marginmike.
Re: post-WWI, Great Britain emerged in relatively good shape compared to Russia, France, Germany, Austia-Hungary, Poland, the Baltic Nations, etc. Only the U.S. and Japan emerged in better financial shape.
Re: Great Britain's financial position after the end of WWI, I quote from Quigley:
"Britain's ... position as the world's greatest creditor was lost to the United States, and a large quantity of good foreign credits was replaced by a smaller amount of poorer risks. In addition, she became a debtor to the United States to the amount of over $4 billion. The change in the positions of the two countries can be summarized briefly. The war changed the position of the United States in respect to the rest of the world from that of a debtor owning about $3 billion to that of a creditor owed $4 billion. This does not include intergovernmental debts of about $10 billion owed to the United States as a result of the war. At the same time, Britain's position changed from a creditor owed about $18 billion to a creditor owed about $13.5 billion. In addition, Britain was owed about $8 billion in war debts from her Allies and an unknown sum in reparations from Germany, and owed to the United States war debts of well over $4 billion."
So actually, America is NOT in a far superior financial condition to Great Britain after WWI. Quite the contrary, Great Britain was still the world's largest creditor nation immediately following WWI (at least on paper). While the U.S. today is by far the world's largest debtor nation.
And I would argue that Debt-to-GDP is not the main thing. Much more important is total credit relative to GDP, and in this respect the U.S.'s position is very comparable to 1929, with the exception that it is, again, now the world's largest debtor nation.
If you have any numbers to the contrary, I would be most interested to see.
Regards,
Glenn |
