*The critical question for Merz is: when will his spending boost generate economic results for Germany?*
*Kamil Kowalcze and Alexander Weber for Bloomberg News*
Friedrich Merz is about to discover whether his plan to reboot Germany will succeed.
The chancellor’s massive infrastructure stimulus is starting to feed into Europe’s biggest economy, with €24 billion ($28.6 billion) already disbursed by the start of this year and hundreds of billions more on the way. A ramp up in defense spending should provide further impetus.
The critical question for Merz and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil is still to be answered: when will it generate results?
“Merz and Klingbeil are aware of the fact that their success will be judged by whether growth returns,” said Jens Suedekum, an economic adviser to Klingbeil. “It’s fundamental to put the money into the economy as soon as possible.”
Merz and his party did a lot of gifts to their voting base after the election. They dont support most things that would really bring germany forward.
Ordinary-Plankton856 on
Big promises, big risks. Germany’s problems weren’t built overnight curious whether this is real reform or just another political stress test.
a_dolf_in on
I have a prediction:
Pensioners will get helped
The youth will get fucked
The economy will go down
Caedes_1337 on
Look, I dont want to be to much of a negative nancy here. But the guy and his party got voted im because they claim the be good in economics. Since now, they have utterly failed.
Growth is 1%, where 0.6% is due to horrendous dept of fundings which they forbid they previous government to use for.
His economic minister had made 2 legislative rules since she started. Which have been written by the feather of her sponsors (e.g. energy companies).
Shes more busy lobbying in privat than anything else.
He is currenlty on a war path against workers as he needs do deflect his own failings in promises. Thefe is a reason he is called the announcemeng chancellor.
Long story short, he wont be the fuel to start the german engine.
Panzermensch911 on
With the inherent corruption of the CDU/CSU and investing into yesteryears technologies the answer will be a resounding no.
The majority of problems from infrastructure to incentives and subsidizes are a product of previous CDU/CSU governments that also happily destroyed any new industry that developed (e.g solar, wind power) or sabotaged them (like heat pumps) or just ignored the need for national/eu projects like AI, Software, Clouds, etc and has no problem schmoozing it up with Microsoft and Palantir. They have no vision or imagination to develop the country towards something that benefits citizens – and subsequently no plan for that either.
They just keep doing what they’ve always been doing. Blame poor and working people for the bad decisions made by CEOs and their own Chancellors and ministers.
pii-hardey on
Spoiler : it won’t
Collapse_is_underway on
Waow, deep delusion :]
There is no forward as war of resources intensify and we cannot keep growing extraction of all stuff :]
It’s hilarious to see people so brainwashed with neoliberal mainstream economist theories that you’d think we’re on a sustainable path lmao :’p
Mammoth_Bed6657 on
Paywall
Ramongsh on
Merz hope that by spending a huge amount on infrastructure, both transport and digital, as well as defence, that Germany’s economy will grow.
Germany definitely needs a digital infrastructure upgrade, so his plan seems good.
Let’s hope for Germany that it plays out.
japps13 on
Is Germany « broken » to begin with ?
They seemed mostly fine last time I visited.
Although I was visiting colleagues in Thüringen and the biggest problem there was the rise of the far right.
Gwinty- on
Merz is just failing badly while blaming the wrong people.
Germany has a spending crisis in the privat sector and a diminishing middle class. Both problems can be fixed by reducing the financial burden on normal working people (income tax, capital gain tax for small investment) and doing something for housing (reducing rent & getting the building economy going).
Also Germany is too dependent on fossile fuel and on the US. Pushing for both to be solved would be great.
Finaly most people see the German social system as an issue. For the most part it is not an issue but gives bad incentives when you are on the lower end of the income spectrum and it spends to much on bureocracy wasting money that should go to the people. Only the pension system is fundamentaly doomed but Merz will not change it.
Pellaeonthewingedleo on
The man has no plan. He is stuck in election fight mode without any wish to change that.
PrestigiousAssist689 on
It will work.
Just by seeing how many trolls and idiots are trying to take it down, you have your answer.
14 commenti
*The critical question for Merz is: when will his spending boost generate economic results for Germany?*
*Kamil Kowalcze and Alexander Weber for Bloomberg News*
Friedrich Merz is about to discover whether his plan to reboot Germany will succeed.
