RM: I can see strong parallels between what happened in Germany post World War I, the Weimar Republic, and what's happening in America today. That might seem a big leap, but if you know your history, you know that Germany entered World War I as one of the richest and most powerful nations in the world. It did a lot of damage in Europe but it lost the war. The Allied nations that fought Germany said, "Look, you have to pay for it, compensate us for all this damage. We're going to take the few working factories you have left and you're going to owe us this big debt."

Post World War I, the U.S. was the largest creditor to Europe and to Germany, lending for the reconstruction of the continent. At one point Washington said, "We're not going to lend you any more money." Germany had huge debts to repay, but no tax base. Industries had not survived. Most areas of employment had been reduced to rubble. The German government responded by printing money.

Is this really accurate? I thought most of the fighting in WWI was in France and Belgium? Mass aerial bombing was a feature of WWII, not WWI, so how did their industrial base get destroyed?

ebear