The Anglo-Saxon Social Model - The Expanded Universe

[Rattigan]

Gross domestic product ("GDP") is an aggregate measure of production equal to the sum of the gross values added of all resident and institutional units engaged in production and services. The central banks of most nation states retain their own measures of GDP in the local currency but what is regarded as the definitive listing is retained by the International Clearing Union ("ICU"). The ICU denominates GDP in bancors, meaning that it takes into account different living standards between nations while also allowing for comparison of national economies on the international market.

Where a group of countries share a bancor balance-of-trade account, the ICU calculates their GDP together as one unit. The most famous example is the Commonwealth, which is given one GDP calculation, despite it being a political and economic union of 18 member states. For the same reason, a single GDP calculation is also given for the Lusophone Economic Area, which is a currency and economic union of the otherwise-independent republics of Portugal, Goa, East Timor and Macau. The same was also true for the French Union in the years of its existence (1946-2008).

As of the end of the second quarter of 2020, there are 28 countries that the ICU lists as having a GDP of over 1 trillion bancors. The countries in this grouping are periodically referred to in the press as the "One Trillion Club" and are, in most cases, the most economically significant countries in the world. All members of the G20 and the G3 are drawn from the countries on this list.

The entry on this list for the Sovereign Wealth Fund of the United Kingdom is not calculated by the ICU and is not given on their official lists. It is instead an estimate of that organisation's total assets under management, rather than a GDP calculation, and is included for reference.

 

[Ogrebear]

I looked down that list expecting to find the EU which of course it not a thing at all ITTL.

Interesting the that rump Turkey makes it onto this list but not any of the German states at all.

 

[Rattigan]

Hesse, officially the Grand Duchy of Hesse, is a landlocked country situated in central Europe, bordered to the northeast by Hanover, the west and northwest by the Rhineland, the east by the Commonwealth of Independent States, the southwest by Baden-Wurttemberg and the southeast by Bavaria. With just over 6 million inhabitants, Hesse is the least populous Germanic country. It has an ethnically homogenous population but is more linguistically diverse, with Hessian and German spoken interchangeably by most inhabitants. The capital city is Darmstadt, while the historic city of Frankfurt is the largest population centre. Hesse is also the only remaining independent country to be a Grand Duchy.

The area of Hesse has been inhabited by Germanic tribes since at least Classical Antiquity and was only briefly brought within the territory of the Roman Empire. By the 7th century, it had been brought into the Frankish Empire. It was later absorbed into Thuringia before gaining independence as a Landgraviate within the Holy Roman Empire in 1264. In the subsequent centuries, the territory that is now Hesse was controlled, on the one hand, by the Grand Duchy of Hesse and, on the other, by Prussia. The Grand Duchy was absorbed into the Prussia-dominated German Empire in 1871 and was a member of the empire until its disestablishment in 1945.

Hesse came under the American occupation sphere and was delineated as “Greater Hessen” before being reestablished as the Grand Duchy in October 1947. By this time, it corresponded only loosely to the pre-war Grand Duchy, also comprising the territories of the Duchy of Nassau, the Free City of Frankfurt and the Electorate of Hesse-Cassel. Historically, this region had been home to significant industries (especially the chemical and pharmaceutical industries) and finance, particularly in Frankfurt, but the vast majority of these were removed and/or sold off by the Allied occupiers pursuant to the Roosevelt Plan.

Following the end of the occupation in 1947, there was a general undertaking to provide for democratic elections but these hopes would be unfulfilled. The only democratic chancellor, Ludwig Bergsträsser, was ousted in 1948, replaced by Philipp von Hesse (future Grand Duke Philipp I). Subsequent reforms of the electoral system has reduced the franchise to an estimated 2.5% of the population and most political power in the country is held jointly by the upper house Herrenhaus (composed of large landowners) and the Grand Duke.

In 2020, an estimated 25% of the Hessian population work in the agricultural economy. Other industries in the country include tourism, education and finance, with the latter two being centred in Frankfurt. In recent years, several secondary industries have returned to the country, although the majority are foreign owned. The country operates a relatively generous welfare state but is also known for its inequality, with the vast majority of its social, political and economic power being monopolised by a relatively small clique of landowning families.

 

[Johnharry]

India, Soviet Union, China, Brazil Ethiopia and Vietnam seems more wealthy than OTL?

The world economy overall better?

