The German economy grew by 0.3 per cent in the second quarter. Elsewhere that would be a footnote. Here it is good news, because the Federal Statistical Office even had to revise its first estimate upwards, from 0.2 to 0.3 per cent. So we celebrate a tenth.

At the same time the federal government halved its forecast for the full year, from 1.0 to 0.5 per cent, citing the war in the Middle East. That is the German economy in one sentence: the present is slightly better than feared, the future considerably worse than promised.

"Growth impulses" are economic policy's answer to the placebo: they mainly work as long as everyone firmly believes in them.

Hopes rest on the special fund for infrastructure and climate neutrality, in other words on debt with a nicer name. That is not wrong: bridges, railways and grids were a savings model for long enough. But in Germany, between the decision and the digger there is traditionally a planning approval procedure. And that grows more reliably than any GDP.

What actually happened