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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill Grant who wrote (9266)	4/3/1998 5:42:00 PM
From: marcos	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 116762

Nein, Wilhelm. The fall of the Reichsmark occurred much earlier, it began to slide in '21, to 75 to the dollar, a year later 400, and by the beginning of '23 to 7000. In the fall of '22 Weimar asked the Allies for a moratorium on 'reparation' payments, but the Poincar‚ government bluntly refused. When Germany defaulted in deliveries of timber in January of '23, Poincar‚ ordered French troops to occupy the Ruhr. By July the Reichsmark was at 160,000 to the dollar, by August a million, by November 1923 - four billion to the dollar. Utterly worthless. The gold had been stolen long before before by the French - five billion gold marks 1919-21. So that's where they got some of theirs, I guess. Yes, there was a short sharp worldwide depression in '21, and there was protectionism that amounted to a boycott against German goods, and yes, Hitler used whatever rhetoric came to hand, but the role of the French vindictiveness should not be forgotten. The Marshall plan worked better, it was much like what Lloyd George would have done if he'd had the political capital at Versailles. Anyway - the fall of the Reichsmark is not a good example of a currency failing for lack of hard reserves (though that is also true). There is just much much more to the story. And most of it had happened well in advance of 1932. Hitler & Co just rode the wave, and the wave was Made In France. .......... bis bald .............. markos