An Interesting, If Chilling, Exchange Of Views: David Leonhardt In The New York Time

Let it never be said that OS doesn't read a variety of opinion during the course of a week. After all, this project is much about the education of the author, attempting to publicly make sense of what appears to be a nonsensical period of history.

So, in today's Yew Nork Times, we have this offering by David Leonhardt.

He has an interesting premise, that perhaps it wasn't the inflation of the 20's that paved the way for Hitler's rise to power in the early '30's, but rather the deflation that followed the 1929 crash. He debates a bit with another contributor, all very civil and informative. Then he concludes with this bit of insight:

Last year, I wrote a column pointing out that Germany was one of the few countries in the 1930s to try aggressive economic stimulus — and, as a result, escaped the Great Depression faster than other countries. Opponents of stimulus, on blogs and talk radio, then cited that column to suggest that Keynesian was a cousin of Nazism.

Well, that conclusion is a bit simplistic. Keynes was not even a second-cousin-twice-removed to a neo-Nazi. Puhhleeeeze!

At the same time, Leonhardt glosses over a chilling fact: Hitler's 'stimulus' did work, and made him a hero to 'der volk' in the late 1930's. He made the trains run on time, 'tis true. But he did it by building a massive war machine that was obviously designed for aggressive ends. How many hundreds of Stuka dive bombers and Panzaer divisions does one need to defend der Vaterland, after all? And as he pumped the economy up, civil liberties (and niceties like elections, free press, freedom of religion, etc.) went away, replaced by a blatantly pagan worship of the state and der Fuhrer. By April 1945, it could be stated with assurance that much too high a price had been paid for the Great Stimulus of the 1930's.

And then, there's that little detail of those trains that ran on time, and where they ran, and the millions of people packed upon them that were transported to their gruesome deaths.

All to emphasize, once again, the OS mantra about culture and economy. A lot more than a deflation or inflation allowed this monster to come to power and push the world over the cliff. By the time the little guy with the mustache, lunatic ideas, and ecstatic speech-making ability showed up, Germany was a disaster waiting to happen, a once-great culture in severe disarray, willing to listen to anyone who would tell them what they wished to hear whilst lining their pockets.