Germany is super rich. No other European country has as many billionaires. And while their fortunes are growing, more and more Germans are living under the poverty line set by the organisation for economic cooperation and development, the OECD. The press frequently reports on the country's high income inequality and low social mobility. But little is known about the super rich. Sure, money attracts success and success attracts money. I do believe that. I've experienced myself how you can suddenly connect with people previously out of reach. Who are Germany's super wealthy? How do they live? And how do they see the country they live in?
The way wealthy people in Germany are talked about bothers me. Because it's sensationalizing, consicophantic, and in no way reflects what wealthy people have done and continue to do for this country. It creates this impression of rich people being like Scrooge McDuck, that they have these money bins in which they wallow in their coins. Scrooge McDuck wants more, more, more. That's not my world. I like earning money, but not swimming in it.
We wanted to get closer to the discrete world of Germany's ultra rich, of company owners and airs worth millions. We wanted to find out what makes those on top of the world tick. Every year an exclusive event takes place in the Schloss Hotel Cornberg near Frankfurt, to which the public is not invited. It's the annual Hall of Fame evening for the Business Monthly Manager Magazine. Hardly any other occasion in Germany draws as many wealthy business owners.
Estimed presenters, dear jury members, dear ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Manager Magazine's Hall of Fame. When we first founded the Hall of Fame in 1992, we wanted to take a stand for excellence and unconditional entrepreneurship and against faintheartedness and averageness. We begin our nominations today with Ralph Dommemut. His company, United Internet, is valued at around 11 billion and on our list of Germany's richest people, he ranks 25th with a personal wealth of 4.5 billion euros. Collectively the guests at this elegant evening are worth billions of euros. This is the face of wealth in Germany, mainly male. And although we're close to the super rich here, their world remains somehow out of reach.
Hamburg, home to Manager Magazine's parent company, the Schwieger Group. Hardly any publication keeps closer tabs on Germany's ultra rich. Every year the magazine's team gathers information on wealthy Germans and using the Forbes model makes a special edition with a list of Germany's 1,001 richest people. It's painstaking work. How many billionaires are there now? 180 or 190? Last year it was 136, right? No, last year it was around 170. 170, okay. Someone who wants to get on our list of 1,001 richest Germans needs to have around 100 million. That doesn't have to be money in the bank most people have it as assets or as property. But that's the ballpark we're looking for to be on our list of the richest Germans. 1000 Reisen. Kond und zu den Reisen deutschen Zählen.
汉堡是《经理人杂志》的母公司Schwieger Group所在地,几乎没有任何出版物对德国的超级富豪有比他们更密切的关注。每年,该杂志的团队会收集有关富有德国人的信息,并使用福布斯模型制作一个特别版,列出德国1,001位最富有的人。这是非常艰苦的工作。现在有多少亿万富翁?是180或190吗?去年是136,对吧?不,去年大约是170。好的,是170。想要进入我们的1,001位最富有的德国人名单的人需要有大约1亿的资产。这不一定是存款,大多数人将其视为资产或财产。但这是我们寻找最富有的德国人名单的巨额资产范围。1000 Reisen. Kond und zu den Reisen deutschen Zählen.(最后一句话无意义,无法翻译)
Editor-in-Chief Stefan Klossmann has been around Germany's ultra wealthy for years. What does it take to get on the list? I'd say that the top 150 spots on our list will always go to company owners and airs. Even if you're a chief physician you'll need to see a whole lot of patients to become a billionaire. Managers also have a hard time getting that high up. Here in Germany there's a debate about whether the heads of DAX companies earn too much. But if you compare it to what people in similar posts in the US, the UK or China earn, it's peanuts. So that alone can't ever make you one of the truly ultra rich.
Creating a list of the wealthiest people is especially difficult in Germany, though not because they aren't enough of them. He somehow managed to amass this huge empire and fortune in just a few years. His wealth is estimated to be around 4 billion. He's the least known super rich German. Would he let his interview him at home? They prefer to fly under the radar to avoid envy. The super rich don't like to out themselves, so to speak.
