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"Divorce Papers:" The End of the SPD-FDP Coalition (September 9, 1982)

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A primary reason for the instability of the German economy for years can doubtless be found in the widespread and still growing skepticism in our own country. The stagnation that has persisted for more than two years, the structural problems that are always emerging anew, the growing unemployment, the large number of insolvencies, the growing awareness of international interest-dependency, and not least the conflicts and insufficient clarity surrounding the future course of economic, financial, and social policies have led to resignation and pessimism as regards the future within broad sections of the German economy. This obvious lack of economic and political confidence might also be an essential reason why, contrary to all previous experience, last year’s strongly expanded foreign demand did not lead to an upward trend in the domestic economy,

[ . . . ]

The necessary overall program for policies to overcome the period of weak growth and to fight unemployment should especially include the following action areas (which are connected through their specific contextual relationship):


A. Growth and Work-Related Budget Policies

Guidelines:

– The maintaining and securing of the middle-term framework of expenditures for the federal budget

1983
1984
1985
250.5 billion DM
258.0 billion DM
266.0 billion DM
(+ 2%)
-3%
-3%

– Multifaceted reinforcement of growth- and employment-promoting expenditures (without follow-up costs, if possible) along with a simultaneous continued cutting of consumptive expenditures (restructuring)
– Balancing of unforeseen, unavoidable additional expenses through saving in other budget areas
– Balancing of deficiencies in receipts that arise, despite careful tax assessment, on account of the unusually long duration of cyclical fluctuations, to some extent also through temporarily higher net-credit intake
– Acknowledgement of the political leadership role of the federal government vis-à-vis the federal states and municipalities in the processes of consolidation and restructuring, but without any new hybrid-financing.

[ . . . ]

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