TIL in 1933 the Wall Street Journal had a headline which read "Berlin Views Hitler Calmly: Rise in stocks reflects confidence he will not disrupt nation's affairs"
Events always seem more obvious and predictable after they have already taken place.
Here's a copy and paste from the 1933 article:
Rise in Stocks Reflects Confidence He Will Not Disrupt Nation's Affairs
Berlin is settling down to pass judgment on political developments. Politicians, economists and bankers declare there is usually wide discrepancy between the speeches of opposition politicians and the actions of the group when it gains power.
Consequently, it is not believed that Hitler will accomplish a change in the constitution or that [Reich Minister of Economics Alfred] Hugenberg will bring about a general reduction of interest rates. The government wants to obtain an adjournment of the Reichstag for several months, but it is questionable whether the Centre [Party] will approve of such action.
This unpacks on so many levels, so let's take the awful view of how it impacted ONLY the monetary policy, and not factor in the holocaust and millions dead....and erosion of civil liberties, dismantling of democratic institutions, and the bypass of the parliament....let's just say look at it from that statement "considerable gains in stocks" that supposedly indicated good times were ahead under the new government.
The US depression reached global markets and brought everything down, while also the massive fucking war tanked Germany's economy under the war machine strain.
Leave it to investors to make awful miscalculations over and over, then amazingly, we still listen to those fuckers a hundred years later after repeated miscalculations and massive financial ruination. But hey, around 500 people got shit rich so fuck it, yaaaaaay capitalism.
The one thing I also find really fucked is how the r/Austrian_economics on reddit even genuinely believe the quote by Thomas Sowell that just because businesses fail at shit, doesn't mean the government will do a better job...
Like fucking hell! Even when governments fail at doing stuff (and not all government programs are successful, I know) their failures are accountable to the public. If a private health insurance agency has their death panels (and I mean ACTUAL death panels. They exist in the private sector FAR MORE than any public health agency ever) end up never paying out or delaying payouts until the claimant is dead (and thus doesn't need the money anymore... so why give it out?) This is somehow OK... and the company will never be forced to answer for why their system sucks so hard at providing healthcare.
I live in Canada and we have an increasingly privatized system. I had to go on sick leave and I needed at least 6 months to recover. I got a doctor's note who never signed anything like what I was asking for and simply thought that he could sign in for a month and then it can be renewed every month. Guess what? My company used a private healthcare insurance for handling stuff like this. When I got renewals they didn't care. They said that because my first doctor did not word his statement correctly they would support only one month, and any time I spend on sick leave beyond that is entirely unpaid. The amount of shit and paperwork they asked for absolutely shocked all the doctors I worked with and they outright said that what they were doing was outright illegal and a major human rights violation... but they went on anyone with their shit, asking for more and more private information solely so they can find stuff to deny. Claiming I do not have the conditions I claim I have despite multiple confirmations from multiple independent medical professionals.
That experience filled me with an undying hatred of private healthcare and private healthcare insurance.
If anyone asks how the Germans could elect a wannabe autocrat populist and how many people could ignore clear signs of genocide going on.
Now you know.
Edit
A lot of people commenting about either my observation not being astute enough, or misinterpreting history in one way or another.
My observation is solely about and how these things happen it's not very conspirational nor institutional, just weaponized anxiety, populism, polarity and apathy.
The particular brand of ideology, or the identity of the perpetrator does very little for the equation. People being selfish and wilfully ignorant as long as they are pandered to.
We've been watching fascists pile into legislatures from Russia to the UK for decades. It's cute to make everything about Hitler, but this isn't an event unique to '33.
Fearmomgering over migrants
Secular violence encouraged by colonial powers
Stagnating global economies and bottlenecks in critical resources
Anti-colonialism in the third world
Those damned Marxists refusing to sit down, shut up, and back the liberal party
You can find historical parallels in the collapse of Yugoslavia and the Irish Troubles, Modi's rise in India and the Nixon/Reagan reaction to the US civil rights movement, the military coups in Guatemala and El Salvador, the dictatorships of South Korea and South Vietnam...
There's deeper historical roots to Trumpism than just "America made another oopsie cause we're dumb-dumbs"
The point here is that Hitler is cleraly the most famous crazy dictator. And now, almost 100 years later, it's looking like this Trump fellow is going to be remember quite a lot as well. I don't know about you, but I'm generally slightly afraid, and I'm not even American.
Those damned Marxists refusing to sit down, shut up, and back the liberal party
Well, they quite literally could have prevented Hitler's rise to power, but Stalin decided it was more beneficial to the USSR for the Communists to support the Nazis against the Liberals. Why? Hmmmm... Guess we'll never know?
