The Germans and their money are a toxic relationship. While the rest of the world has realized that wealth is not created through “saving” (i.e. hoarding devalued paper) but through investing, we in this country cling to our savings accounts like a drowning man to an anvil.

3,600 billion euros are in German accounts and are being slowly but happily sucked away by inflation. This is not savings, this is a reminder of financial illiteracy.

The Scholz shadow and the red irony

Let’s remember Olaf “Sparbuch” Scholz. The fact that the former chancellor left his money without interest was not a personal pleasure, it was a political signal of discouragement. “Look, I’m just as scared as you,” that’s what it was supposed to mean. It is true that Klingbeil is now correcting course, but it seems like a tour of remorse after a decade full of bad decisions. Anyone who is only now realizing that returns are not a dirty word has simply missed the last two decades of boom on the stock market.

The fear of the “insurance mafia”

The idea of ​​a mandatory company pension sounds logical on paper. But this is where the German bungling usually begins. When Klingbeil talks about “mobilization,” I get goosebumps. Why? Because in Berlin “mobilization” often means: We build a bureaucratic monster, let the insurance lobby write the contracts and in the end the structural sales force collects 1.5 percent in fees, while the saver is fobbed off with a measly 2 percent.

A Swedish model? Gladly! But do we really trust this policy to build a lean, cost-effective system without a “Riester vibe”? Anyone who has seen the Berlin airport and the digitalization of schools knows: skepticism is the first civic duty here.

Conclusion: Finally wake up, damn it!

In terms of industrial policy, it is a joke that we can indirectly use our savings to support the expansion of Tesla and Apple finance while our own start-ups in Berlin-Mitte are starving because there is no capital. The fact that Klingbeil now recognizes this is commendable. But the state should not only “mobilize”, it should do one thing above all: get out of the way of the citizens. Lowers taxes on capital gains for long-term investors, makes portfolios for children tax-free – and stops acting as if the capital market is a casino.

The 3.6 trillion have to work. And this is for us, not for the bank fee billing.