Cynical, Aloof And Insatiable: The emergence Of The Postmodern State Aristocracy

Submitted By Thomas Kolbe

While the political class freely taps into outsized debt programs, it urges citizens to embrace austerity. The increasingly brazen plundering of taxpayers’ dwindling resources signals the emergence of a detached state aristocracy in Berlin.

Two legendary quips—likely apocryphal—best capture the decadent twilight of the French monarchy. One is Madame de Pompadour’s fatalistic remark after the crushing French defeat at Roßbach in 1757: “Après moi, le déluge”—“After me, the flood.” Let others deal with the aftermath.

The second is Marie Antoinette’s infamous line, allegedly uttered when informed the starving masses lacked bread: “Let them eat brioche.” Though doubtful in historicity, both lines remain enduring symbols of elite arrogance and detachment.

Postmodern Neo-Feudalism

One needn’t search the archives of Versailles to observe such disdain today. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has repeatedly scolded citizens for complacency. At a CDU economic summit in May, he warned that “a four-day workweek and work-life balance alone won’t preserve prosperity” and called for labor reforms and stronger German leadership in the EU.

Perhaps he’s right. But in Germany’s welfare paradise, such pronouncements—especially from those who have benefited most—feel gallingly tone-deaf. Merz critiques the very citizens who, through their toil, sustain the fantasy of a universal welfare state.

This from the man responsible for the most lavish debt spree in modern German history—a figure emblematic of a political elite either unwilling or incapable of addressing Germany’s structural failings. While everyday Germans endure inflation, mass migration, and overregulation, their rulers refuse even minimal reform despite access to princely tax revenues.

Joining Merz in the choir of moralizers is President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has called for a “more modest” lifestyle.

Yet this same Steinmeier billed taxpayers €205 million for a temporary office during renovations to Bellevue Palace—without so much as considering renting existing office space. Such extravagance seems to elevate him to a special tier within Berlin’s elite.

A Pay Bump for the Nobility

Money appears to be of little concern in these circles. While citizens juggle inflation and taxes, lawmakers wonder aloud: “What exactly is the people’s problem?” Perhaps they should start with their own salaries. Since 2013, Bundestag salaries have climbed 43%—automatically, annually on July 1st. Today, a German MP earns over €11,800 per month—more than double the national average gross salary. After 20 years, they enjoy pensions exceeding 70% of salary—on top of their state pension, if applicable.

Ordinary citizens, by contrast, have seen real wage growth of under 10% since 2013.

In the private sector, income and pensions are hard-won through skill and sustained effort—an ethic worthy of respect.

In politics and public administration, however, taxpayer-funded budgets support careerists who have escaped the market’s performance principle. This, more than anything, defines today’s state aristocracy: an elite living in a risk-free economic parallel universe, cushioned by government agencies and NGOs that transform employment into a full-coverage entitlement.

Media Hegemony and Thought Control

Controlling the budget is only part of this power. The state aristocracy also commands the media ecosystem. Beyond the publicly funded broadcasters lies a phalanx of affirmatively aligned media, many propped up with public subsidies, ensuring state narratives dominate the discourse.

This trend reaches its most aggressive form in Brussels, where free speech on decentralized platforms like X or Telegram is targeted through the Digital Services Act (DSA). The zeal with which the EU seeks to crush dissenting media reveals that the battle for civil liberties may ultimately be fought in the realm of speech.

The Bureaucracy Beneath the Crown

This elite also has its administrative backbone. Roughly 5.4 million work in Germany’s public sector—two million of them as lifetime civil servants. Just ten years ago, the number was 4.7 million, marking a 15% increase. Despite technological efficiencies, bureaucracy has swelled beyond control, driven by political will rather than administrative need.

This metastasizing bureaucracy is more than a power base; it is the engine of a new socialism—one that asserts a level of authority not seen since reunification. The government’s budget reflects this shift, as credit-funded stimulus is deployed to mask a deep structural crisis. These debt-financed outlays supercharge state interventionism and will likely lead to fiscal catastrophe.

Such funding is a boon to regulators and agencies who use it to justify their growing influence—public-sector entities increasingly behave like self-perpetuating corporations, competing for budget increases and morphing into states within the state.

Former SPD leader and labor minister Andrea Nahles, now head of the bloated Federal Employment Agency—with its 100,000 staff—epitomizes the cushy second careers awaiting loyal party functionaries.

The Climate Economy and War Profiteering

This is just one example from Germany’s hypertrophied bureaucracy. An even more grotesque iteration exists in the “climate economy.” In a desperate bid to keep this artificial sector afloat, thousands of EU officials oversee its massive subsidy machine. Alongside the arms industry, it forms a second economic pillar for the state aristocracy.

Bigger green budgets mean more corporate leaders become addicted to subsidies. The result? A tacit pact: the state buys business silence in exchange for handouts. Criticism of the failed green transition is taboo. With no real oversight and media immunity, the state aristocracy slips further into feudalism.

The European Commission’s next seven-year budget (2028–2034) plans for €750 billion in transfers—fuel for expanding bureaucracy, new appointments, and ample corruption opportunities.

The Silence of the Subsidy Barons

This is the structural flaw of populist democracies: political elites are selected exclusively through internal party channels and rarely earn credentials in the private sector. Term limits, pension caps, and salary ties to previous private income might check this perverse dynamic—but such reforms are fantasy.

This state aristocracy operates with near-total immunity. And so, as Germany’s crisis deepens, we’ll continue receiving sermons from the likes of Merz and Steinmeier—elites who know full well that their fragile authority ultimately rests on the very economic class they so brazenly disparage.

About the author: Thomas Kolbe, a German graduate economist, has worked for over 25 years as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination.