Let's also call out the origins (at least partly) for this mess. Which is the obsession with a balanced budget, mainly originating with former finance minister

Let's also call out the origins (at least partly) for this mess. Which is the obsession with a balanced budget, mainly originating with former finance minister Schäuble. The last 20 years of extremely low interest rates would have been ideal to use essentially free money (government bonds were typically below inflation) to build German infrastructure. Instead Schäuble used weird anologies to your neighbor who should not spend over their budget (the German expression is Milchmädchenrechnung) to convince people that taking out loans is a bad thing for governments. Such a lost opportunity, Germany could be so much further along in their transition to renewables, could have one of the best public transport systems in the world and that essentially and no cost for the loaning the money. Instead it has a dependence on Russian gas, destroyed renewables industry (which used to be World leading), and public transport infrastructure which is desperate for investment just when we are coming into a recession.