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Monday December 11th, 2023

Sri Lanka warned against ‘Hitler’ wish by German envoy

ECONOMYNEXT – German Ambassador Holger Seubert has warned Sri Lanka against wishing for a ‘Hitler’ after a minister expressed a wish for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to act more like Hitler, on top of a similar call by a Buddhist monk earlier.

“I‘m hearing claims that “a Hitler” could be beneficial to Sri Lanka today,” Seubert said in a twitter.com message.

“Let me remind those voices that Adolf Hitler was responsible for human suffering and despair beyond imagination, with millions of deaths. Definitely no role model for any politician!”

Strong Man

Hitler came to power in the wake of money printing, hyperinflation and socialist policy confusion of the post-World War I Germany’s Weimar Republic and later stabilization efforts by the Heinrich Brüning administration which increased unemployment on top of a depression triggered by the US Federal Reserve.

The illiberal socialist policy confusion of the Weimar Republic led to the call of a ‘strong man’ to come to power.

State Minister Dilum Amunugama claimed that people expected President Rajapaksa to run a dictatorship to some extent (yum tharamakerter).

“The Buddhist clergy also said it is ok to be a Hitler, that is good,” Minister Amunugama said. “Now criticism of the government is due to not being a Hitler. I also accept that.

“I do not think the President has a liking to become a Hitler immediately. If he is pushed to towards that, he will become a Hitler and the people will stop blaming him. Things will then happen well.”

Hitler rode to power on the strongly nationalist, anti-minority platform of the National Socialist (Nazi) party which killed and incarcerated millions of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and later took land (Lebensraum) from Slavs in Eastern Europe and Russia (Generalplan Ost) killing millions more in the process.

He had support from sections of the Lutheran church, some big businesses hit by Weimar instability, and banned all NGOs except some churches.

However Hitler also printed money, primarily through Mefo bills, a mechanism to circumvent a ban on money printing by Reichsbank – Germany’s then central bank.

The scheme involving the discounting of contractor bills through a third party agency was cooked up by economy minister Hjalmar Schacht.

Schacht had been at the Reichsbank during the Weimar Republic.

Sri Lanka’s central bank in addition to printing money indirectly by discounting contractor bills has engaged in the biggest outright money printing exercise in the history of modern Sri Lanka.

The Mefo bills discounting led to forex shortages in Germany as early as 1934 and Hitler promoted a Nazi autarchy (autarky) or what is now known as ‘self-sufficiency’ amid widespread import controls under his Wehrwirtschaft economic policy.

Self-sufficiency was also driven by the Allied naval blockade during World War I.

Hitler engaged in ‘import substitution’ long before the term became popular among Latin American nations which printed money through Argentina-style central banks and ran out of forex.

The German industrial complex went so far as to produce synthetic fuel, cellulose fibres and synthetic rubber, as forex shortages intensified.

Hitler also made a famous ‘Export or Die’ speech, a slogan used by Sri Lanka’s leaders during the 1980s money printing and currency depreciation.

He by-passed the parliament through an Enabling Act (Ermächtigungsgesetz) and ran the country through gazettes appropriating plenary powers as part of the dictatorship.

After Hitler was defeated by the Allies and which included the Soviet Union at the time, liberals came back to power.

Germany then became a global economic power under the Ordoliberals who started their economic program by setting up a new central bank, the Deutsche Bundesbank, which laid the foundation for the German Economic Miracle (Wirtschaftswunder) defying the Keynesian ideology of depreciation and state spending.

Germany rapidly outpaced Britain, which won World War II but continued to print money under Keynesian ‘stimulus’ and only ended foreign exchange controls 40 years later after Margarat Thatcher came to power applying Austrian economic principles. (Colombo/Apr13/2021)

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  1. Kane Jacobs says:

    Very harmful political misinformation being spread in one section of this article:

    It is obvious to anyone who has studied politics that Hitler was NOT a socialist. He was a fascist and developed Germany’s own national brand of fascism.

    The primary reason for the confusion regarding this is the name of the Nazi party which Hitler led. Anyone who claims Hitler was a socialist just because of the name of his party is making the same mistake as someone who claims that apple fruits and apple phones are made of the same material or are similar in some way because of the name alone.

    This troublesome party name is often (misleadingly) translated into English as the “National Socialist German Workers’ Party” as the original format of the words in the German name is incompatible with the rules of grammar in English. However, in the original German, the name of the party is the “Nationalsozialistiche Deutsche Arbeitspartei”, and it is clear how the German words corresponding to the English terms “National” and “Socialist” are both merged into one word, which may be translated as “National-Socialist”. This is the dead giveaway that this term has nothing to do with the Socialism, as the former denotes a political ideology that aims to construct a “national society” as the name suggests. (“National society”+”-ism”) This means that the party aimed to create an ethnically homogeneous society that is essentially fully subordinated to the Nation State.

    This is directly opposed and completely different from Socialism which aims to bring ownership of the economy (means of production) into the hands of the collective public regardless of their nationality or race.

    Additionally, the political and economic policies of the Nazi regime show how opposed to socialism they were. In fact, the Nazi party came to power with the promise they made to the German elites at the time that they would stamp out Communism and Socialism in Germany which were popular among the people at the time. This is why most of the wealthiest capitalists in Germany supported the Nazis. Once they came to power, Hitler and his party banned Worker Unions and privatised many previously public corporations that existed in Weimar Germany. In fact, the very term “privatisation” was taken from the Nazi economic policy of “Privatisierung”.

    In conclusion, not only was Hitler NOT a socialist, he was a fascist, which is an extreme form of state enforced enforced authoritarian capitalism which sees the State collaborating with private enterprise and suppressing worker movements.

