Lord Keynes — Liquidationism and early 1930s Germany: Not a Good Mix!

Eye-opener. It was not the Weimar hyperinflation that brought Hitler and the Nazis to power but deflationary depression.

By 1928, during the economic boom in Germany, the Nazi party vote looked like it was almost dead and was only 2.6%. Remarkably, even in the aftermath of the Weimar hyperinflation in 1924 it was only 3%. 

When the deflationary depression struck Germany from 1929–1932, it soared to 18.3% (September 1930), then 37.3% (July 1932), and finally to 43.9% in March 1933 in the aftermath of the Great Depression.

Social Democracy For The 21St Century: A Post Keynesian Perspective
Liquidationism and early 1930s Germany: Not a Good Mix!
Lord Keynes

Ominously, deflationary depression threatens Europe again owing to austerity and the persistent German anti-inflation fetish. Some lessons are never learned.

See also Yves Smith,  Is the West Risking Financial Blowback From Sanctions on Russia? at Naked Capitalism.

Matt O'Brien,  Europe’s Greater Depression is worse than the 1930s at the Washington Post.

Benjamin Bidder — Cyprus Fallout: Moscow Accuses Euro Zone of Theft -- and Worse

The verdict of Russian state television on Europe's effort to save Cyprus was damning. The last week "will enter the history books of the EU as a destructive one," said Dmitry Kiselev, the presenter of the popular news program Vesti Nedili on the Rossiya channel.

Kiselev heaped criticism on the forced levy to be imposed on bank deposits in Cyprus. He said the last time a Western European government proceeded so recklessly was when Adolf Hitler expropriated the Jews.

Nazi propaganda at the time described the money held by Jewish people as "dirty," said Kiselev. That was precisely how Europe was talking about Russian assets deposited in Cyprus, he added.
"The new world order is being founded against Russia, at Russia's costs and on the rubble of Russia," said a Rossiya correspondent from the Mediterranean island nation.

Spiegel Online International
Cyprus Fallout: Moscow Accuses Euro Zone of Theft -- and Worse
Benjamin Bidder
(h/t Kevin Fathi via email)

Harsh. That's aimed as a shot across the bow of Germany, Russia's traditional foe. Ominous geopolitical sign. There will be payback.