As I have said time and again, the focal point of our economy is the individual. - Ludwig Erhard
" "As I have said time and again, the focal point of our economy is the individual.
About Ludwig Erhard
Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard (4 February 1897 – 5 May 1977) was a German politician affiliated with the CDU and the second Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) from 1963 until 1966. He is often famed for leading German postwar economic reforms and economic recovery ("Wirtschaftswunder," German for "economic miracle") in his role as Minister of Economic Affairs under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer from 1949 to 1963. During that period he promoted the concept of the social market economy (soziale Marktwirtschaft), on which Germany's economic policy in the 21st century continues to be based. In his tenure as chancellor, however, Erhard failed to win confidence in his handling of a budget deficit and his direction of foreign policy, and his popularity waned. He resigned his chancellorship on 1 December 1966.
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Additional quotes by Ludwig Erhard
[Erhard said that] no other country had advanced to such a degree as western Germany in the past five years. They could not stand still, however; production must be raised and consumption increased. ... Abroad...it had become the habit to speak about the German "miracle". In fact, there was no miracle. What had been achieved in the past five years was due to German initiative and industriousness. Western Germany to-day had one of the soundest currencies in the world; bottlenecks had been overcome and the trade balance was favourable. He looked forward to widening consumption so that such things as refrigerators, washing machines, motor-cycles, and motor-cars could be made available to new classes of the community. Plans were in hand for stimulating consumption to this end.
[Erhard] forecast that this year German exports would reach a volume of 16,000m. marks. He recalled that in 1948, when exports totalled 2,000m. marks, he had calculated that in 1952 they might be 8,000m. marks. ... a balanced budget could be achieved in the long run only by a steadily rising volume of goods, a greater national income, higher productivity, and increased national wealth. To-day the Federal Republic had virtually attained full employment.
The German economy compared very favourably with the situation in other countries: the average income of workers here had risen in the past two years by 16 per cent. while the cost of living had gone up by only four per cent. He was anxious to avoid making too little of the rise in prices, but pointed out that whereas the cost of living in the Federal Republic was now 13 per cent. above the 1950 figure, in Britain and France the rise over the same period was a third or more.