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Ben Sahlmueller's avatar

Wow, another great one - thank you! I love the side comment on debts, it rhymes with the approach raised by Matthew Klein and Michael Pettis that I think is fascinating with regard to the German economy.

Also, I love how the additional fiscal/monetary lens trickles down to the individual level through Separation Allowance (and the financial angle broadly) - a fascinating angle that is mostly ignored in Germany. I feel the standard approach (followed in schools etc.) is very psychological at best or even metaphysical/idealist, focuses on propaganda and a kind of vague "madness of the masses" narrative. Of course Arendt adds some nuances, but still. (A psychological lens of course also nicely fits late modernity thinking...)

I'm probably following only 20% of the argument here, but I wonder how the individual financial incentives through e.g. Seperation Allowances play out for Russia these days, where the general narrative here is similarly focused on Putin's propaganda and metaphysical ideas of Great Russia etc. How does the Russian economy shoulder the burdens of the war and maybe even redistributes it to keep some core interest groups motivated? Is this about the small money sent to families for their man to fight, about redistribution from oligarchs (+KGB power plays) to a few population groups, are people to bad off that it is quite "cheap" to win their favor, or is it really just about lies, power, and repression?

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clemenso's avatar

The drawing of a parallel between Nazi Germany and East Asian Development states seems very problematic. Perhaps look at Robert Wade to get context. Or perhaps look to Japanese armament in the fifty years before WW2. Or think about the world's biggest and oldest military-industrial complex, which this year benefits from its biggest defence budget ever. And is rooted in every single constituency in its nation. Which again leads to a blind angle in the above discussion: the popular gratitude for the employment created by the arms industry. Especially in nations coming out of a crisis

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