Talk show "Anne Will": Punxsutawney Will: Criticism, concern and hope on the subject of the energy crisis - like last week

The controversial gas levy buried in the cemetery of the cuddly sweater, it should now fix an electricity or gas price brake.

Talk show "Anne Will": Punxsutawney Will: Criticism, concern and hope on the subject of the energy crisis - like last week

The controversial gas levy buried in the cemetery of the cuddly sweater, it should now fix an electricity or gas price brake. The federal government wants to loosen up to 200 billion euros in the course of this in order to cushion the rising energy prices and avert existential crises for companies and consumers. There is talk of the "double boom" the realization of which is still being worked on. Is that viable? Who will it hit, where will the relief come from, what about the debt brake and how is the energetic state of our democracy?

• Kevin Kühnert, SPD General Secretary

• Christian Dürr, chairman of the FDP parliamentary group

• Andreas Jung, Deputy CDU federal chairman and energy policy spokesman for the Union faction

• Sabine Werth, founder and chairwoman of the Berliner Tafel e.V.

• Antje Höning, head of the business department "Rheinische Post"

The alarm clock jumps from 5:59 a.m. to 6:00 a.m., Sonny and Cher start singing, Phil Connors aka Bill Murray bangs the alarm clock to Klump. The same day again, the whole thing all over again? No way. And yet Connors has to go through this day all over again. Until the whole thing starts all over again 24 hours later. We don't know whether Anne Will smashed her alarm clock on Sunday morning. What is certain is that on Sunday evening – and with her some viewers too – she should have felt a little like Connors on that groundhog day. Seen everything before, heard everything before.

In Punxsutawney, the location of "Groundhog Day", it is well known that if the city's most famous fur animal, Punxsutawney Phil, casts a shadow on February 2nd, Groundhog Day, it should remain wintry for another six weeks . In this country it will probably remain autumnal for another six weeks, no matter who casts a shadow where.

And after the discussion round at Anne Will last Sunday asked the question "No one should have to freeze or starve in winter - can the government keep this promise?" couldn't answer anything substantively, this time Anne Will's guests tried the variant: "Billion-dollar 'double boom' against the crisis - doesn't anyone have to worry anymore?"

While last week it was filmmaker Julia Friedrichs who was most likely to have a connection to the "working class" through her work, this time Sabine Werth was the mouthpiece of the needy. "I never thought that would happen to me," is the sentence that the founder and chairwoman of the Berliner Tafel e.V. hears the most these days. It is people who are suddenly dependent on the help of such social services in order to be fed at all who say it.

Chancellor Scholz has just reached into the first-aid kit with the loudly titled measures, i.e. to where the famous bazooka had its place some time ago. This time he conjured up the "Wumms", pardon me, the "Double-Wumms". The Bazooka 2.0 is said to be worth 200 billion, "nobody has to worry". Solo self-employed people who fill out transfers with the booking note "Bazooka in return" these days must have sniffled tiredly into their turtlenecks. Don't worry, boom care.

According to Kevin Kühnert, there should be clarity in the next two weeks, when the commission presents results, as to how the double boom is to be distributed, who it hits, who it affects, who needs it or who might donate again. For Christian Dürr from the FDP, three points are important - 1. Energy quantities, 2. Prices, 3. Aid, and while economic expert Antje Höning from the "Rheinische Post" demanded that you shouldn't "doctor around with prices because that incentives to save" and criticized the federal government's "watering can principle", Andreas Jung stated that the status quo after the end of the gas levy was "a maximum of chaos".

What the group lacked in the previous week in terms of "practical life background" was offered again by Sabine Werth and with an assessment that underlined the seriousness of the situation, especially in view of the new figures. Because while, as is so often the case, former parts of the government and the new leadership coalition lament about legacy issues and sources of error, about yesterday's commissions, tomorrow's distribution keys and the debt brake in general, the population's trust in the state is dwindling and the community is rapidly eroding. According to a new survey, 70 percent of Germans are of the opinion that things are not fair in this country, in the East it is even 77 percent.

"The resentment is growing," confirms Sabine Werth. You have to "win people back," especially in the face of right-wing forces, of rampant populism that people fall for. In the end, it was all about "saving democracy". Christian Dürr once again stated that there was no "one perfect button" for this, and Kevin Kühnert looked to the future with a faint hope that, in its almost touching devotion, made one think for a moment of Jens Spahn, who was in his childhood days Corona already prophesied that one day we would have to forgive each other a lot. Kühnert's wish list sounded more hopeful: that one day you might look back and think: we did a good job.

With Connors and Groundhog Day, it takes a while before the day comes when things take a turn for the better. Until then, he's got a lot to take in and out of, a lot of coffee, a lot of Jack Daniel's, a lot of donuts and muffins and cigarettes. And a lot of slaps in the face. As far as the current energy crisis is concerned, things should go much faster in this country.

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