The chancellor’s massive infrastructure stimulus is starting to feed into Europe’s biggest economy, with €24 billion ($28.6 billion) already disbursed by the start of this year and hundreds of billions more on the way. A ramp up in defense spending should provide further impetus.
The critical question for Merz and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil is still to be answered: when will it generate results?
“Merz and Klingbeil are aware of the fact that their success will be judged by whether growth returns,” said Jens Suedekum, an economic adviser to Klingbeil. “It’s fundamental to put the money into the economy as soon as possible.”
Chart: [Planned Spending From German Infrastructure Fund](https://www.reddit.com/r/bbgphotos/comments/1qrxiv9/planned_spending_from_german_infrastructure_fund/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
[Read the full story here.](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-31/merz-has-activated-his-plan-to-fix-germany-now-we-ll-find-out-if-it-works?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc2OTg0OTk4MiwiZXhwIjoxNzcwNDU0NzgyLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUOEkwRjVLSzNOWTgwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJEMzU0MUJFQjhBQUY0QkUwQkFBOUQzNkI3QjlCRjI4OCJ9.qTrlOBwGmRvcgEsH11Dzb5H4-DZz-szhACFkbRfWv3M)
Merz and his party did a lot of gifts to their voting base after the election. They dont support most things that would really bring germany forward.
Big promises, big risks. Germany’s problems weren’t built overnight curious whether this is real reform or just another political stress test.
I have a prediction:
Pensioners will get helped
The youth will get fucked
The economy will go down
Look, I dont want to be to much of a negative nancy here. But the guy and his party got voted im because they claim the be good in economics. Since now, they have utterly failed.
Growth is 1%, where 0.6% is due to horrendous dept of fundings which they forbid they previous government to use for.
His economic minister had made 2 legislative rules since she started. Which have been written by the feather of her sponsors (e.g. energy companies).
Shes more busy lobbying in privat than anything else.
He is currenlty on a war path against workers as he needs do deflect his own failings in promises. Thefe is a reason he is called the announcemeng chancellor.
Long story short, he wont be the fuel to start the german engine.
With the inherent corruption of the CDU/CSU and investing into yesteryears technologies the answer will be a resounding no.
The majority of problems from infrastructure to incentives and subsidizes are a product of previous CDU/CSU governments that also happily destroyed any new industry that developed (e.g solar, wind power) or sabotaged them (like heat pumps) or just ignored the need for national/eu projects like AI, Software, Clouds, etc and has no problem schmoozing it up with Microsoft and Palantir. They have no vision or imagination to develop the country towards something that benefits citizens – and subsequently no plan for that either.
They just keep doing what they’ve always been doing. Blame poor and working people for the bad decisions made by CEOs and their own Chancellors and ministers.
Spoiler : it won’t
Waow, deep delusion :]
There is no forward as war of resources intensify and we cannot keep growing extraction of all stuff :]
It’s hilarious to see people so brainwashed with neoliberal mainstream economist theories that you’d think we’re on a sustainable path lmao :’p
Paywall
Merz hope that by spending a huge amount on infrastructure, both transport and digital, as well as defence, that Germany’s economy will grow.
Germany definitely needs a digital infrastructure upgrade, so his plan seems good.
Let’s hope for Germany that it plays out.
Is Germany « broken » to begin with ?
They seemed mostly fine last time I visited.
Although I was visiting colleagues in Thüringen and the biggest problem there was the rise of the far right.
Merz is just failing badly while blaming the wrong people.
Germany has a spending crisis in the privat sector and a diminishing middle class. Both problems can be fixed by reducing the financial burden on normal working people (income tax, capital gain tax for small investment) and doing something for housing (reducing rent & getting the building economy going).
Also Germany is too dependent on fossile fuel and on the US. Pushing for both to be solved would be great.
Finaly most people see the German social system as an issue. For the most part it is not an issue but gives bad incentives when you are on the lower end of the income spectrum and it spends to much on bureocracy wasting money that should go to the people. Only the pension system is fundamentaly doomed but Merz will not change it.
The man has no plan. He is stuck in election fight mode without any wish to change that.
It will work.
Just by seeing how many trolls and idiots are trying to take it down, you have your answer.