LET ME KNOW WHEN ANY OF THIS STARTS TO SOUND FAMILIAR

Germany after World War I kept up all sorts of social spending, while at the same time having to pay stiff reparations to the victorious Allies. The reparations were not beyond the ability of the German economy to support, had it not been for politics. Left-wing elements could not bring themselves to abandon entitlements, while right-wing elements proclaimed that it was virtually a patriotic duty to refuse to pay either reparations or taxes, so yawning deficits were covered by simply printing money. In 1923, when the French occupied the Ruhr to force payment, the Germans responded by refusing to work, so inflation (too much money chasing too few goods) became hyperinflation (a virtually infinite quantity of money chasing no goods at all.)

After 1923 the currency was stabilized by wiping out a dozen or so zeroes, and supported by short-term loans from American and other foreign bankers. In 1928 these foreign funds began to dry up as capital sought higher returns on Wall Street, and they dried up totally after the 1929 Crash brought about a mad global rush for liquidity. In Germany, the Depression brought renewed deficits to a country where both left and right, remembering the horrors of 1923, clung desperately to budget-balancing.

What to do? In effect, the left wanted to balance the budget on the back of business, by increasing taxes to pay unemployment benefits, while the right wanted to balance the budget on the backs of workers and the unemployed, by cutting or eliminating the benefits. A political deadlock ensued: sound familiar? It was resolved by suspending parliamentary government and replacing it with presidential rule by decree after 1930, and ultimately of course by something even more extreme.

A little give and take might have spared the Germans and everyone else a lot of trouble. But no, everyone had to stand on principle.