Yeah, you can normally only get interviews inside the homes with second tier ones. There you'll always get guys who get a kick out of publicity, like Mr. Moshmeier and such. Getting a good shot of Mr. Moshmeier is never a problem, but the real money keeps itself hidden. The super rich try to go unnoticed. Sometimes they even try to hide. There are no photos of several people on our list. You won't find a single picture if you go online and Google them. There hasn't been a photo of their diamonds. German is rich his family for decades. Many stay hidden because they want to live normal lives, and I think they won't be able to do so if they're known to be multi-billionaires.
For months, our interview requests were rejected. A greed film shoot was cancelled last minute. None of the rich wanted to talk to us about money. Finally, we got lucky in the financial hub Frankfurt. Here in a prime location, tucked behind the bank towers, sits the asset management company Forkum. Forkum manages German business family's fortunes. Its German, Christian von Bechturzheim, provided some insight as to why rich Germans are so shy. Many wealthy Germans are reluctant about stepping out into the public eye because they're afraid they could be seen negatively. They ask themselves, what do I get from showing myself to the public? It doesn't give me anything. On the contrary, it could lead to some crazy person taking note and breaking into my home, or kidnapping one of my children. And those fears are not unwarranted. Then, there's also the fact that many heirs are inheriting fortunes that are somehow tainted by or related to the third Reich.
The appetite of rich Germans avoids publicity as if it were the plague. But why are they so afraid of? I asked a number of my friends whether they'd like to be interviewed for this film. And each one said no. They'd say, someone else can do that better than me. I can't do it right. And I might come across wrong. They think they'd have much more to lose than to gain. After a lot of back and forth with his press team, one ultra-rich German did agree to meet us. Michal Otto is the chairman of the supervisory board of the Otto Group and one of the ten richest Germans. We asked him why Germans are reluctant to show off their wealth. Many worry doing so would lead to envy. In the US, achievement and wealth are seen in a highly positive way. But here they carry a bitter aftertaste. Where does his fortune come from? Or how did he get his wealth? That scares some off.
I think a lot of people find their own wealth a little nauseating. I don't know at all. I like it. I think a lot of people find their own wealth a little nauseating. I don't know at all. I like it. I don't know. I like it. Dick Hossmann grew up poor. His mother ran a small drugstore in Postwall, Hannover. Her son had bigger plans. In 1972, the idea of opening the first self-service drugstore in Germany came to him. He was happy to step into the spotlight. In the early years, it was just about getting the name Ross Mann out there. So when I was invited to a talk show on a small regional channel, I liked going because I thought free publicity for my company. But then two or three years ago, I started to understand that this slightly flabby, balding man whose teeth aren't perfect and I was hungry for recognition himself.
Back then, I thought I was stepping into the limelight to promote the company. But everyone rationalizes their motives and I did too. Within 40 years, Ross Mann became the most profitable drugstore chain in Europe with stores in six countries. In 2018, a total of 56,000 people were working on the chain. Ross Mann is active in other business areas as well, and he speculates on the stock market. Okay, let's move on to 10,000. Just 36,570. Okay, thank you. There are a lot of benefits. I have a couple of private equity investments. The largest is valued at between 80 and 100 million, depending on the stock rate. So it's a fair sum. There are also shares in different industries. Trilist to mob will be boring.
那时,我以为我是走进聚光灯前宣传公司的人。但每个人都会合理化自己的动机,我也是。在40年内,Ross Mann 成为了欧洲最赚钱的药店连锁店,在六个国家开设了店铺。截至2018年,该连锁店共有56,000名员工。Ross Mann还在其他业务领域活跃,并炒股。好的,那我们继续说10000。只有36,570。好的,谢谢。有很多好处。我有几个私募投资。其中最大的价值在80到100万之间,取决于股票利率。所以是一笔不错的钱。我还持有不同行业的股票。至于Trilist to mob,这会很无聊。
意思:此段内容主要介绍了Ross Mann这家公司的成功背景及其创始人的个人投资情况,也提到了对股票市场的炒作操作,并且其中还带有个人感叹。
You're still referred to as an SME, small media enterprise. Why do you think that's so? I don't really know. But with 55,000 employees, you're not really a media enterprise anymore. You're in another league.
