HITLER Vs. BERNANKE Why was Adolph Hitler able to lift Germany out of the Great Depression, when policymakers in the US–particularly the Fed–have failed so miserably?Let’s look at the facts: When Hitler came to power in 1933, the German economy was in a shambles. Millions of people were out of work, a number of large banks had collapsed, the market for German exports had dried up overnight, and a US-led lending freeze (withdrawal of credits under the Young Plan) had thrust German industry and finance into a severe slump.Yet through an independent monetary policy of sovereign credit and a full-employment public-works program, the Third Reich was able to turn a bankrupt Germany, stripped of overseas colonies it could exploit, into the strongest economy in Europe within four years,Clearly, “Depression expert” Bernanke’s performance pales in comparison to Schacht’s and for obvious reasons. GDP has shriveled to below 2 percent, 47 million people are on food stamps, and inequality is greater than anytime since the Gilded Era. The facts speak for themselves; Bernanke’s policies have only benefited the investor class. The real economy is still flat on its backHitler was no friend of labor, but he knew that full employment would widen his base of popular support. In contrast, Bernanke and his colleagues at the Fed could care less about popularity or jobs. What they want is to slash critical safety net programs that protect the old, the sick and the needy. That’s what QE is really all about; it’s a way of redistributing wealth upwards (through rising stock prices) while Congress and the Obama administration “starve the beast” via budget cuts. Reactionary elites have created a bogus deficit crisis so they can impose their neoliberal agenda of deregulation, privatization, low taxes, and austerity on working people..So why is Bernanke still dumping $85 billion per month into a black-hole financial system instead of following his own advice and using his power to put people back to work and get the economy back on track? Why? The economy is in the doldrums because that’s where Bernanke and Co. want it to be. -JEFFERY DOYLE
Posted on: Sun, 21 Jul 2013 13:28:34 +0000
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