Make Use of the Billions of Surplusses – End Austerity!
Employees in Germany have generated the highest surplus since reunification for the German state last year: 19.4 billion euro. Now it is time for a social and economic turnaround, comments Bernd Riexinger, DIE LINKE party chair. No more fiscal policy which forces municipalities to destructive cuts and ruins the common good. The federal government now needs to vigorously invest in the future.
Instead, Finance Minister Schäuble goes as far as to say: “We cannot afford everything and everyone anymore”. In times of a wrangling coalition fuelling an enormous shift to the right in society, and slogans getting ever more nationalistic demanding social cuts for refugees and complete isolation, I say: the majority of people in this country cannot afford a Finance Minister who sticks to the cutback ideology against any economic reason. The lost trust of the people in a capable state and democracy could be regained by the clear signal of investments for the common good and employment.
Pressured by the debt break and the fixation to be in the black, staff reduction and privatisations in the public sector, cuts in social housing and work aid have been accepted far too long. Immigration has not caused the various problems – it only makes them particularly visible. The billions of surplusses in the budget need to finally be implemented reasonably.
For 2016, we demand a 25 billion immediate action programme of the federal state for a social offensive which enables our country to provide a future for all:
- 5 billion euro for non-profit, social housing
- 5 billion euro for education
- 5 billion euro for security and the strengthening of the public sector
- 5 billion euro for public employment and integration
- 5 billion euro for combating the reasons of flight