Of scissors and biting

THE effusions of bureaucracy rarely get Germans riled. Not so with the “fourth poverty and wealth report”, presented this week by Ursula von der Leyen, the social-affairs minister. Overall, it shows that Germany is doing quite well. But Philipp Rösler, the liberal economics minister, insisted on cutting out any words suggesting that inequality might justify more redistribution through taxes. The opposition trumpeted a scandal. On the nightly talk shows, their politicians now talk of a crisis in social justice that necessitates a change of government in September.

Gerechtigkeit, meaning “justice” but often conflated with equality, has become a big election issue. Next to such subjects as the euro crisis or energy reform, where the parties’ positions are muddled, it has the advantage of familiarity, just as “family values” resonate in America. The preferred metaphor for the Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens is of “social scissors” opening ever wider. The ex-communist Left Party calls for “biting upward”.