For many entrepreneurs, bankruptcy is a hard blow of fate. It is the often shameful end of the dream of owning their own shop, their own café or their inherited construction company. Bankruptcy can destroy families and friendships.
It is therefore more than an abstract warning signal that the number of bankruptcies is rising rapidly, according to a recent study by Creditreform. Particularly for small companies, it is about real fates. The economic weakness is being written into the biographies of many energetic people in Germany through the wave of bankruptcies. Good economic policy would therefore also be good social policy – not only at the federal level, but also locally.
But in the German reality, it is often the small things that are lacking: municipalities that make outdoor dining unnecessarily difficult. Permanent construction sites in shopping streets. Eternally long procedures for building permits. Pedantic tax audits. On top of that, there is currently the double burden of rising minimum wages and inflation. It often seems as if the authorities and politicians are indifferent to small businesses.
This is fatal. Because by owning their own kiosk or flower shop, people are realizing their idea of a self-determined life. And they are creating jobs for others – especially in the migrant community.
Of course, a dynamic market economy cannot be without bankruptcies. Bankruptcies are part of entrepreneurship: no risk is taken without the risk of failure. Bankruptcy should therefore not be a reason for a personal stigma – provided it is not abusive – which is still too often attached to failed small business owners in their social environment.
The respect for life’s work that Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) likes to invoke is not only deserved by employees and civil servants, but also by the self-employed. The courage to start and run a company justifies recognition and support – from authorities and politicians, but also from neighbors and friends. Especially in difficult times.