First of all, fuck Israel, it’s a disgusting, genocidal, colonialist state. But with that said, unironically, your message comes across as quite anti-semitic, because you went to some deliberate effort to write “Israeli Jew”. Why? There are loads of jews in Israel who are our allies in opposing the Israeli state’s genocide.
Israel is genocidal and is itself anti-semitic. Conflating Israel with judaism is anti-semitic, and more than anyone else, we should all know better than to do this right-wing dog whistle shit.
Older Americans remember an old Israel, struggling to just get by.
Younger Americans... largely don't know anything about it. They know it's some country in the Middle East, but have no idea what's going on in gaza. TBH I did not growing up. It's not taught in school, it's not common knowledge unless your origins/family are from the region.
Holy shit, The Nazis did NOT have anything to do with its original conception and building. They even hated it and didn't care much for actually doing much of it. There are more links from articles posted online as early as 1995, but I cannot find them right now.
Drastically ahead of its time. As in, only one percent of citizens had a car back then. So apart from being war preparations, the Autobahn wasn't a sensible project at this point in time.
...the worst impulses of Hitler and the Nazis could be "controlled" or "tamed" once they bore responsibility for leading the national government (rather than criticizing others' administration of it).
Ignore the curbing of your own freedoms! We are stomping on the necks of the people you irrationally fear and that is all that matters! History does not repeat but boy does it rhyme.
And my Jewish mother still thinks we're making a mistake by fleeing.
And this being despite her knowing that my father's mother had to get her mother-in-law out of Nazi Germany by sheer force of will and determination in the 1930s, but not without sewing the few valuables she had remaining that the Nazis hadn't seized into her coat.
The UK where I have dual citizenship. And before you start telling me how awful the UK is for queer people, they're banning conversion therapy and schools do not tolerate bullying queer kids.
wow, a lot of people in this thread really don't like Jewish people.
hate on Israel for what they are doing, but don't blame the Jewish people who aren't asking for it. Seems like they got excited their Fuhrer was mentioned.
Man. The writers for this timeline really are lazy pieces of shit. How can they just reuse the same stale plot line and continue to collect paychecks? This show has really gone downhill.
Hear that guys? Everything is going ho be fiiiiiine! We're safe in Hitlers hands. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm quite rich. I have a ticket aboard an airship. I'm sure you've never heard of a zepplin. It's like an air balloon, but way cooler. It's called the "Hindenburg"!
Well.....silver lining. It was the late 1930s. I doubt he's still alive NOW!!!
Bad news is, nqzis for some reason seem to have made a comeback.
I've been downvoted in the past for saying this, but I truely believe we need to legalize murder. HEAR ME OUT.....
If you're a nazi, and I mean a legit nazi, have swastica tattoos, participate in rallys, ect, I think murder should be 100% legal.
You show up, you have a swastica, BANG! One less nazi.
"Oh, did you hear? Lost_My_Mind is a murderer!"
"What??? That's CRAZY??? What happened???"
"Well, we were at a Wendys, he ordered the chicken nuggets, then he was complaining to himself at how small the nuggets were, and how shrinkflation is real......and then a dude with swastikas on his jacket showed up. Lost_My_Mind grabbed a knife and stabbed him hundreds of times."
"Oh.....well what else was supposed to happen? He did the right thing. Well, except for ordering the nuggets. That's just encouraging companies to KEEP shrinking their products....but the murder is fine. Could have used the blood as a dipping sauce!"
"Ew, no!"
"You're right. That's the line. That went too far. We found the line, and that line is lite canabalism. You can kill nazis, but not eat them."
The german book and movie "Er ist wieder da" (He's back) is exactly about that. Just before his death, Hitler is transported through space and time to 2010s Berlin and quickly takes the country by storm again. The kicker: A lot of the scenes are just with real people interacting with the Hitler actor in full costume and the things they say and do is unbelievable. It really shows there's a Hitler in every single one of us and if he really returned, it would likely play out exactly like that. I cannot recommend it enough.
They also did an editorial piece on each US nominee and in trumps they said they don't think he will actually be the end of democracy. Let's see how that ages
or that [Reich Minister of Economics Alfred] Hugenberg will bring about a general reduction of interest rates
Huh, I wonder how long we've been complaining about interest rates. Maybe there's a clay tablet out there complaining that mortgage rates are too high lol
I have some american stocks and funds and have seen a pretty weird increases in them. Wondering whether selling all of them would be a good idea right now...
... but then again the rise kept going the last time Trump was president so I dunno.
Also: Trump is not Hitler. Republicans are not the nazi party. I hope this comment doesn't age like milk.
People will make parallels with Hitler's election and of Trump's, but I never heard anyone say Trump will keep the status quo (i.e. the constitution) to save stocks.