Picked up a book on global history this weekend for a gift. The title of the book is History the Definitive Visual Guide, From the Dawn of Civilization To the Present Day. While thumbing through it I happened on the page about the Great Depression. We all know about the subject so I won't bore you with re-gurgitation. I did come across a paragraph I was un-aware of. Hyperinflation In Germany As the Germans thought they would win the war and intended to force the losers to pay for their costs, they chose not to finance it through taxation. Instead, the government ordered the Reichbank, or central bank, to print more and more money to cover its ever-increasing war expenses. The reichsbank continued to print money until 1923, when the purchasing power of the money in circulation plummeted as the price of everything in Germany inflated rapidly (hyperinflation). At the peak of hyperinflation the exchange rate was one trillion Marks to the US Dollar. Paper money was worth so little that people burned it to heat their houses. In 1918 in Germany a loaf of bread cost 0.63 Marks. During the hyperinflation crisis the price rose to 201,000,000,000 Marks in November 1923.
from this example you could argue, those countries will the least amount of fiscal need, should have the strongest currencies. swiss franc is doing quite well..these days.
That is a very simple interpretation of the causes of the weimar hyperinflation after the postwar depression in Germany & largely incorrect. The ultimate cause was that the war reparations were more than the country could possibly pay & were intended to BK the country - which they did - and in doing so, allowed hitler to come to power and WWII to start. A gold standard at the time also severely hindered their ability to repay. In retrospect, probably a bad investment decision by the french, considering that it got them invaded and semi-conquered.
People that talk negatively about Hilter's Germany don't know what the fu*k they're talking about. The guy was a hero - the only thing bad about him was that he went too far with the mistreatment of the Jews. But he kicked Europe's ass and quite frankly they deserved it. After Germany lost WW1, all the european nations where intent on never allowing Germany to ever rise again. They wanted to the nation to be forever burdened with unpayable debt and forever face humiliation as a nation unable to get back on its feet. Hilter got his revenge, and WW2 ended a 10,000 years of unending war in Europe.
What utter nonsense. What ended all that war in Europe was MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction. Best comment I ever heard was by Ed Hart on FNN in the middle of the euphoria over the fall of the communists. He said, roughly quoting from memory, "This idea that peace is coming is fatuous. These people are going from hating Moscow to hating each other, just like they did before." The bloody breakup of Yugoslavia, which after all was where WWI started, proved him right. The only thing that kept them from tearing each other apart this time was US firepower, pure and simple.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V5OP-VmXgE&feature=related cycles created so that the vultures can feed.
You might study Zimbabwe, greatest inflation rate in the world now. Inflation rate about 1700 %. I read the average person in Zimbabwe can not buy basic necessities.
the lesson learned from WWI was dont sit on Germany economically again, so after WWII, the Marshall plan was used to get the place going again, we then sat on Germany militarily....
From time to time it´s a very good idea to recall German public about Marshall plan...there are so much out there not even knowing about this FACT...
Ok, first of all US is not a broken down state after the war. Second of all, Germany was not the biggest economy at the time. US debt is only 79% of yearly GDP. 13 tril is GDP while debt is around 9 trill. So the gov. can tax us and get rid of te debt, and it can if it wishes to . The international debt is only 3.5 trill so,the rest of the debt is still in the nation which is undoubtedly a good thing. There is practically no inflation in US, compared to the past years. Hence, this will not be the case as it was with Germany after WWI. ALthough the value of falling dollar will undisputedly affect the living standard of the nation. Especially the lowest class. :eek: