this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2024
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Just to be clear for those that don't know, the Autobahn was actually planned and almost entirely built by the Weimar Republic.
The economic successes are interesting because, other than their looting of the Austrian and Czech treasuries, it was actually based on a rejection of the austerity politics favored by modern conservatives and an emphasis on deficit spending, very much like in America under FDR.
Build infrastructure, build production, provide stable jobs and demand and the system will both right itself and allow you to pay your new debts.
The American model for solving the deficit was based on increasing tax revenue through the investments and the German was based on war looting, but the core idea was the same, borrow money and sink it into production.
The Germans, btw, also extensively privatized national industries during this time. Whether this was necessary or not is debatable, especially with Hitler and the Wehrmacht looking over their shoulders the whole time telling them what to do anyways, but what isn't debatable is that it outright proves they weren't socialists.