 

[Rattigan]

I looked down that list expecting to find the EU which of course it not a thing at all ITTL.

Interesting the that rump Turkey makes it onto this list but not any of the German states at all.

I wouldn't say that what's left of Turkey TTL is a rump necessarily - it's still a reasonably large country population-wise. As for the German states, they're either too poor or have too small a population to make much of an impact on this list, which isn't to say that some of them aren't doing alright for themselves.

India, Soviet Union, China, Brazil Ethiopia and Vietnam seems more wealthy than OTL?

The world economy overall better?

India, China, Soviet Union - meh, maybe at the margins but I wouldn't say the standard of living is actually all that different from OTL. China has a much more steady growth pattern post-1945 but is still streaks behind the Commonwealth and the Americans in terms of living standards, even if you might not be able to tell that if you only hang out in Nanjing or Shanghai (so, in that sense, not all that different from OTL). The Soviet Union is trundling along with kind of the same problems it had OTL but TTL it's not quite enough to bring it down entirely. The stress of keeping the CIS down is causing strain but not to the same extent as Afghanistan OTL. India, well, there has been growth but the economy remains very much in its "licence Raj" period, without global economic rules to push them into becoming an export economy.

Places like Brazil, Ethiopia and Vietnam (well, the bit in Cochinchina, at least, not necessarily the part in Indochina) are definitely doing better. They took advantage of the Lismore economic system (explained in general here but I might do a more detailed post here some time soon) to expand their domestic industries and move away from export-based economies, while also benefitting from a less polarised geopolitical atmosphere post-1945.

As for whether the economy is doing better overall, that depends on where you're standing: in the Rhineland, no; in Ethiopia, yes...

 

[HIM Dogson]

What's the general opinion of what was done to Germany after WWII? In my eyes, especially in light of this German regime being not as evil as the Nazis, it seems pretty monstrous.

 

[Johnharry]

I wouldn't say that what's left of Turkey TTL is a rump necessarily - it's still a reasonably large country population-wise. As for the German states, they're either too poor or have too small a population to make much of an impact on this list, which isn't to say that some of them aren't doing alright for themselves.



India, China, Soviet Union - meh, maybe at the margins but I wouldn't say the standard of living is actually all that different from OTL. China has a much more steady growth pattern post-1945 but is still streaks behind the Commonwealth and the Americans in terms of living standards, even if you might not be able to tell that if you only hang out in Nanjing or Shanghai (so, in that sense, not all that different from OTL). The Soviet Union is trundling along with kind of the same problems it had OTL but TTL it's not quite enough to bring it down entirely. The stress of keeping the CIS down is causing strain but not to the same extent as Afghanistan OTL. India, well, there has been growth but the economy remains very much in its "licence Raj" period, without global economic rules to push them into becoming an export economy.

Places like Brazil, Ethiopia and Vietnam (well, the bit in Cochinchina, at least, not necessarily the part in Indochina) are definitely doing better. They took advantage of the Lismore economic system (explained in general here but I might do a more detailed post here some time soon) to expand their domestic industries and move away from export-based economies, while also benefitting from a less polarised geopolitical atmosphere post-1945.

As for whether the economy is doing better overall, that depends on where you're standing: in the Rhineland, no; in Ethiopia, yes...

Iran Greece and Burma also seem better

What’s the difference between bancor and dollar?

 

[Rattigan]

What's the general opinion of what was done to Germany after WWII? In my eyes, especially in light of this German regime being not as evil as the Nazis, it seems pretty monstrous.

Yeah, it's considered pretty bad. Roosevelt's memory in particular is very ambiguous. The key change really is that, having fought in the Great War from Day One, the Americans had a much more vengeful attitude towards the Germans TTL. I'm going to be doing a mini series on the Germanies over the next couple of weeks and so you'll see that the Roosevelt Plan was actually enforced really unevenly, with Bavaria, Hanover and Austria kind of getting away with it, which both makes what happened more unfair to those who got it really hard and more palatable for other countries.

Iran Greece and Burma also seem better

What’s the difference between bancor and dollar?

For the purposes of understanding what each of those figures means, I purposely made it so that a TTL bancor is roughly the same as an OTL international $. That's just for convenience sake (and so I can keep control of my sanity while putting the figures together) and TTL the exchange rate with the US$ does vary.

The bancor TTL is basically an idea that Keynes had OTL: it's an international unit of exchange that is used to track international assets and liabilities. (You can't get hold of a 10 bancor note or whatever - it's not like a currency in that sense.) All international trade is conducted in bancors and international currencies have fixed exchange rates against the bancor (although some smaller currencies are pegged to other countries' currencies, usually the £ or $). Keynes' original idea was that this would be a way to further governmental control over international capital flows: bancor credits and debits are added or deducted at by the International Clearing Union and countries with surplus bancor assets and those with deficit bancor liabilities would be charged to provide symmetrical incentives on them to take action to restore their balance of trade. (This is also the reason why a bunch of OTL developing countries have developed much more dynamic internal economies TTL.)

For the purposes of these GDP calculations, the fact that the ICU is keeping account of international trade in bancors allows them to track growth or reduction in GDP, for obvious reasons.

 

[Rattigan]

 

[Rattigan]

Baden-Württemberg, officially the Republic of Baden-Württemberg, is a landlocked country in central Europe. It is bordered by France to the west, Switzerland to the south, Bavaria to the east, Hesse to the north and the Rhineland to the northwest. Due to its central location on the continent, it is sometimes referred to as Das Herz Europas (“the heart of Europe”). Baden-Württemberg occupies an area of 35,752 km2 (13,803.72 sq mi) and has a population of just over 7 million people. The ICU lists Baden-Württemberg’s GDP at the end of the second quarter of 2020 as being 101.1 billion bancors, making it the sixth smallest economy in Europe. German is the country’s official language and the language of commerce and government but many Baden-Württembergers communicate in Swabian.

The current territory of Baden-Württemberg was formed by the amalgamation of numerous different historical states. In AD 100, the Roman Empire invaded and occupied Württemberg, constructing a limes along its northern borders. The Romans progressively withdrew from the territory in the third century and it came to be dominated by the Alemanni and, after 496, the Franks. When the Holy Roman Empire was later established, Baden-Württemberg formed a part of it, with Catholicism being the majority religion. During this time, the territory was divided between the historical territories of Baden, Prussian Hohenzollern and Württemberg.

Baden-Württemberg formed part of the German Empire from its establishment in 1871, divided between the Grand Duchy of Baden, the Kingdom of Württemberg and the Prussian Province of Hohenzollern. Following the World War, Baden-Württemberg was divided between the French and American occupation zones before being amalgamated into the present state in May 1949. The state was subjected to the Roosevelt Plan, which de-industrialised the country and was a cause of political instability over the course of the 1950s, as the country struggled to recover from the World War.

In the decades since, the country has been marked by violent conflicts. The immediate postwar period was dominated by the centre-right National Union, led by Ludwig Erhard. However, internal dissent began to increase over the 1950s and reached a peak after the National Union won a disputed election in 1964, when many international observers noted voting irregularities which were blamed on French-backed forces. Erhard was overthrown in 1966 in a coup by Italian-backed revolutionaries, who formed a government under Kurt Gscheidle that attempted to modernise and re-industrialise the country. However, international concern about Gscheidle’s pan-germanist ideas resulted in him being overthrown in January 1971.

A military government was formed under Traugott Bender, who attempted to encourage foreign businesses to relocate to the country by cutting regulations. Following Bender’s assassination by the far-left radical Joschka Fisher in 1979, the military transitioned to civilian rule under international pressure. Kurt Gscheidle won the subsequent elections in 1980, leading to the first peaceful transfer of power in the country’s history. Gscheidle’s second period of rule was marred by increasing internal repression and he was ousted in a French-backed coup in 1985, with that military government being overthrown in turn less than a year later.

Erwin Teufel has been president since the overthrow of the second military government in 1986, with multi-party politics banned between then and 1996. That year, Teufel won the first contested election of his presidency, beating out three other candidates. However, that election and subsequent ones (in 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016) were marred by controversy as the government has been accused of intimidating opponents through politically-motivated investigations and arrests. Recent indicators of a plan to hand over the presidency to Teufel’s nephew, Stefan, have also increased tensions.

