German debt charity drive falls short ... by 2 tr euros

BERLIN: An appeal by Germany’s government for generous-hearted citizens to help wipe out the country’s debt has fallen short... by over two trillion euros, Der Spiegel reported Friday. Germans have only donated 165,489 euros ($203,556) to the finance ministry cause since the launch of its appeal in 2006 to reduce the national debt amounting to 2.1 trillion euros, 60 percent of which is federal and the rest regional. Average donations range from five to 20 euros, Der Spiegel said on its website, with a rare few topping 100 euros and the lowest coming in at a symbolic one cent. Not a single donation was made to the government’s bank account during the crisis years of 2008 and 2009. But in 2010, when the ecomony took a turn for the better, the account registered over 100,000 euros in assistance. In recent months, a number of economists and left-wing personalities have called for richer Germans to pay more tax or to loan part of their fortune to the state to ease debt.