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Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Kane Jacobs says:

    Very harmful political misinformation being spread in one section of this article:

    It is obvious to anyone who has studied politics that Hitler was NOT a socialist. He was a fascist and developed Germany’s own national brand of fascism.

    The primary reason for the confusion regarding this is the name of the Nazi party which Hitler led. Anyone who claims Hitler was a socialist just because of the name of his party is making the same mistake as someone who claims that apple fruits and apple phones are made of the same material or are similar in some way because of the name alone.

    This troublesome party name is often (misleadingly) translated into English as the “National Socialist German Workers’ Party” as the original format of the words in the German name is incompatible with the rules of grammar in English. However, in the original German, the name of the party is the “Nationalsozialistiche Deutsche Arbeitspartei”, and it is clear how the German words corresponding to the English terms “National” and “Socialist” are both merged into one word, which may be translated as “National-Socialist”. This is the dead giveaway that this term has nothing to do with the Socialism, as the former denotes a political ideology that aims to construct a “national society” as the name suggests. (“National society”+”-ism”) This means that the party aimed to create an ethnically homogeneous society that is essentially fully subordinated to the Nation State.

    This is directly opposed and completely different from Socialism which aims to bring ownership of the economy (means of production) into the hands of the collective public regardless of their nationality or race.

    Additionally, the political and economic policies of the Nazi regime show how opposed to socialism they were. In fact, the Nazi party came to power with the promise they made to the German elites at the time that they would stamp out Communism and Socialism in Germany which were popular among the people at the time. This is why most of the wealthiest capitalists in Germany supported the Nazis. Once they came to power, Hitler and his party banned Worker Unions and privatised many previously public corporations that existed in Weimar Germany. In fact, the very term “privatisation” was taken from the Nazi economic policy of “Privatisierung”.

    In conclusion, not only was Hitler NOT a socialist, he was a fascist, which is an extreme form of state enforced enforced authoritarian capitalism which sees the State collaborating with private enterprise and suppressing worker movements.

Sri Lanka’s ousted utilities regulatory chief convinced he’ll be president

ECONOMYNEXT — Sri Lanka’s former public utilities regulatory chief Janaka Ratnayake, who was removed in May following a parliamentary vote, has confirmed that he intends to run for president.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday December 11 in the wake of an hours-long island-wide power outage the previous evening, Ratanayake said he will be the definite winner at a future presidential poll.

“I announced [my intention to run] officially on December 07, my birthday. I’m definitely coming as a presidential candidate. That’s not all, I’m the definite president at a future presidential election,” he said.

Ratnayake, in his first media appearance in months, was responding to questions about newspaper advertisements published on December 07 announcing his future candidacy.

Sri Lanka’s parliament on May 24 opted to remove the former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), with 123 members voting in favour. This marked the first time a head of an independent government commission was sacked by Sri Lanka’s parliament.

Power & Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara, who had been at loggerheads with the regulatory chief, said at the time that the official had acted obstinately without the concurrence of fellow commission members.

The minister levelled five charges against Ratnayake, the first twoof  which were based on a February 10 verdict by the Court of Appeal rejecting an application filed by the offiical against an electricity tariff hike. Opposition legislators slammed the decision saying it undermined independent commissions.

Ratnayake’s presidential ambitions have been known for some time. A day before parliament voted to remove him, he told reporters: “If I can change the country, I will definitely join politics, because my intention is to serve the people and what is right.”

Ratnayake had blocked delayed a tariff hike in early 2023, resulting in losses to the state-run Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), Minister Wijesekara claimed at the time. The PUCSL had als onot enabled tariff hikes for nine years, requiring its governing law to be changed, Wijesekera said.

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Sri Lanka wants university research to lead to commercially viable products

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s ministry of industries wants to ensure commercially-ready products and services are produced by university research, by facilitating partnerships with factories and entrepreneurs.

After a currency crisis, Sri Lanka’s government is in a drive to boost its trade balance by increasing exports.

“Our export basket hasn’t changed recently, partly because our small and medium entrepreneurs don’t have sufficient research and development facilities (like the multinationals) to innovate their products for the export market,” Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Industries, Chaminda Pathiraja said.

“At the same time, state universities and research institutes produce a large amount of research findings yearly, which end up sitting in those institutions; they don’t reach the industry,” Pathiraja said at a press briefing to announce a program on commercialization of new products and research, to be held tomorrow at the Waters Edge.

The networking forum will bring innovators and manufacturers together to focus on the commercialization of research for the value added tea, coir, spice, dairy products, gem and jewellery and packaging products industries.

“We want to encourage collaboration, through programs like our University Business League etc, so that the research output can be commercialized, and what is produced by our factories can increase in quantity and quality. We must focus on the export market.”

The objective of this program, he said, was to reduce the gap in acquiring innovators’ ideas and skills by the investors, and ultimately boost the manufacturing sector’s efficiency in alignment with the export market.
(Colombo/Dec11/2023)

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Sri Lanka rupee opens at 327.00/50 to the US dollar

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s rupee opened at 327.00/50 to the US dollar on Monday, from 327.00/30 Friday, dealers said.

On the Colombo Stock Exchange, both indices opened up: The All Share Price Index 0.28 percent at 10,823, and the S&P SL20 0.35 percent at 3,113.85.

Bond yields were up.

A bond maturing on 01.08.2026 was quoted at 14.05/20 percent from 14.05/15 percent.

A bond maturing on 15.01.2027 was quoted at 14.05/20 percent from 14.10/25 percent.

A bond maturing on 01.07.2028 was quoted at 14.20/50 percent from 14.20/35 percent.
(Colombo/Dec11/2023)

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