In 1928, Germany was experiencing a period of prosperity after recovering from WW1 and borrowing huge amounts of cash from the United States. Beneath this veneer, there was serious political turmoil as communists and fascists battled in the streets. Then the stock market crash of 1929 caused the U.S. to call in all of its loans and create an even greater economic depression in Germany, thereby destabilizing its government and paving the way to dictatorial rule.
Is the U.S. poised to repeat this experience? We too are experiencing a period of prosperity based on unsustainable borrowing from other countries, and also with an unprecedented level of political rancor and divisiveness.
What might happen if the world's economies all contracted and our public credit sources all dried up? Would our money be reduced to the value of wallpaper? Would our democratic institutions survive the ensuing public unrest?
Is this scenario completely improbable, or is it too horrible to contemplate?
Is the U.S. poised to repeat this experience? We too are experiencing a period of prosperity based on unsustainable borrowing from other countries, and also with an unprecedented level of political rancor and divisiveness.
What might happen if the world's economies all contracted and our public credit sources all dried up? Would our money be reduced to the value of wallpaper? Would our democratic institutions survive the ensuing public unrest?
Is this scenario completely improbable, or is it too horrible to contemplate?