Many social democrats and labor leaders also subscribed to the orthodox economic doctrines of the time, even if they bridled at cutting benefits to the working class. These parties claimed that forceful governmental action could bring order out of economic chaos. Fascism, as a force for hope and change, seemed on the march all over Europe. There has been no great crash. There is no great crisis, only the slow but unrelenting rise of unemployment and insecurity.
Unemployment is less than half the levels of the Great Depression.
GNP's continue to grow, however slowly. A vast welfare state created in reaction to the experience of the 1930s buffers the impact of unemployment even while long-term unemployment saps the viability of the welfare state. Nationalism and revanchism, catalysts for political extremism in the 1930s, no longer prevail. Nor is communism a strong political force capable of mobilizing large numbers of people and polarizing society between left and right. They support a sound currency and fixed exchanges, which in practice means following the policies of the Bundesbank as the de facto federal reserve bank of Europe.