We're back at Manager Magazine in Hamburg, with photos for the special issue are being selected. The list of the richest Germans includes a notably high number of company owners from the so-called medium-sized businesses. It's a German peculiarity, and it's not the only one. The cover story for this current issue is that last year, money rained down on Germany's super rich.
Up here we have the Shefflers, the matriarch and her son, who now owns 80%. Mum has kept only 20. The Shefflers have been at the top of our list for many, many years. I'd have to check exactly how much they're worth, but around 20 billion give or take a bit. Down here we have Ms. Bargel Tra, head of the Henkelklam. First and so far, only woman chairman of the Supervisory Board of one of the 30 DAX companies.
Germany's economy is still extremely male-dominated. What's interesting is if you compare our list here with the list of the ultra-rich in the US, we have a lot of old money, old companies that have been around for decade. In the US you have all those lands from Facebook, Google, Snapchat, and so forth that have bubbled up to the top of the list. We don't have that type of thing here. And compared with other countries, Germans are very reticent about showing their wealth.
Very few Germans sail around in boats like this. Usually that's Americans, Russians, Chinese and so on. Here you don't really show your money. You might have various houses, villas and such, but there's likely to be a Volkswagen parked out front. It seems the average ultra-wealthy German is rarely conspicuous.
Unlike in the US, athletes, actors and TV personalities rarely make it onto the German list. Even though we put a great deal of love and sweat into estimating these fortunes, they're probably much bigger, especially if we're talking about urban real estate, where prices have exploded over the past 10 years. A lot of people have doubled their property assets. So if you started with 5 billion in that market, you're likely to have 10 or 15 billion today. Money makes money.
But while rich Germans' fortunes have exploded since the financial crisis, due to the increase in value of real estate, stocks and assets, those with average incomes have had to swallow losses. Even liberal economics institutes are concerned about social inequality in Germany. How do the super-rich see this disparity? The headline in the newspaper reads the rich are getting richer and richer. Which is true. The rich are getting richer.
Yes, it's true. But it's also false. There are 20 million citizens in Germany who have assets worth between 100,000 and 1 million. So millions of people are getting richer. Now, the rich are getting richer even faster, because one factor is probably that they can dedicate much more time to increasing their wealth. Zagabagen, nash, of the left party would likely say, split up your wealth. But my response is, I also do things for the world which I live in. I don't just take. I'm not a socialist, though. I can only do things because I have things. But I can only do what I have.
Michal Otto is one of the rich his wealth has increased. He successfully transitioned his mail order business into a digital enterprise. Over 20 companies now belong to the Otto Group. We wanted to know how Otto sees the debate about rich and poor. Do the rich understand the worries of the poor? When people talk about those on top who don't understand those at the bottom, I wouldn't say that applies to me. Because I was not born rich. I came to Hamburg as a refugee from West Prussia and my father had to start from scratch. That's why I absolutely do understand people living in poverty today.
On the other hand, I'd also say that if Germany is getting more and more millionaires, meaning people with small or medium sized businesses, because generally the millionaires in question are going to build a business they now run, then I think that's great. Because they're the people creating jobs. For me, that's what should matter in this debate. We should focus on that and not reach versus poor.
Ensuring that the wealth of rich families can increase despite current zero interest rates is the mission of Christian von Bechtold's science company. Each day, he and his employees send out investment opportunities from banks and other entities given exclusively to his wealthy clients. This is a way to present an offer to just a handful of valued clients and folk. Is it fair that rich Germans are able to increase their wealth while the rest of the population gets left behind?
Christian von Bechtold的科技公司的使命是确保即使当前利率为零,富裕家庭的财富也能增加。他和他的员工每天会向只针对富裕客户提供的银行和其他实体发送投资机会。这是一种向少数尊贵的客户和人们提供机会的方式。富裕的德国人可以增加他们的财富,而其他大部分人被落下了,这是公平的吗?
I think it's difficult to apply terms like equity and fairness to the distribution of wealth. I would say that here in Germany, we're better off than ever before. And people here live in above-ever circumstances. Nonetheless, we have to make sure the gap between rich and poor doesn't get too wide, because we don't want social conflicts like in the US or Latin America to happen here.
From Bechtold's company full-come is a so-called multi-family office. Family offices take care of the needs of very wealthy families, managing and increasing their assets. It only makes sense to use family offices if your wealth is upward of 30 million euros. Who can afford such a thing? Well, a family office like ours obviously can't discuss its clients. We have well-known German business families. That's our typical client profile. Someone who is or was a company owner thinks differently to someone who has spent their life as an employee. Or they are families who have had money for a long time. So wealth is so to speak in their genes. And then there are families who have just come into their wealth who are still pumping with entrepreneurial energy. They're usually quite different from ours.
But when they have the best of their own, they are the ones who are the most proud of them. Rhinoshala seems to have plenty of this entrepreneurial energy. His company is MacFit, Europe's largest fitness studio chain. Its headquarters are in an old baking factory in Berlin. Rhinoshala started off small, but today his wealth is valued at 250 million euros. I was born near Bombay and grew up at a small village. Normally in villages you do the sports available. And when I was around 15-16 my role models were Arnold Schwarzenegger and Stallone. That's how I came to the fitness world.
Shala went from secondary school to complete a salesman apprenticeship and became the manager of three supermarkets. Then he decided to start something new. When I was 25, I decided to switch to the fitness industry. My idea was to open a gym where anyone could train, no matter his or her income. That was the initial idea. And I had big goals. I wanted to be number one in Europe, but that's all I had. I didn't have financing. I didn't have money. It was 1997 when Shala opened his first fitness studio in Würzburg close to his home village.
He made use of some unusual methods. The Würzburg was a big step for me. I opened my first fitness studio there under the slogan, now also in Würzburg, which people saw through as a marketing gag. Because customers came to me and asked where else we had studios. So I gave it some thought and came up with the next marketing gag. Soon also in Elangen, that did the job. And also put me on track to going from Würzburg to Elangen. And then it grew from there. Ten years later, Rana Shala reached his goal. His number one in Europe and still expanding. McFid now owns ten fitness companies as well as its own model agency. Meanwhile, Shala is getting ready to open fitness studios in the US.
Getting to be number one is much easier than staying number one. I think if you want to be successful, you need to be a bit of an alpha animal inside. The investor would probably pick a brand and say, okay, that could work, I like it, although it's probably two steps too far for many. But if someone doesn't want to get involved with us because of it, so what? I'm convinced that you have an easier time if you've fought your way to the top and to success. Clients feel it and so do partners. I think that's our situation, which is why I can also imagine that someone who inherits something or takes over or even has to take over a company in the second or third generation will have a much tougher time. But there are plenty of airs in Germany. Huge fortunes and thousands of companies have been passed from one generation to the next.
There are airs who don't want to and others who shouldn't take over their parents' businesses. Succession is hugely important among Germany's richest. Michal Otto inherited the mail order company from his father and successfully managed it. It will be harder for my children, though, because now the Otto group has 123 companies in over 30 countries. I know every single company either because I was involved when it was founded or because I led the take over negotiation. But my children don't yet know the many companies. Otto's children have opted against direct succession. I think it's important to give your children the option without pressuring them so you don't force them into a role. I think that mistake is made often and I'd said bad for both the children and the company.
So now we have one point of sale. Yes, it's been an exhausting couple of days. In 10 minutes I'll be fine again. It was just bam, bam, bam, bam.
现在我们只有一个售点。是的,这几天很辛苦。再过10分钟我就会恢复好了。就是那么连续不断地打击。
Deer Krasman also spent a lot of time considering who his successor would be. It's now decided. Raul Krasman, the younger of his two sons, will take over as manager of the drugstore chain.
