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The corona crisis has so far burdened the federal budget significantly less than was predicted at the beginning.

At 130 billion euros, the budget gap last year was 90 billion euros less than planned.

Nevertheless, it remains a record level of debt, and it is also three times greater than the previous all-time high of 2010, when the consequences of the financial crisis temporarily threw the federal budget out of balance.

For other reasons, there is no reason at all to cheer about the previous Corona bill.

Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is already forecasting the next debt record for this year, which will then be 180 billion euros.

The government has deliberately given itself such a generous financial framework that it can pay for all aid measures for a long time to come.

After all, increasingly tougher lockdown measures are much easier to implement if frustration is dampened with generous help.

The Vice Chancellor assures us that there is enough money.

After all, Germany is creditworthy - and 2021 will be a super election year.

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The fact that promised help for companies, of all places where it is urgently needed, has often not flowed out, is devastating.

Bureaucratic hurdles, subsequent changes and IT problems mean that many applicants are still waiting for November and December aid.

For quite a few of those affected, the help threatens to come too late in the end.

Then the federal government will save money in the short term, but the long-term costs are all the higher afterwards.

The funds budgeted for state investments for 2020 were also often left behind.

The Corona crisis in particular shows how much it would be necessary to vigorously increase the pace of renewal, especially when it comes to the digitization of schools, offices and networks.

The state budget also includes the social security funds, whose reserves, which had accumulated during the long boom, melted away like snow in the sun within a few months.

The claims of the insured, however, remain and will require more and more tax revenue in the coming years.

How expensive Germany Corona is really can only be said with the final bill.

One thing is clear: the longer the crisis lasts, the greater the risk that politicians in this country will get used to getting into debt.