nate33 wrote:...First of all, I want to point out that I didn't bring up Hitler. I made a big post about Putin. Somebody else mentioned that authoritarians can have good economies and THAT'S when I chimed in that Hitler had economic success as well. I haven't taken the time to research the economic policy details of Hitler's regime, I only know that his country grew massively and his industries cranked out an incredible amount of military equipment and technological innovations; and they did so with a starting point of utter bankruptcy and poverty after the hyperinflation of the Weimar Republic. And this happened at a time when everyone else was suffering from a worldwide Great Depression.
I'm sure it's true that there were currency shenanigans and deficit spending that impaired the long term sustainability of his programs. But then, America had its own currency shenanigans and deficit spending as well. After all FDR confiscated gold from the people, and we had rationing as too.
I just don't see how you can look at the performance of Germany's economy during that era relative to everyone else and conclude that it wasn't an economic success, at least for a decade or so.
Actually, it was Zonk not you who first pointed at Hitler/Nazi Germany as an example of capitalism doing well under a dictatorial regime. So you're off the hook anyway.
We can let this go -- actually I certainly hope we do let it go. But, once again, "grew massively" is really not true. After exceeding 1927 output for a single year, German GNP started falling again.
As to "everyone else..", US GNP in the period had the same overall pattern of falling from the late '20s through early '30s, and then rising. The difference being that when Germany's started to fall again (as a result of Nazi policies) US GNP continued to rise.
BTW, I don't think there was any rationing in the US during the 1930s -- am I wrong about that? Of course, once the world was plunged into a global war, there was rationing in all the warring countries.
One point worth reminding ourselves of: the troubles in Germany, probably including the Nazi takeover, should certainly be traced back to the idiotically penalizing policies inflicted on the country post WWI.
Finally, as to "FDR confiscated gold from the people" -- I don't want to debate the gold standard itself, but what the FDR memorandum and the subsequent Gold Reserve Act did was force people to sell their gold and gold certificates (note -- "gold certificates" =/= all notes/money redeemable by gold) to the government. The goal was to get the economy in motion again, which it did help do. But, my only real point here is that this was not "confiscation" but a forced sale.
In the end, these moves resulted in a devaluation of the dollar. Sometimes currencies do need devaluation in order to make their economies competitive again; I hope that's obvious. In the 80+ years since FDR's Executive Order the dollar has done pretty well, don't you think?
