We look closely, because this country matters to us. No party. No camp. Every figure with its source.
What we stand forNEWOPINIONCOMMENTARY
61 per cent trust public service broadcasting, the lowest figure since the Mainz long-term study began. At the same time the state media authorities are to be allowed to screen content automatically, and the ceiling for fines is to triple. Andreas W. Herb on a media order meant to protect debate that risks concentrating power instead.
Andreas W. Herb ·
OPINIONCOMMENTARY
Below 10 per cent alcohol a ready-mixed drink pays duty twice, from 10 per cent only once. Andreas W. Herb does the arithmetic, shows what the federal government itself writes about people switching to mixing their own, and calls for the special duty to be abolished.
Andreas W. Herb ·
OPINIONCOMMENTARY
The EU food authority considers 1,000 times less BPA tolerable than the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. Brussels has opted for the strictest value and banned the BPA can, including for drinks that go for export. Andreas W. Herb asks who is going to explain that.
Andreas W. Herb ·
BACKGROUNDDATA CHECK
From 2018 to 2025 the German economy grew by 2.0 per cent in real terms, the world economy by 22.8 per cent. Industrial production is 15 per cent below the 2018 level – in Austria, in the EU and in Switzerland it is above it. Two charts, calculated from the primary data.
Basis: our own analysis of the databases of the IMF and Eurostat, prompted by the lecture given by Hans-Werner Sinn on 21 October 2026 at the IWP in Lucerne ·
OPINIONCOMMENTARY
989.8 billion euros of taxes in 2025, 76.4 per cent more than in 2008. Even so, the federal government is planning a good 200 billion euros of new borrowing for 2027. Andreas W. Herb asks where the money goes.
Andreas W. Herb ·
OPINIONCOMMENTARY
As at 30 June 2025, 5,475,100 people were working in the public service, 970,000 more than in 2008. Finance minister Klingbeil’s draft budget plans 4,752 further posts at federal level. Andreas W. Herb asks where the savings from digitalisation have gone.
Andreas W. Herb ·
OPINIONVIDEO
State spending is once again reaching a good half of economic output, and 5.475 million people work in the public service – not counting the employees of Deutsche Bahn AG, who do not appear in these statistics. Andreas W. Herb sums up the debate in thirty slides.
Andreas W. Herb ·
ABSTIMMUNGEN · REIHE
A series of non-binding citizen surveys by Die Aufrechte Lupe: twenty topics, a hundred questions, the facts with sources before every vote. The series is conducted in German.