The experts and politics – diepresse.com
In the budget misery you can also be a little surprised at those who are now too surprising.
Let’s make it short: the financial situation of the republic is devastating, there is nothing to gloss over. Despite the record income, Austria does not manage to get his expenses under control. Since this week it has been official that all borders were blown up with a deficit of 4.7 percent in 2024, and the government seems to be dealing with the EU deficit procedure. Wifo boss Gabriel Felbermayr was « shocked » in view of these findings that the prominent economic researcher suffered massive criticism of political decisions and explained that « the economic crisis was homemade ». IHS boss Holger Bonin spoke similarly, according to which the republic has long lived « about its circumstances ».
That may be the case. But such a debt does not simply fall from heaven, and the collective forgetting these days is quite amazing. What we are experiencing now is just also A consequence of the “it is what it wants” at the beginning of the previous government, the aids and bonuses required from all sides and bonuses required by the federal government and bonuses in the fabulous billion dollar rain of the inflation crisis and the like.
In economic crisis times like this, it is not surprising that economic experts become women and men at the hour. Also in the government: Felbermayr & Co. were welcome guests on ministerial councils and all sorts of culminations, as the government consultant, they were very visible in the media when turquoise green was based on new measures. From the electricity price brake to demands for expansion of the billion dollar distribution action that has now been critically viewed in parts of the ÖVP called energy cost grants. And devastating criticism was rarely heard. As was questioned at the beginning of 2023, for example, when the turquoise-green billion dollar rain could be counterproductive and the inflation could still heat up. At the time, Felbermayr took the government under protection alongside Finance Minister Magnus Brunner; Due to the lavish funding, the inflation rate was only pushed up by about one percentage point, and if it had not been done, then there would have been a risk of the « social imbalance ». Even when the civil servants were increased by around ten percent a little later, the criticism remained quite right: « already high, » it was only said.
Do not understand: It would be really simple and too cheap to accuse economic researchers now that they are located with their forecasts (the deficit forecasts of most institutes were less than a year ago not even half a percentage point over the announcement of the government that has now been scolded in this way). If you do this, you can try an economic forecast yourself. Experts who have ventured deeply into the political decision center should not make themselves too easy for politicians.
