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I would assume other countries still owe the US money for the munitions we gave them during WW2 - Great Britain, France, Australia, Canada, etc...
I could be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure that debt-forgiveness was a big part of rebuilding Western Europe after the war. Especially Germany, who had been fiscally sunken by the Allied Powers with war debts following WWI.
Actually Findland and Germany were the only countries from what I could find that fully paid back their WWII debt or reparations. Germany also paid down their WWI reparations. Quite amazing since they were absolutely bankrupted, destroyed, defeated and had their industry hauled away after WWII in an attempt to turn them into an agrarian society.
The other countries were all on payment plans, and I belive Canada and Britain have fully paid within the past few years. Otherwise though, Carter forgave much of the debt back in the 1970s'.
Much of the world contracted their supplies (obviously not Germany or Japan - although they did after the war was over) from USA companies, so in the end the USA absolutely cleaned up due to WWII. We might not have gotten all of that debt repaid, but the economic advantages and levels of production on the homefront were far and above any unpaid debts.
WWII is a main reason we can thank for the lives we live today. At the end of that war we were left standing as the top superpower (shared with USSR, but that was mostly due to military threat). We had 25% of all industrial production in the world, had our cities left in-tact, had an educated workforce. Our factories, mines and production went into hyperdrive from 1940 through the 1960's or so when everyone else finally caught back up and rebuilt.
From 1940 to 1950, our GDP went up by almost 300%. Yes, TRIPLED. The unemployment rate went from 14.6% to 1.9%.
The Marshall Plan and the money we gave to Japan not only helped use $15 billion to rebuild their economies, but we positioned ourselves to be the main supplier to their new economies. We weren't just rebuilding their countries, we were setting them all up to be dependant on US goods and services. The USA stood in the late 1940's and early 1950's in an unprecidented level of wealth and opportunity in relation to the rest of the world. We had fully secured ourselves for the next 25 years. The US dollar was the top dog, our industry was the top dog, our politics influenced everyone. The war was about Hitler, Japan, destruction and death until 1945, but after that date WWII's huge worldwide impact was about the USA taking control.
Last edited by Chicago60614; 12-28-2011 at 03:19 PM..
I surely wont be paying it, right after highschool, which is in just 2 years i'll be shipping out to Australia. I sick of the states, but Australia is just beautiful and an awesome place to grow as a person and set up shop for years to come.
Just a reminder to keep US national politics out of this thread. This is not the right forum to discuss which political party is right and which party is wrong. Mentioning names of political figures is off limits here, too. But you can do that all you like in City-Data's Politics and Other Controversies forum.
ok i was in my world history class and somehow the class was talking about the country's economy but anyway my teacher said that we were in dept from the bad economy years ago or something can someone please explain this and is it true. if it is i think its messed up that i will be paying a dept that i had nothing to do with
The baby boomers pretty much screwed America over.
ok i was in my world history class and somehow the class was talking about the country's economy but anyway my teacher said that we were in dept from the bad economy years ago or something can someone please explain this and is it true. if it is i think its messed up that i will be paying a dept that i had nothing to do with
...you are absolutely correct: However, there is a way out for you. Kick the debt down the road and pass it on to your kids!!!
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Kiddo....
