tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post483279943161395912..comments2024-03-19T07:48:54.021-06:00Comments on Gus Van Horn: 6-11-11 HodgepodgeGus Van Hornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-31163523645909645202011-06-12T04:21:49.916-06:002011-06-12T04:21:49.916-06:00Military dictatorship is also the sort of thing a ...Military dictatorship is also the sort of thing a pragmatist would see as an especially effective way to "do something."Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-41637934636329104362011-06-11T22:18:29.871-06:002011-06-11T22:18:29.871-06:00Interesting, though, that military dictatorship co...Interesting, though, that military dictatorship comes up in the context of a post-debt crisis. Being that it's just the sort of panicked and inappropriate reaction that follows from irresponsible spending and currency devaluation.<br /><br />It's fascinating how many people see the sort of things that are coming; that they're ushering in, yet they do nothing to change our course. And often work to steer us deeper into it.<br /><br />The reason being, of course, that their philosophy has so warped their thinking that they can't even conceive of acting otherwise.<br /><br />It would be darkly hilarious if they weren't dragging so many good people with them. Including, especially, all of *us.*Inspectorhttp://newclarion.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-63069564781354508462011-06-11T20:14:04.628-06:002011-06-11T20:14:04.628-06:00The situation, then, was indeed even worse than I&...The situation, then, was indeed even worse than I'd imagined. <br /><br />I read OP ages ago, but had forgotten lots of the historical detail, and about the comments Peikoff made. (And I have been too preoccupied lately to look such information up or even to think of doing so.) Thanks for taking the time to mention these.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-17906006562801163932011-06-11T19:55:22.507-06:002011-06-11T19:55:22.507-06:00"On the other hand, it bothers me that he men..."On the other hand, it bothers me that he mentions, without elaboration or comment, that the first stage of the process was, 'effectively render[ing] Germany a military dictatorship.'"<br /><br />It <i>should</i> bother you. Stresemann placed effective executive power for five months in the hands of the head and architect of the Weimar military, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_von_Seeckt" rel="nofollow">Hans von Seeckt</a>, though the titular head of the executive was the Defense Minister. It was I believe a matter of comment at the time that a moderate socialist chancellor established a military dictatorship under the control of a monarchist general, and it symbolizes the Weimar Republic to a nicety: A socialist who accepted the Weimar Republic as the best means of keeping the French and British at bay in cahoots with a monarchist who saw the republic as the best of a bad job; he had refused to put down the pro-monarchist Kapp Putsch and only put down Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch because Hitler wanted to go to war immediately with France, which von Seeckt saw as inopportune.<br /><br />Peikoff's <i>Ominous Parallels</i> has a lot of good comments about the mischief permitted by the way the Weimar Constitution allowed any of its articles to be abrogated in case of emergency, whatever the hell that might have been, and in general about the fact that the Weimar Republic lasted as long as it did mostly because its enemies hated each other more than they hated it.<br /><br />"And I haven't even gotten to the fact that Germany never got rid of its central bank..."<br /><br />Yeah, and it was by means of that central bank that many of the same players in Stresemann's currency stabilization, particularly <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/1997/46/b3553065.htm" rel="nofollow">Hjalmar Schacht</a>, used financial trickery to secretly rearm Germany against the provisions of the Versailles Treaty. In short, Lewis' lessons should be kept strictly delimited by readers and not used in debate unless you know the wider context, the future developments, and the skullduggery going on behind the scenes.Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-54237323956784603872011-06-11T10:03:00.550-06:002011-06-11T10:03:00.550-06:00You're welcome, Paul.You're welcome, Paul.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-397944416772226682011-06-11T07:57:06.535-06:002011-06-11T07:57:06.535-06:00Thanks for the link, Gus!Thanks for the link, Gus!Paul Hsiehhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11589042158692605946noreply@blogger.com