Christoph Schumacher

Then suddenly the oil crisis came.

Even if we resolve this now, there'll be something else coming up.

Well, the cost of living crisis is exactly such a manifestation.

Things will become less affordable, and we might see governments providing less handouts simply because they can't afford it anymore.

If the economy is slow, there's less tax income for the government, there's less money to spend, and then we start fixing the holes and the shortcomings by borrowing money, but

That costs money as well.

If the government borrows, they have to pay interest just like you and me when we borrow money from the bank.

So there's a bit of a vicious circle.

The more we spend on interest, the less we can spend on other things.

So people might not like to hear this, but maybe a readjustment is required.

Go back 30, 40, 50 years, and the general expectation was that the government provides an environment in which we can look after ourselves.

Then that slightly changed to expecting the government to provide for us.

Maybe we need to slightly go back on that and realize that, yeah,

The best we can hope for is that the government provides an environment where we can thrive, but it's up to us to do so.

And once we understand or accept this, then we might realize that the responsibility is on us.

We can't always expect when prices go up due to whatever to suddenly get a government hand out.

And I think that's what the government was signaling as well.

There was very little in there, tiny bits, to help with the cost of living crisis.

But it was quite clear that it's not going to be a time for handouts and quick fixes on those issues.

It's a rough issue overall because we do believe in a welfare state.