When Money Dies [electronic resource]
Fergusson, Adam2010
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This is, I believe, a moral tale. It goes far to prove the revolutionary axiom that if you wish to destroy a nation you must corrupt its currency. Thus must sound money be the first bastion of a society's defence. In 1923, with its currency effectively worthless (the exchange rate in December of that year was one dollar to 4,200,000,000,000 marks), the Weimar Republic was all but reduced to a barter economy. Expensive cigars, artworks and jewels were routinely exchanged for staples such as bread; a cinema ticket could be bought for a lump of coal, and a bottle of paraffin for a silk shirt. In desperation, the Bavarian Prime Minister submitted a Bill to the Reichsrat proposing that gluttony be made a penal offence, his exact definition of a glutton being 'one who habitually devotes himself to the pleasures of the table to such a degree that he might arouse discontent in view of the distressful condition of the population'. Since its first publication in 1975, When Money Dies has become the classic history of these bizarre and frightening times. Weaving elegant analysis with a wealth of eyewitness accounts by ordinary people struggling to survive, it deals above all with the human side of inflation: why governments resort to it, the dismal, corruptive pestilence it visits on their citizens, the agonies of recovery, and the dark, long-term legacy. And at a time of acute economic strain, it provides an urgent warning against the addictive dangers of printing money — shorthand for deficit financing — as a soft option for governments faced with growing unrest and unemployment.
Main title:
When Money Dies [electronic resource] / Adam Fergusson
Author:
Fergusson, Adam, Author
Imprint:
[Place of publication not identified] : Old Street Publishing, 2010
Collation:
1 online resource (1 text file)
System details:
Mode of access: Internet
Biography/History:
Adam Fergusson was born in Scotland in 1932. He graduated in history at Cambridge, and later became a journalist with the Glasgow Herald, the Statist and The Times. He has been a Member of the European Parliament, a Special Adviser at the Foreign Office, and a consultant on European affairs for international industry and commerce. He has written five books, including three novels; many articles and pamphlets; three musical comedies; and much light verse. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and lives in London.
ISBN:
9781906964535
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
2906367