2023-05-07 16:28:20
Illustration of the Erhard laundry house in Fürth
Image: Ludwig Erhard Initiative Group
Entrepreneurial failure is part of capitalism. The free-market reformer Ludwig Erhard knew what that meant first-hand. A chance find documents the bitter experiences of his family.
Dhe possibility of failure is part of the social market economy. The Green Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck may not be entirely familiar with this. He seems to rely more on the state and its power to intervene than on regulatory policy and competition. In the federal government, only FDP finance minister Christian Lindner actually had to gain personal experience of insolvency as a young entrepreneur. All in all, these went pretty smoothly.
A hundred years ago it was different. The words “bankruptcy” or “bankruptcy” still had a terrible reverberation as soon as they were spoken. Many a respectable businessman, as soon as his insolvency was established or became public, sat down at his desk in his best Sunday best and shot himself in the head.
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