How German History Shapes Obama-Merkel Rift
(AP Photo/Gero Breloer)
Mr. Obama, of course, has pushed through a massive stimulus package and pressed for greater government spending worldwide to end the recession. Merkel, who helms the largest economy in Europe, has resisted such spending; her government has passed only a pair of small stimulus packages in response to the economic crisis.
One reason for the two leaders' different philosophies is ideological: Merkel is a center-right politician who has argued against bank bailouts in Europe. But German history is also a factor. Under the German parliamentary governmental system known as the Weimar Republic, Germans faced hyperinflation in the 1920s that destroyed savings and drove many people into poverty. Here's one (fictionalized) account of what it was like:
The price increases began to be dizzying. Menus in cafes could not be revised quickly enough. A student at Freiburg University ordered a cup of coffee at a cafe. The price on the menu was 5,000 Marks. He had two cups. When the bill came, it was for 14,000 Marks. "If you want to save money," he was told, "and you want two cups of coffee, you should order them both at the same time."The Weimar Republic stayed in power in Germany for another decade, but the period of hyperinflation is considered a significant factor in the emergence of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party – the Nazis.
Germans are thus particularly attuned to the dangers of inflation – and particularly wary of fiscal policy that they fear could bring it about.
"We learned from the worldwide economic crisis of the 1920s that an economic crisis can result in an incredible threat for all of society," Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told Der Spiegel magazine, as the Washington Post reported last year. "The consequences of that depression was Adolf Hitler and, indirectly, World War II and Auschwitz."
The secrets of tennis legend 
- 1
- 2
- next
See all 32 CommentsNet-net, however, method doesn't matter: Fanaticism takes root when the masses see no future in their current form of government.
I submit that the greed of the Republicans poses as big a threat to democracy in America as the Weimar Republic faced as a consequence of their own policies.
The Republicans attempted to satiate their greed with their policies of "trickle-down" economics, inequitable free trade, and an energy policy that reflected the protection of Big Oil's profits rather than the national interest - all of which served to divert masses of dollars into either their own holdings or out of the country.
The functional result has been three decades of attacks on America's working poor and middle class, the consequences of which can easily seen in our inequality curve's movement back to the same shape it held in 1929.
Democracies are susceptible to excessive greed on the part of the few because that greed brings inequality and the slipping away of the hope for a better future; that is an oft repeated lesson throughout human history. Sadly, another lesson of history is that it is the masses who inevitably "enjoy" the bulk of the consequences of that greed.
That is what I hope of Obama - that he do his best to shield America's masses from the consequences of the greed of the few - that few who control the Republican Party.
Oh, how I despise the right for what they have done to my country, for they have placed it at risk. Democracies are born through common agreement - but they die from common disappointment.
The Germans aren't allowing the muslims to have power in their government, they've already had national socialism, whenever there is a muslim takeover they revert to national socialism to organise, then they go to islamic law. So,,, what stage are we at under BHO?
We should expect Germany to take a less aggressive approach to battling the global recession. Merkel inherited a huge trade SURPLUS and serious banking and credit crisis. Obama inherited a gargantuan trade DEFICIT and nearly overwhelming banking and credit crisis.
Germany already has a well-established and respected national health care system, and a reasonably up-to-date national infrastructure. We are some 2-3 trillion dollars behind in maintenance and upgrades on roads, dams, levees, landfills, and other civil engineering projects. Their needs and incentives for related stimulus spending are much less.
Still, the hyperinflation of the Weimar era is highly unlikely for either Germany or the U.S., and Merkel's political conservatism may earn them a "lost decade" like Japan's. Remember when Japan seemed to be doing so much better than the U.S.?
Not only do I dislike him intensely, but also I do believe that he does not have the knowledge to be an effective leader...just another (empty) talking head.
Oh my God we have a Marxist Muslim..
You Repugs need to do everything you can to bring down a Dem, "Wonder why??"
The German intellectualism that fled Europe during WW2 and established itself in America, which lifted the US into world domination... those guys are dead and dying, and are not being replaced here. Whereas in Germany, the educational and social discipline has been rebuilt, and likely to produce the next generation of genius. America has prioritized giving higher education opportunity to the dis-advantaged, and now spends most of its time and resources on dumbing down the masses, taxing the capable into poverty, and making a foolish media spectacle of its leadership !
Yeah, I can see how Angela Merkel would not follow Obama, or the USA down the path of stupidity.
Everyone talks about the Bush deficit, when only a 600+ billion deficit was incurred from George Washington to Bush and Obumba wants to quadruple that so don't talk about Bush and the deficit.
When are you people going to wake up to what this man wants to do to this country?
******
When are you Bush worshipers going to realize that Obama didn't cause this depression by becoming president? When you realize that, then we can get on with the future.
Vote "Present" ?
Quit confusing deficit with debt, it shows once again how juvenile you guys on the right are.
Obama is always cool and reasonable, professorial in tone.
Hitler screamed and practically foamed at the mouth.
A study in contrasts: Two short samples.
Obama:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otA7tjinFX4
Hitler:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAUPt9SX2qk
Couldn't possibly be more unlike. Poles apart.
- 1
- 2
- next
See all 32 Comments