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The 1 billion dollars that Germany got from the U.S. were peanuts. All the occupation costs, and more, were taken from the Germans, at a tax rate of nearly 50%, summing up at 2.4 billion each year. In addition the US stole as much property as they could. Operation Paperclip where they took scientist like von Braun ti the US was only a small part of it. They stole all intellectual property the could find, even designs for candy wrappers.
Erm... well - that's the nature of capitalism for you.
If it were Russians instead, they'd just ate all the candies and they wouldn't worry about the wrappers.
Two things strike me about modern Germany. First, they have been very quick since 1998 in instituting structural reforms to their economy, bringing down wages and boosting productivity, while they were slashing spending. The positive effect of structural reforms have helped to offset the negative effect of cost-cutting on the GDP. As a result their Debt/GDP ratio is declining - a rare event in Europe these days.
The second thing is the collective guilt that people seem to feel about the Nazis. It is almost as if the country had re-education camps. The result has been a strong - even self-righteous dedicated to human rights by all the major parties.
1. Yes.
2. I'd credit the currency reform of Erhard with providing the major foundation of West Germany's revival in the 1950s, although the Marshall Plan played a big role too. The Allies wanted Germany back on its feet as soon as possible so history would not repeat itself.
3. Hard to say.
4. West Germany was lucky to have leaders like Adenauer, Erhard, and Brandt, and they should be credited for the development of a prosperous and peaceful state.
5. More positive than negative.
6. More thorough de-nazification.
Bingo. My friends never understand why the "allies" thought it was a good idea to put Nazis back in power.
Don't forget that Stalin had his own Marshall Plan. It was either ours or Stalins.
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