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The German Hyperinflation, 1923 [90 Years Later, America Repeats History]
"The Commanding Heights", via PBS ^

Posted on 09/18/2013 12:04:29 PM PDT by SoFloFreeper

Before World War I Germany was a prosperous country, with a gold-backed currency, expanding industry, and world leadership in optics, chemicals, and machinery. The German Mark, the British shilling, the French franc, and the Italian lira all had about equal value, and all were exchanged four or five to the dollar. That was in 1914. In 1923, at the most fevered moment of the German hyperinflation, the exchange rate between the dollar and the Mark was one trillion Marks to one dollar, and a wheelbarrow full of money would not even buy a newspaper. Most Germans were taken by surprise by the financial tornado...

Ordinary citizens worked at their jobs, sent their children to school and worried about their grades, maneuvered for promotions and rejoiced when they got them, and generally expected things to get better. But the prices that had doubled from 1914 to 1919 doubled again during just five months in 1922. Milk went from 7 Marks per liter to 16; beer from 5.6 to 18. There were complaints about the high cost of living. Professors and civil servants complained of getting squeezed. Factory workers pressed for wage increases. An underground economy developed, aided by a desire to beat the tax collector...

So the printing presses ran, and once they began to run, they were hard to stop. The price increases began to be dizzying. Menus in cafes could not be revised quickly enough. A student at Freiburg University ordered a cup of coffee at a cafe. The price on the menu was 5,000 Marks. He had two cups. When the bill came, it was for 14,000 Marks. "If you want to save money," he was told, "and you want two cups of coffee, you should order them both at the same time."

(Excerpt) Read more at pbs.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: communists; danger; democrats; inflation; jobs; obama; obamao
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The entire book and tv series "The Commanding Heights" is worth reading or watching...it shows how central planners are not friends of the economy.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/

1 posted on 09/18/2013 12:04:29 PM PDT by SoFloFreeper
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To: SoFloFreeper; Wyatt's Torch

The U.S. has hyperinflation just like 1923 Germany?


2 posted on 09/18/2013 12:08:32 PM PDT by expat_panama
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To: expat_panama

The U.S. has hyperinflation just like 1923 Germany?

Not even close. US commands the reserve currency, and unless something else comes along to replace it, a scenario such as post WWI Germany won’t happen here.

The dynamics just aren’t there for hyperinflation and won’t be for some time.


3 posted on 09/18/2013 12:11:26 PM PDT by WILLIALAL
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To: expat_panama
Just give it time, as some will say.

Meltzer has been saying that for a while. And he isn't selling gold!

4 posted on 09/18/2013 12:12:49 PM PDT by Theoria
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To: SoFloFreeper

I remember as a kid revving up the old Victrola , tossing on a 78rpm slab of music and crank away..

HaPPY Days Are Here Again..

NO more slave and stash away

HaPPy Days are here agaaaain!!


Side note,, Coast Guard hell just flew by.. Ohh Baby! If I could fly!!!


5 posted on 09/18/2013 12:13:40 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: NormsRevenge

Heli :-) (auto complete sucks on my android)


6 posted on 09/18/2013 12:14:56 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: SoFloFreeper

Germany finally put a brake on hyperinflation by an infusion of foreign capital under the Dawes plan. We could do the same by getting gold from...from...OK, I’m working on it...


7 posted on 09/18/2013 12:15:23 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: expat_panama

Not now, but it is coming.


8 posted on 09/18/2013 12:15:51 PM PDT by sport
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To: expat_panama

The clock is ticking...the dollar is tanking...my point is, this will end poorly.


9 posted on 09/18/2013 12:17:02 PM PDT by SoFloFreeper
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To: WILLIALAL

Don’t get too complacent about the dollar being the reserve currency.


10 posted on 09/18/2013 12:20:15 PM PDT by Rusty0604
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To: expat_panama

I noticed that right away, also. I hate it when that word is misused.


11 posted on 09/18/2013 12:22:50 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Billthedrill
Germany finally put a brake on hyperinflation by an infusion of foreign capital under the Dawes plan. We could do the same by getting gold from...from...OK, I’m working on it...

If I remember my history, the 20s didn't end well for Germany, the 30s and 40s even worse.

12 posted on 09/18/2013 12:24:00 PM PDT by RedStateGuyTrappedinCT
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To: RedStateGuyTrappedinCT

The US dollar will soon no longer be the reserve currency.


13 posted on 09/18/2013 12:31:04 PM PDT by TheConservator ("I spent my life trying not to be careless. Women and children can be careless, but not men.")
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To: SoFloFreeper

I think it is much more likely that we will experience deflation. The Government is pumping money into the system which is keeping prices artificially high.


14 posted on 09/18/2013 12:43:23 PM PDT by thejokker
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To: SoFloFreeper
Since the late 1950's - early 1960's the dollar has lost about 90% of its purchasing power.

A new Chevrolet or Ford that was $2,000 to $3,000 is now $25,000 to $30,000.

A loaf of bread that was 18¢ is now $1.50 to $2.00.

A package of cigarettes that was 25¢ to 30¢ is now $5.00.

A 5¢ candy bar is now at least 50¢ and it has shrunk to about 2/3 of its original size.

Regular gasoline that was around 25¢ to 30¢ a gallon is now $3.50 to $4.00.

15 posted on 09/18/2013 12:43:51 PM PDT by Iron Munro (When a killer screams 'Allahu Akbar' you donÂ’t need to be mystified about a motive.)
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To: Iron Munro

And wages that used to be $1.50 an hour are now $15.00 an hour.


16 posted on 09/18/2013 12:55:04 PM PDT by canuck_conservative
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To: canuck_conservative

And $10,000 in retirement savings from back then has shrunk by 90% in living expenses purchasing power.

People who have jobs can survive that sort of inflation, but sooner or later (certainly within 50 years), one no longer is earning wages but trying to live on what one scrimped to save.

Inflation wipes out savings. Wages is only half the picture.


17 posted on 09/18/2013 1:03:06 PM PDT by Houghton M.
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To: NormsRevenge

“Everybody shout it now/there’s no one who can doubt it now/let us sing a song of cheer again/happy days are here again. Yeah, right.


18 posted on 09/18/2013 1:04:04 PM PDT by jmacusa (Political correctness is cultural Marxism. I'm not a Marxist.)
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To: canuck_conservative

“And wages that used to be $1.50 an hour are now $15.00 an hour.”

What about those that retired and only made $1.50 having to live in a $15.00 world? You’ll be there.


19 posted on 09/18/2013 1:09:31 PM PDT by CodeToad (Liberals are bloodsucking ticks. We need to light the matchstick to burn them off. -786 +969)
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To: canuck_conservative
And wages that used to be $1.50 an hour are now $15.00 an hour.

That makes the point that the dollar is only worth 10% of what is was back then, doesn't it?

You now need to be paid roughly 10 times as much money to buy the same products.
So we handle ten times as much paper but basically live at the same level.

So at that rate of inflation, even without hyperinflation, we can project that a new car will cost about $250,000 in 2050.

A gallon of gas will be $35 - $40.
A loaf of bread will be $15 to $20.
A one day admission to Disney World will be about $1,000.
A package of cigarettes will be $50 - a full carton will be $500.

But the minimum wage will be at least $75 an hour and most people will demand $150 an hour or more.


20 posted on 09/18/2013 1:12:14 PM PDT by Iron Munro (When a killer screams 'Allahu Akbar' you donÂ’t need to be mystified about a motive.)
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