Historical Irony That Should Burn

[peristaltor]

Hello, liberal readers! I'm curious if anyone is still reading, so I thought I'd throw in a post and see what happens!

In another LJ user's page, I read recently of Angela Merkel's recent comments to the government of Japan concerning its relations to the nations it attacked during what Japan called The Pacific War.

Ukeru Magosaki, who served as the

Comments

[telemann]

Great post, and thanks!

[peristaltor]

Given the time between posting and your response, I doubt you actually read it, but thanks nonetheless!

[telemann]

I had teachers say the same thing to me in school! Seriously, I'm a very fast reader.

[rick_day]

I read most of it but ran out of time, and just came back to finish it. This is the best explanation I have read (ELI5) on the different economic philosophies.

Thank you for taking the time to write it. I'm just sorry I have nothing to add because everything you said was spot on.

[oslo]

So what we seem to have seen, in response to this "fiscal waterboarding," is generally a rise in nationalism, though not necessarily of a rightist variety. Right? I'm thinking Syriza in Greece, Podemos in Spain. There's the National Front in France, obviously, as well as Golden Dawn in Greece, though these have been more vocal than effective so far. And it's not pure nationalism, either - there's still a fair amount of pro-EU sentiment alongside this anti-troika invective

[peristaltor]

So what we seem to have seen, in response to this "fiscal waterboarding," is generally a rise in nationalism, though not necessarily of a rightist variety. Right?

Absolutely. And the same proved true in pre-Nazi Germany. The Communists and the National Socialists gained most of the "throw the bums out" vote; maneuvering on Hitler's part marginalized the Communists. That could have gone the other way, toward the Communists.

I think maybe the safest thing to say about these austerity policies is that they have demonstrably contributed to political instability wherein parties promising to "throw the bums out" seem to have enhanced prospects.Exactly. And once in office, the bum throwers have a chance to restore political stability impossible to deliver with those parties which embrace the Austerian Troika

[oslo]

Where do you see the next front? The Republicans in the U.S. are making a bunch of budget noise, but it seems (I'm hoping) that they're not going to gain traction any time soon, and even if their cuts somehow got through, we're not exactly at depression-era levels of unemployment (bracketing for now flat wage growth, which isn't to say it's irrelevant, just maybe less likely to prompt riots and a "throw the bums out" mentality").

I'm holding my breath, personally, to see what China does. South America? I'll admit I'm clueless on what's happening in Africa right now from an economic perspective.

[peristaltor]

Personally, I like the Public Banking Institute and those that promote their ideas, folks like Ellen H. Brown. Her book The Web of Debt sparked the PBI's formation.

China has made some monetary moves in that direction; hence the Beijing high-speed rail building and other infrastructure improvements the likes of which seem impossible in our home country's political climate.

Ms. Brown has a podcast as well (if you're into that sort of thing): It's Our Money With Ellen Brown. There, she is exploring a possible out for Greece. There is in the ECB regulations an allowance for public banking. The Germans have a system I don't pretend to understand called the "Sparkhausen" banks, public banks which well serve remote communities, giving these communities banking services which they otherwise might not have access. Because of the Sparkhausen system, the ECB allows public banks to finance themselves at zero interest directly from the ECB "vaults

[tcpip]

This is a fantastic post and, if you like, I would like to arrange for it to be repostedInterestingly Hayek supported a welfare state, far beyond many contemporary "libertarians" who cite him would be comfortable with

[telemann]

For some goofy reason, LJ marked this as spam so please accept my apologies for that.

[johnny9fingers]

Good post. It could do with a wider audience. I just need to find the right cartoon.:)

[peristaltor]

I'm happy with a small audience, so long as I don't get dog piled by, say, a cliquish group of real life friends.

[rick_day]