Tripartite talks held by government officials with unions and employers broke down when vociferous union opposition was spurned by the other two participants. In addition, Kohl has called for a general wage freeze. One of the measures put to the Bundestag is for abolition of the wealth tax. Kohl government channels have been conducting alarmist propaganda about the viability of the pension system and of the cost of other social benefits. It is argued that the proportion of working people to pensioners that was 3 to 1 in the 1960s is now 2 to 1 and that by 2030 there will be one worker for every pensioner who could not sustain the pension cost.
Truth is, the failures of the German capitalist economy have aggravated state budget problems.
Unemployment that soared to a postwar record 4.2 million early this year has cut severely into income tax revenues while adding greatly to dole pay. An opinion poll by the Forsa research organization early in May showed 72 percent of people against the cuts and 90 percent believe the government is not doing enough to contend with unemployment. Within days those warnings were followed up by strike action.