- 23 Nov 2011 17:01
#13837860
Hardly, you have already downplayed two "authoritarian" governments earlier in this thread. If anyone is making an effort to use real world examples against ideas, it is you.
Of course an individual must sacrifice but this does not mean a state cannot have a high standard of living. I would say Nazi Germany in particular would have had developed a standard of living for its citizens that would have rivaled that of the United States if they did not cause World War II and/or had won. The problem is that no regime has lasted long enough to base this off of.
The standards of living in Nazi Germany was the same, if not just slightly worse, than in the United States during the time period. The reason Nazi Germany kept wages low was an answer to coming out of the Great Depression (in which the USA instituted its own policies). As a result, there was less unemployment in Nazi Germany than there was in the United States, so everyone had a job so that they can purchase food.
starman2003 wrote:IMO my view represents real world fascism (I really don't like that term) or authoritarianism, as actually practiced in the greatest states, whereas yours reminds me of Roehm--idealistic, perhaps, but naive.
Hardly, you have already downplayed two "authoritarian" governments earlier in this thread. If anyone is making an effort to use real world examples against ideas, it is you.
starman2003 wrote:In fact that's the way it's always been, and for a very good reason. The goal of fascism/authoritarianism is to maximize state power, and to achieve that, the individual must sacrifice, in terms of material wealth as well as perogatives. For a state to have many tanks, for example, its people can't have many cars.
Of course an individual must sacrifice but this does not mean a state cannot have a high standard of living. I would say Nazi Germany in particular would have had developed a standard of living for its citizens that would have rivaled that of the United States if they did not cause World War II and/or had won. The problem is that no regime has lasted long enough to base this off of.
starman2003 wrote:No way. Serious authoritarian systems--those bent on aggressive statism--tended to have low standards of living compared to advanced democracies in particular. Hitler insisted that wages be kept low, and soviet workers worked long hours for very little in the thirties.
The standards of living in Nazi Germany was the same, if not just slightly worse, than in the United States during the time period. The reason Nazi Germany kept wages low was an answer to coming out of the Great Depression (in which the USA instituted its own policies). As a result, there was less unemployment in Nazi Germany than there was in the United States, so everyone had a job so that they can purchase food.