Perhaps German social democracy is only on the rise in the polls because the black-yellow coalition government is looking more miserable from week to week. In opposition, the former party of the imaginary “new center” is even rediscovering its social soul. At least, it pretends to. A key motion of the SPD presidium for the upcoming party congress calls for an increase in the top tax rate from the current 42 percent to 49 percent, but only for incomes above 100,000 euros. In addition, private assets are to be taxed at a higher rate. But there is a small credibility problem: the SPD is heroically taking a stand against a tax cut for the rich that it had itself introduced under Chancellor Schröder.
It is doubtful, however, that this regression is the result of any deeper insight. In the meantime, the rich themselves have overtaken the SPD on the left. There is no talk show in which a top earner does not explain how much he resents being taxed so leniently. Even before the SPD, well-known big owners were demanding higher taxes for themselves so that the state could fulfill its duties. In the U.S., billionaires want to give away half or more of their fortunes.
When the rich and super-rich go into sackcloth and ashes like this, even the FDP’s usual rhetoric about the sheer “envy” of those who are less fortunate through their own fault gets in the way. If social cynicism was considered chic at the height of the financial bubble and deficit boom, the insatiable gluttons were denounced in the global crash and now turn out to be role models of altruistic philanthropy. The SPD has gone through all the socio-economic zeitgeist cycles of the past decade. First it gave without restraint to those who already had it; then it was the turn of the locusts to be scolded; now it is allowed to participate in the moral catcalls as soon as the top-earning clientele indulges in them. The contemplative rethinking, however, is probably due to the fear that the global economic crisis will not be over as quickly as hoped and that its still unresolved consequences could plunge society in chaos.
But the moralization of the economy always comes too late. As long as they can afford it, because the economic horn of plenty is overflowing anyway, the elites don’t want to know anything about it – and the political class warns not the rich, but the poor against an excessive sense of entitlement. If, on the other hand, the valorization machine has seized up and, despite all the all-clear signals, is making eerie noises, then it is no longer much use to want to finally become decent. Capitalism is not a matter of good will. The mode of production of wealth itself proves to be a problem that cannot be solved with mere distributive justice. Even if the U.S. billionaires were to give away all their wealth down to the last cent, subjective generosity alone could hardly prevent the impending second crash of the economy. Unfortunately, the system of abstract surplus creation cannot be donated as such to a good cause, so that social peace would finally prevail.
Originally published in the print edition of the weekly newspaper Freitag on 09/02/2010.
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