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Germany's black zero (Schwarze Null) is increasingly being questioned. Time to look back at some of the peculiar ways in which it has been depicted over the last years. First, anchorman Claus Kleber and a giant black zero in German public broadcaster ZDF's main evening news . 
The main source of such depictions, however, have been government parties. Christian Democrats seem particularly fond of black zeros with faces. Here, Christian Democratic members of the Bundestag's budgetary committee with a jubilant black zero with tiny arms.
…while Hesse's Christian Democratic Minister of Finance, Thomas Schäfer, leans against a black zero that is all smiles.
Schäfer's Ministry of Finance in Wiesbaden actually has an art installation “Null” in its building's new wing.
Christian Democrats are not alone in coming up with creative ways of communicating their policies. Here is Baden-Württemberg's former Social Democratic Minister of Finance, Nils Schmid, with a “red-green black zero”
And, probably the most famous of all depictions of a black zero: The staff of the Federal Ministry of Finance forms a “black zero” to wave Wolfgang Schäuble goodbye in 2017.
Bonus: the “Initiative New Social Market Economy”, a free-market think tank, installs a “debt brake” at the gate of the Federal Ministry of Finance.
