Germany’s federal government is preparing massive cuts to social welfare benefits, pensions and healthcare starting in the autumn. Chancellor Friedrich Merz made this clear last Friday at his summer press conference. The business pages of the main media outlets are also full of suggestions on how to save billions at the expense of the needy, pensioners, the sick and wage workers.
It is now clear that the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union and Social Democrats (SPD) deliberately omitted the planned social cuts from their coalition agreement and delegated them to expert commissions in order to first push through the massive increase in military spending. They apparently anticipated tremendous resistance if they had announced a huge increase in rearmament spending and social cuts at the same time. But now, as Merz made clear, there is no more time to lose. Workers and the most socially vulnerable are to pay the costs of rearmament and war.
This sounds like a populist victory waiting to happen
More like fascism currently happening.
Merz is preparing the weapons so that when the AFD, which he will paint as opposition to his Fascism-lite regime eventually wins, they can do full Fascism.
It’s very revealing how casually liberals spit out populist as an insult. The derogatory use of the word unmasks their real conviction that majority rule is only admirable when the majority thinks like them. Strip away the varnish and their ideal is not democracy at all, but a stewardship by the enlightened elites who keep the unwashed masses at bay.
You’re right, populism can be good. The word I should have used here is exploitative demagogue.