Public debt: relevance for funding of modern states – Keynesian revolution – Consequences of the financial crisis in Germany – Introduction of the debt brake and Fiscal Compact – The constitutional debt brake: structure and exceptions of the balanced budget rule, four deficiencies of the debt brake – The Fiscal Compact: historical background and structure of the balanced budget rule – Sufficient implementation of the balanced budget rule in Germany? – Constitutionality of the Fiscal Compact? – Austerity as the wrong answer for solving the current economic problems