After doing further research, I found out that Germany had just recently finished paying back the US in 2010. The initial sum that Germany owed to the Allied forces was 226 billion Reichmarks, but was later reduced to only 132 billion. In today's standards, that 132 billion Reichmarks is the equivalent of 35 billion USD. The Dawes and Young Plan helped Germany with this debt by giving Germany loans to pay back over time (with interest) rather than needing to pay the debts all at once or in larger amounts, which its economy could not handle.
It is incredible that Germany actually paid back this debt considering the fact that this war finished nearly 100 years ago. This information is especially interesting to me because I find find that it is extremely relevant to the state of our country and society today. How many generations of Americans will be paying for the wars that were fought and continue to be fought in the Middle East? Will Americans one-hundred years from now be burdened by our mistakes? Will they honor the debts as the Germans have?
Source:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315869/Germany-end-World-War-One-reparations-92-years-59m-final-payment.html
Mr. Stewart's Powerpoint
According to the Washington Post, America's wars with Iraq and Afghanistan will cost American taxpayers over $4 trillion (accounting for veteran welfare and other military-related costs). So far, America has spent more than $2 trillion on the war, with the extra expense coming in future decades as veteran disability payments and benefits begin to add up.
ReplyDeleteI don't know for sure how long Americans will be paying for the Middle East war, but according to the Associated Press, the government is still paying two relatives of Civil War veterans 150 years after the conflict. So who knows? In a century, Americans might still be paying for our mistakes.
Here are the resources I used:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/u-still-making-payments-relatives-civil-war-veterans-014627748.html
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/u-still-making-payments-relatives-civil-war-veterans-014627748.html
With regard to World War II, the price we had to was around 296 billion U.S. that placed against current values coincidentally is worth 4 trillion dollars, very similar to the Wars with the Middle-Eastern countries. However if you totaled all of the debts from all major participants in the War the sum would be a bit under 2 trillion dollars back then. It was a miracle that this war didn't cause a collapse in the economic structure. The ratio of debt to GDP rose enormously in the span of two years, almost double, displayed by the graph in the URL below: (if this doesn't work inform me please). For the next thirty years the ratio decreases to about a forth of the value in 1945. So its safe to assume that there is a possibility that we may be able to pay off this debt within our live time. That being said at the rate America is going, the light isn't that bright.
ReplyDeletehttp://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/debt-and-gdp-05.png?w=1024&h=603
Great Post! Regarding your questions about future debt and future Americans, I do not believe that the debt will be a burden for the people of the future. Yes, it will be a problem, but our debt continues to grow massively everyday and American citizens seem to care less and less as time goes by and it looks more and more irreversible. I believe that 100 years in the future, the debt will just be a part of our society that people accept, but aren't worried by.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this! The in-class discussion was very interesting but also left me a bit confused. I also think it's important to take note of how Germany sort of 'shot themselves in the foot' to pay the reparations. When you calculated today's value of 132 billion Reichsmarks, did you look at the value of a Reichsmark before or after Germany's period of hyperinflation? Because, from what I could find, by the end of the hyperinflation, $1USD was worth 4,210,500,000,000 Reichsmarks.
ReplyDeleteYou can skim over more about the Weimer Republic in this free book: http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=wdWEGRjlqX0C&oi=fnd&pg=PP8&dq=weimar+republic+hyperinflation&ots=aIGkOhPg9c&sig=xv72YULJJNkhDrmmEVLeRto9NtQ#v=onepage&q=weimar%20republic%20hyperinflation&f=false