It was always clear that German corporatism would not survive the first half of the 21st century. What was less clear was how long this process would last and which form its destruction would take. Two important events last week greatly accelerated that process.

One was the hostile public reaction to the German government’s bail-out of IKB Deutsche Industriebank, a small bank that gambled with subprime securities, lost and reached the brink of insolvency. The other was the televised raid on the home of Klaus Zumwinkel, the chief executive of Deutsche Post and one of Germany’s best-known corporate fixers, privatisation apparatchiks and government advisers.