Well, do we actually sell much yarn? It's not exactly part of a drugstore's range. The trend sort of over, it was big in 2016, already fading in 2017 and it's been stagnating in 2018. But it's not the worst product we have and it still brings in some revenue.
Raul's father had to show him the appeal of being in charge. When the boys got more engaged, I thought, oh, now we can't look as if the drugstore business is only about making money. So I showed them how we're all so active in social issues and Africa and so forth. I've always showed my sons that what we do isn't just about making money. It's also about being responsible for others.
As a child, I wanted to become a film director. That was always my dream. It still is today. I might be thinking, no, I don't want him to be a director. I want him in the company. So I said, but we'll go ahead and become a director, but being a director of such a big company is also exciting. I did manipulate him a bit.
I'm often asked whether I feel competitive toward my father. And sure, he built up this big company that I'll only take over. But it's really difficult to keep something going these days. The founding period has its own challenges and just having the idea of founding a self-service drugstore was hugely innovative. But the fight to survive has gotten tougher and that's the one I'm in.
Everyone in my family wants to be good at sports. My father and I battle each other in tennis. We all compete with one another. And that's also shaped our view of life, or in my net least. Despite their competitiveness, the Rosman family reached a harmonious agreement with regard to succession. Playing against Raoul Wipes me out. I normally prefer playing doubles since much more appropriate for men my age. I'm starting to worry a bit about you. You worry about me? Raoul with your inheritance I wouldn't worry. I'll be looking forward to it.
Selecting heirs and successes is usually not quite as amicable as at the Rosmans. Christian von Bechtosheim has seen many inheritance disputes in rich families. It's his job to preserve the family's assets and protect it from all sorts of dangers. Maintaining a family fortune over several generations is incredibly difficult, because it's under threat from being divvied up through inheritance, from wealth disputes, from expropriation, from wars, or simply from stupidity. Most families will have one or all of these happen to them. Only a handful of families have managed to stay more or less afloat over centuries. But those right on top have been switched out again and again.
von Bechtosheim speaks from personal experience. His own family's history dates back 900 years. I have a horribly long name, at least a Myburs certificate. There's my six given names, Christian Lothar Ludwig Hugo Wilhelm and Maria as a good Catholic. Followed by Bachon von Mauchenheim, Genant Bechtelheim. But at work, I'm normally called Mr von Bechtelheim and its social events, Baron or Lord Baron. Baron von Bechtosheim is an indirect successor of the Fuggers, the richest family in German history.
When does wealth begin for you? If you're asking me at what point I consider someone to be truly rich, I would say over a hundred million. I am definitely not rich. But I'm comfortable. And our family is comfortable. And I'm certainly not complaining. When you have a family history as long as mine, your family has seen everything. Near bankruptcy, years overflowing with money, and years when a lot was lost.
He takes us to the hunting lodge of the Bechtosheim family in Turingen. It looked like the lodge had been lost forever during the division of Germany. The house was built in 1892 as a hunting lodge for my great-great-grand-uncles. It's been in the family ever since, except for a short interval. It was expropriated in 1952 and then restituted in 1992. And since then, I've owned it.
The family's hunting lodge survived expropriation and socialism without much damage. Today, from Bechtosheim, also owns hundreds of hectares of forest nearby and regularly invites business acquaintances for hunts. Many of the trophies are mine, but several also come from my father. And some from my great-grand-uncle, and Leopold, who was a leopard down there, I didn't shoot him. That was my great-grand-uncle, and then my dogs chewed off his ears. So he no longer has his former beauty, but he's too precious not to keep.
A recurring topic in the special issues of the Manager Magazine are the super-wealthy's networks. There are larger and smaller networks, and there are a lot of them, and we journalists don't know about.
