor tax millions, nor do I have a billionaire sponsor. For this I am independent!
Currently (again) donations via credit card, Apple Pay etc. are possible – despite the Paypal block: via this link. Alternatively via bank transfer, IBAN: DE30 6805 1207 0000 3701 71. For those who have little themselves, I expressly ask you to keep what little you have. I am all the more pleased to receive support from all those whom it does not hurt.
My current video
Why doctor Habig preferred to go to jail rather than vaccinate: “Top priority not to harm patients!”
More on the topic at reitschuster.de