Historically, Baden-Württemberg was home to a number of large industrial concerns, especially in the automobile (Daimler and Porsche) and engineering (Heidelberger) industries. However, these industries were badly hit by the Roosevelt Plan, with the vast majority no longer trading. Now, the majority of Baden-Württemberg’s population makes their living from agriculture and tourism, with the country hosting four UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the Black Forest and spas in the town of Baden-Baden and elsewhere. Agricultural exports have helped the country expand economically, while outsourcing has seen some French and Italian companies set up factories and offices in the country. Baden-Württemberg is classified as a developing country by the UN. It is a member of the United Nations, the International Clearing Union, the World Bank Group and was a founding member of NATO.

 

[Rattigan]

 

[Marmeladenbrot]

Zeiss never had meaningful factories in BaWü before 1947 in our timeline. Or did the Wallies transfer the company like IOTL?

And Bosch isn't a car manufacturer. They produce machines and are historically based in the Electronic-Branch, like Siemens for example.

Shouldn't be to harsh, keep up the good work!

 

[Rattigan]

Zeiss never had meaningful factories in BaWü before 1947 in our timeline. Or did the Wallies transfer the company like IOTL?

And Bosch isn't a car manufacturer. They produce machines and are historically based in the Electronic-Branch, like Siemens for example.

Shouldn't be to harsh, keep up the good work!

The risks of googling "Companies based in Baden-Wurttemberg" and then just looking up the founding dates, I'm afraid...

 

[HIM Dogson]

I mean seriously, TTL half of Germany replaced aristocratic rule with a dictatorship of commoners either left or right. It's just a sick joke.

 

[Ogrebear]

Baden-Württemberg sounds like the sort of unstable place lots of James Bond style spy thrillers will be set in...

 

[sarahz]

Zeiss never had meaningful factories in BaWü before 1947 in our timeline. Or did the Wallies transfer the company like IOTL?

And Bosch isn't a car manufacturer. They produce machines and are historically based in the Electronic-Branch, like Siemens for example.

Shouldn't be to harsh, keep up the good work!

Gosh the Roosevelt Plan has been a total disaster.....

 

[Rattigan]

Gosh the Roosevelt Plan has been a total disaster.....

Depends on your point of view: how many global conflicts has Germany caused since 1945 eh?

More seriously, in the next couple of weeks I'll be completing the series on German countries, showing the ones (Hanover, Austria, Bavaria) who came out of it better...

 

[Rattigan]

Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is an American retired soccer player and current co-owner of the Charlotte RailHawks in the American Soccer League (ASL). He played 15 seasons in the ASL, thirteen of which came in two spells with the Chicago Sting, with whom he won six ASL Championships. In addition, he was a prominent member of the US national team in the 1980s and ‘90s, which was dubbed the Dream Team. He won the 1994 World Cup and, later that year, became the first player to win the Ballon d’Or while not playing European club soccer. He was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2009, where his biography states: “Michael Jordan is, by acclamation, America’s greatest ever player and one of the greatest of any nation.” In addition, he is considered instrumental in returning the sport to popularity in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s.

After excelling in High School soccer (including scoring a hattrick in the 1981 McDonald's All-American Game), Jordan was approached by several college soccer programmes, eventually settling on the University of Carolina. He played three seasons for the Carolina Tar Heels, winning the 1981-82 NCAA Championship (scoring the winner against Georgetown in the final). He entered the ASL draft in 1984 and was a first-choice pick by the Chicago Sting.

Jordan’s first three seasons with the Sting proved unsuccessful for the team and he missed the majority of the 1986-87 season with a broken foot. However, on an individual level he excelled and he won the first of six consecutive Golden Boot Awards in the 1987-88 seasons. In the early 1990s, he developed a potent strike partnership with Scottie Pippen and the Sting won the first of three consecutive ASL Championships in the 1990-91 season. At the same time, Jordan had also established himself as the major creative and goalscoring force in the US national team as it developed into genuine championship contenders. He scored both goals in the 1994 World Cup final as the US defeated Yugoslavia 2-1 to capture their first world title.

However, disagreements with the management at the Sting and with his national teammates (notably the captain Alexei Lalas) led to Jordan suddenly announcing his retirement from all forms of soccer in the summer of 1994. He reversed his decision only a season later, playing some of his best soccer to help the Sting to a second trio of Championships in 1995-1998. He retired for a second time at the end of his sixth championship-winning season. He returned briefly for two injury-hit seasons as a player-manager with Bethlehem Steel in 2001-2003.

 

[Ogrebear]

Interesting change there.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

If Jordan goes to play soccer, does Larry Bird become a Hollywood star?