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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 27, 2025

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losing the thread

That makes two of us! ...for the American economy, ah. I suppose not. But it kept bonds valued well on their books, working out like deferred payments. The American banks both financed the loser's payments and forwarded loans to the victors on reparations payments. I don't have access to the full period of bond values then, but I suspect their balance sheets were held up quite well until the depression.

The German government's credit wasn't really impacted, surprisingly. Somehow everyone kept playing ball with them even after they chose to hyperinflate themselves. Germans who bought war bonds etc. in WWI were the most negatively impacted. Even more surprising to me, Germany was still able to access credit markets into the 30s, even after they started issuing fake money: Öffa then Mefo bills. Chase bank e.g. went through crazy hoops and even let Americans buy German war bonds during WWII (until 1941) (at a discount, buying subsidized returnee marks taken from Jews).

The German government's credit wasn't really impacted, surprisingly.

Well that seems counterintuitive, but the interwar years were a weird time to be sure.

ETA: despite perhaps losing the plot, I enjoyed this - econ is not my strong suit, which means it is good for me to be discussing it.