In high society, there are certain typical hobbies, horse racing, hockey, a bit of tennis, though that's almost old school. They'll meet in the boxes at major football stadiums, because of course they're all football fans. Football is huge. A lot of networking happens there. That's like their marketplace. They mingle and meet there more than at so-called parties for the rich.
A lot of them are rich. Yes, good. We always have a lot of employees here, and we have a lot of friends in the box. Christian Fiverr is here today, Germany's most famous criminologist. Sometimes Jogi Löw, someone from politics, comes by. Christian Wolf and Bettina are part of the team. We're always a lot of employees here, and we have a lot of friends in the box. Christian Fiverr is here today, Germany's most famous criminologist. Wolf and Bettina are part of my close circle of friends.
So there's always lots going on here. In Berlin, Reina Schaller is opening a new club. A new brand to this fitness empire. Schaller also has become a member in the network of important people from the sports, business, and entertainment industries. We haven't said anything yet. It's true, it's a closed circle that's hard to get into. Sure, money attracts success, and success attracts money. I do believe that. I've experienced myself how you can suddenly connect with people previously out of reach. I am in a different position now.
The hot sun feels like I'm in a bad mood. Hey! Hey, you're a good guy, right? I'm a good guy. I'm not going to go again. I'm going to go again. I heard you're in the team. And your Francisco? Now it's your turn. Oh, yeah. Toilet!
Dick Osman is ready to leave his box. He wants to celebrate the victory with his friend, the billionaire and hearing aid company owner, Martin Kindt. Kindt is also co-owner and president of Hannover 96. His box is located on the other end of the exclusive VIP area. I told you we'd win today. I told him that if we didn't win, he'd pay 10 million. That was the bet, right? No, never said that. We have it, two halfway decent men.
Networks are important for business, but do the rich also have political clout? Can political influence be bought in Germany? The best way available for rich or super-rich people in Germany to exert influence is the number of employees working in their companies. Someone who owns a company with 100,000 employees? Or let's say less, maybe 15,000 employees can go to business associations and say, fine, go ahead and pass that law. But that will cost me, or an even better argument is, that will cost you 2,000 jobs in that area. But there are no super-rich people who regularly call up the ministers or, as Merkel, and say, what needs to happen next, which tax laws they'd like and so on. It's not how things work here in Germany. I've put it right now, because I know that the people are doing the right thing to make it better.
The deadline for the special issue is approaching. The heart of it is the ranking of the 1,001 richest Germans. What do the rich think of this ranking? Those rankings are for entertainment. They're scraped together, sometimes using stock market quotations. But they aren't reliable in any real way. I don't think much of these rankings, and I didn't want to be included, because it creates this impression of rich people being like Scrooge McDark, that they have these money bins in which they wallow in their coins. The fact that I'm at the top of the rankings, including of the wealthiest Germans, does make me feel proud. I'll read Manager Magazine every now and then, but I've never read the ranking. I don't know whether I'm in it. I don't need that. I buy other goals.
One of these is that Rheiner Schaller now wants to open the world's largest fitness center in North Rhine Westphalia. The Mariahs Japanese and means the future. We think it's a perfect fit for the whole concept and vision, because what we want to create here is truly unique and has never been done before. Our goals to become the world's fitness center. Schaller thinks he's found the perfect location to realize his vision in Oberhausen. He's rented an old factory complex. At the moment, the space is still being used to make steel parts. But before long, thousands of customers will be exercising here.
The emergency exit's path will be here in the office's on top. Schaller experienced his most traumatic experience to date in the area. In 2010, 21 people died and 54 were injured in a stampede at the Love Parade in Duisburg. Schaller had been the parade's organizer. The cause of the panic has still not been conclusively determined. How does an entrepreneur and the fast lane deal with that kind of tragedy? An event like that will haunt you always for the rest of your life. I've got a moral responsibility. I was the organizer. If I could turn back time, I would do it immediately with the scale of what happened. But you can't make it undone. You have to try to deal with what happened.
Der Grosman has also seen setbacks and crises. In the 90s, we expanded dramatically into the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. I was also speculating on the stock market a little too much and neglecting the company. Then in 1996, we suddenly had a loss of 12 million Deutschmarks. The banks don't joke around if you're highly indebted and then you come in with huge losses. That was critical. Then I had a heart attack in 96. But everyone knows that life can get tough and things got very tough back then. Inkvert. And that's where it's there inkert. So I dialed back a bit, including stock speculation. I sold them all and thought, the only thing I might able now is pulling the Rosman drugstore business through and up. It was the right move to focus on one thing and not do so many different things. So, a lot of different things to do. Rosman emerged from that crisis stronger than ever. He started speculating again, but so he assures us only with his private wealth.
So, let's see where gas problem is. I don't have a laptop. I normally do this via NTV text. 254. Here, it says gas problem is at 375. I could already sell those now. I could buy 250,000 of those. So 250,000 times 20 cents. That would give me 50,000 euros profit. But I won't sell. I think it's going to rise to 4 euros. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But I enjoy it. That's why I don't play the lottery because I find that boring.
Can a large fortune also be a burden? I'd say that for most people, although they wouldn't voluntarily give away their money. The fact that they want it to grow can be a burden. They are controlled by their own assets. For example, they'll move to Switzerland or somewhere to save on taxes and give up their entire circle of friends and basically become a slave to their fortune. In my opinion, that's absurd considering the conditions we currently have in Germany. Conditions in Germany are currently more favorable than ever for the rich. They pay significantly less tax than they did 25 years ago. Only minorities still feel compelled to immigrate abroad. Article 14 of the German Constitution states, property entails obligations. Its use shall also serve the public good. Do the written Germany live up to this responsibility?
I think it is important if you're successful, if you're lucky enough to have reached a certain level of prosperity and wealth, to give something back to society. For me, that's a given. Michel Otto is one of Germany's biggest donors. His money helps fund the environmental, cultural and social sectors. Like most rich people, he prefers to decide himself what he spends his money on, rather than leave that to the state. Otto, like many wealthy Germans, donated millions for the construction of the airpilomony in Hamburg. In Germany, wealthy people like to donate and this makes important contributions to society and public life. But generally, they're against the proposal of redistributing wealth by a higher taxes for the rich.
If German businesses would yield to all the demands of, let's say, Ms. Vagenknecht of the left party, then millions of people would be happy and things would be good for a while, because millions of people would have more money. But a true redistribution of wealth has never led to more social justice in the long term, not in any of the political systems that tried it. It led to the impoverishment of these countries. Christian von Bechturzheim sees higher taxes on the rich as dangerous. I don't think much about this so-called rich tax for two reasons. Firstly, the terminology alone is stigmatizing, and we in Germany should avoid that. And secondly, the rich tax wouldn't do any good. On the contrary, it would cut into the backbone of the German economy, because the typical German rich person is a medium-sized business owner. They make up the backbone of the German economy, and if we want to destroy that, we have no one to blame but ourselves.
如果德国企业屈从于左派政党中的Vagenknecht女士提出的所有要求,那么数百万人将会感到满意,短时间内事情会变得很好,因为数百万人将会拥有更多的钱。但是,真正的财富再分配从来没有在长期内导致更多的社会正义,不管是在任何尝试过的政治体系中都是如此。它导致了这些国家的贫困。Christian von Bechturzheim认为对富人征收更高的税收是危险的。我对这个所谓的富人税没什么看法,有两个原因。首先,单单术语就会带有贬义,我们在德国应该避免这种情况。其次,富人税不会起到任何好的作用,相反,它会削弱德国经济的支柱,因为典型的德国富人是中小企业主,他们是德国经济的主干,如果我们想要摧毁这一点,那么我们只能怪自己。
The special issue is ready. Things have basically stayed the same. The rich have a few billion more. The richest 1% of Germans now has personal wealth worth a quarter of the country's assets, while a quarter of adults have no wealth or are in debt.
For this report, we never really got access to the world of the wealthiest Germans. They prefer to fly silently under the radar away from the public eye, until the next award ceremony.