[lbo-talk] Neoliberal Europe vs. Keynesian USA

[autonomia at lavabit.com]

>> What I'd like to learn from you, since I don't read German, is why
Germany's
>> unique political/economic culture is so exceptionally hardline about
inflation and rigor. The cliche is that it's bad memories of Weimar but
that
>> sounds a little too pat to me.
>> SA
The rise of the german sado-monetarist began when after the breakdown of
the Bretton-Woods system and the economic crisis of the early to mid 70s 
the german central bank switched to monetarist policies (it was worldwide
the first central bank to do so). During the 70s the central bank's
monetarism often clashed with the keynesianism of the then ruling
social-liberal coalition government.
Keynesianism was finally defeated and monetarist and neoliberal
principles, outlined in the infamous Lambsdorff paper ( the german liberal
party's position paper that marked its shift from american-style
socialliberlism to neoliberalism, co-written by the equally infamous Hans
Tietmayer who in the 90s got blasted by Pierre Bourdieu), became hegemonic
when the conservative-liberal coalition won the election in 1982.  The 16
year(!) long rule of this conservative-liberal coalition firmly
institutionalized neoliberal and monetaristic principles in germany.
The next and  nominally the most progressive government coalition in
german history (greens + socialdemocrats), after some inner factional
struggles, deepened  further the institutionalization of monetarism and
neoliberalism with its Agenda 2010 strategy.
The rise of the Left party and the financial crisis has helped  to widen
the space/ acceptance for dissenting economic views in germany but
neoliberal and monetarist views are still hegemonic in germany.
And by the way, there are some outspoken and prominent german Keynesian
economists like  Heiner Flassbeck and Rudolf Hickel.