Bonus payments for managers whose companies are bailed out by taxpayers? That puts too much strain on the cohesion between above and below. The traffic light failed to ensure fairness in the crisis.
The federal government is filling a large gap in its energy price support and is taking a large number of companies and their jobs under an energy price rescue package. That is correct for a while, because otherwise there would be irreparable damage to German industry, suppliers and trade. That is still true even when there are deadweight gains, because those companies who really need it cannot be clearly identified.
But what is as superfluous as it is scandalously unfair: The employed managers of many of the supported companies should continue to receive their year-end bonus. Why? That remains in the dark.
The light falls all the more glaringly on the injustice contained in this regulation. It’s a slap in the face to those funding it.
Whatever these bosses do for their bonus, they can only do it because all taxpayers in Germany will soon save their shop. And all taxpayers, that is: a lot of small taxpayers who earn far less than managers. Things aren’t right when a supermarket cashier or a truck driver finances a board member’s annual bonus.
This sends a devastating message: Those who have made it to the top no longer need to worry, even in this crisis. To care? This is only for the lower half of society. No government should give such an impression, because in the long run it could tear the country apart.
But the coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP could not agree on the clear cut. Instead, supported state companies are not allowed to pay a bonus, but all other companies are allowed to do so if they do not exceed a certain level of aid. So the government is acting in all seriousness as if this very fundamental question of justice could be answered in one way or another.
It is not envy to flatly reject bonus payments for managers of state-backed companies. It’s about fairness in the crisis. And it’s about cohesion between above and below. It’s stressed enough, but the federal government of all people is going one better with their bonus scheme.
