Bernhard Dernburg Quotes
Every 8-hour day is a nail in Germany’s coffin!
Germany was in a terrible recession with hyper inflation. The industrialists and the government wanted to roll back the 8-hour work day that had recently been won in many German industries. The logic of the Finance Minister was that no one would invest new capital in Germany, yet Germany needed capital to grow to the level where it could be stable again. Therefore, if the German workers were to work an additional two hours every day without compensation, there was a way to turn that into capital. Of course none of the wealthy Germans would sell off some of their lands, estates, and factories and give that money to the Government and didn’t want to pay more taxes. The burden of recovery would be borne by the German workers. See {590485}.
Bernhard Dernburg, 1865-1937, German Vice Chancellor & Finance Minister, Statement, October 1922
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Germany was in a terrible recession with hyper inflation. The industrialists and the government wanted to roll back the 8-hour work day that had recently been won in many German industries. The logic of the Finance Minister was that no one would invest new capital in Germany, yet Germany needed capital to grow to the level where it could be stable again. Therefore, if the German workers were to work an additional two hours every day without compensation, there was a way to turn that into capital. Of course none of the wealthy Germans would sell off some of their lands, estates, and factories and give that money to the Government and didn’t want to pay more taxes. The burden of recovery would be borne by the German workers. See {590486} .
At the time Vidal, who shared this view with many economists, had no inkling of the digital revolution that the PC and Internet would bring, nor the other phenomena that eliminated the need for cheap labor — robotics and offshoring. Nor could he have foreseen the development of fracking making America virtually energy independent as it was before WWII. It appears that the problem has shifted from Vidal's issues, to that of what do we do with the American citizens who do not have advanced skills nor do we have methods of educating them and training them to this level. The quotation illustrates that it is always difficult predicting the future, but particularly hazardous when it comes to economics.
At the height of the depression the President actually told the people on nationwide radio that American unemployment was worse than any other country in the world. Few politicians since have ever been so candid with bad news for which the administration could partially be blamed. But Roosevelt needed the confidence and good will of the people over the long haul because there were no quick fixes. Therefore he assiduously personally told the people the truth about the conditions that existed. He did build that trust with candor and deep commitment to try things until something worked. Few Presidents since have been that honest with bad news, and few Presidents since have had the support of the electorate while he was working the problem.
Unmindful of the steady economic prosperity during the 1920s in America, Comintern “assured” American Communists that the economic growth was about to make an abrupt U-turn.
This argument and variations have been and are used to oppose virtually all increases in minimum wage scales, safety requirements, overtime requirements, and other labor reforms.
“Pegged” exchange rates are a country’s money where the Government sets the value of the money in terms of some other currency—usually American dollars. The advantage of a pegged currency is that it is stable and does not fluctuate day to day. The disadvantage is that people realize that the value is artificial and other countries will not accept the pegged currency. Worse natives try and get as many dollars as they can because the fear that the Government will devalue and change the rate of exchange of the pegged currency.
One of the few vestiges of Nazism in Germany is the discrimination against all who do not have German blood. No matter how long an immigrant lives in Germany and contributes to the society, he cannot become a citizen unless his parents were German. This race phobia together with the classic competition for jobs between natives and immigrants which exists on many countries, make the German attitude toward immigrants unique. At the same time, there are other Germans who want to import more immigrant labor to grow the German economy.
Ironically, Fitzhugh who detested socialism, held this basic socialist principle. His solution however, was that the profits were necessary for society, and therefore slavery was the solution for Blacks AND whites.
The debate in America around jobs during the Great Recession in 2012 may have seemed like a new issue for many Americans. The government wanted to economize, but there was a very high unemployment. Should the government spend money to employ more people or cut back on government jobs. The same issue faced the British in 1848. Most of the politicians and the Parliament wanted to reduce government spending. The Prince (husband of Queen Victoria) and the Queen observed that the economy solution would fall more heavily on the working class. At this time, the British monarchy was far more liberal than most of the politicians.
The Grammar Curmudgeon
One of the arguments in favor of machinery and automation has always been that new and better jobs are created for the people who run and maintain the machines. However as Marx observed in 1867 that is of no comfort to the person who is replaced by the machine. Also with the computer and modern robots, the control and operation is often done by another computer. Even much of the computer programming is done by computer.
Born thought that her agency was responsible for regulating the new esoteric financial products—derivatives including credit default swaps—for otherwise there would be no regulation at all of financial products that could dwarf the stock and bond market. Summers persuaded her to back off. When the Meltdown of 2008 hit, the huge derivative exposure of the large banks and some insurance companies was so great that it was one of the major causes for the meltdown of the entire banking system. Summers, normally a great economist not only called this one wrong, but later, along with most other government and private economists ignored a very explicit warning—See {637168}, {637986}, and {620038}.
He and his brother were the largest political contributors in the United States, so they had enormous influence on Republicans (they only made political contributions to conservative organizations).
- Born: July 17, 1865
- Died: October 14, 1937
- Nationality:
- Profession:
Bernhard Dernburg was a German liberal politician and banker. He served as Secretary for Colonial Affairs and head of the Imperial Colonial Office from May 1907 to 9 June 1910, and as Federal Minister of Finance and Vice Chancellor of Germany from 17 April to 20 June 1919.
