> So if they had been diligently saving until 2009, then cleared out their financial buffer in 2010, they would quite reasonably be caught flat-footed in 2011?

> So if they had been diligently saving until 2009, then cleared out their financial buffer in 2010, they would quite reasonably be caught flat-footed in 2011? If - sure. And if they hadn't lobbied the CDU/FDP for years to take it back it probably wouldn't have happened. Many ifs. But they didn't save up and they did lobby both parties.