BTW, re: German hyperinflation. It was deliberate. When the French occupied the Ruhr valley in 1922 in order to force the Germans to pay reparations, the Germans in the factories went on strike rather than work for the French occupation forces. In order to provide for the strikers, the German government gave the German generals plates to print Reichsmarks and told them to print as much as was needed.
As soon as the French and the Germans negotiated an agreement whereby the French pulled out, the Germans introduced a new currency, as you posted, the Rentenmark, which halted the hyperinflation dead. They could have done that at any time.
The hyperinflation had the salutary effect of getting rid of a lot of debt. Of course, if you were a creditor, you did not like being wiped out. But remember, the Germans were in the process of getting rid of the nobility and so forth. Out with the old, in with the new.
Rothbard probably did not know this, which is one reason I approach him, and all economists, with caution. As Mark Twain said about scientists:
>>There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesome returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact - Mark Twain<<
I find the same to be true of economists. ;^)
BTW, I assume you ( or someone) scanned the segment you posted - can't imagine you actually typed "the middle clam." -g- |
