Dollar Swiss Exchange Rate
When Money Dies is the classic history of what happens when a nation’s currency depreciates beyond recovery. In 1923, with it is currency efficaciously unworthy (the interchange rate in December of that year was one dollar to 4,200,000,000,000 marks), the German republic was all but scaled down to a barter economy. Expensive cigars, artworks, and jewels were routinely interchanged for staples such as bread; a cinema ticket could be purchased for a lump of coal; and a bottle of paraffin for a silk shirt. People watched helplessly as their life savings disappeared and their loved ones starved. Germany’s finances descended into chaos, with severe social unrest in it is wake. Money may no longer be physically printed and passed around in the voluminous quantities of 1923. However, “quantitative easing,” that innovative euphuism for surreptitious deficit financing in an electronic era, may no less become an assault on monetary discipline. Whatever the reason for a country’s deficit—necessity or profligacy, unwillingness to tax or blindness to expenditure—it is beguiling to suppose that if the day of reckoning is postponed economic recovery will come in time to prevent higher jobless or deeper recession. What if it does not? Germany in 1923 provides a vivid, compelling, sobering moral tale.
Review Daily Express (London)
“Engrossing and sobering.” Allen Mattich, Wall Street Journal, October 1, 2010
“One of the most blood chilling economics books I’ve ever read.”
Wall Street Journal, January 30, 2011
“Every body ought to read this book. But baby boomers must.” |
Most helpful client reviews 155 of 157 humans found the following review helpful.
 Everybody talks in regards to inflation, but not a single soul knows anything regarding it
By Marvin D. Pipher
This book tells the story of the hyperinflation in Weimar Germany and it is aftermath (1919-1926) and, to a lot of extent, the ensuing rise of Hitler's Nazi Germany. It is a story which is so complex and convoluted that it takes a historian to even get started to do it justice. Fortunately, this book's author is not only an accomplished historian, well versed in his subject, but likewise a gifted writer. The result is a noteworthy book in regards to an closely indescribable and incomprehensible amount of time in the world's history.
So, if you've ever wondered when it comes to the hyperinflation in Germany following the Great War (WWI), and by extension what the REAL aftermaths of inflation, hyperinflation, deflation and depression might be, this is the book you've been looking for. In fact, I've only read one other book which even comes close; that being `The Fiat Money Inflation in France: How It Came, What it Brought, and How It Ended' by Andrew Dickson White. But this book is much more timely, much broader in scope, much more comprehensive, and much more comfortable to relate to our more innovative times.
In it, you'll learn a lot and find the answers to a great deal of puzzling questions. Among them: what caused the inflation, what were it is impacts, and why it was permitted to continue; which groups and social classes fared the best, which the worst, and why; how the inflation resulted in the redistribution of wealth; what happened to landlords, shop owners, government employees, members of unions, free workers, and pensioners, as well as the middle-class; what the man or woman on the street had to do merely to survive; who prospered, who lost everything, and why; what the government did and didn't do and what the impacts were on humans at all social levels, and on industry; how the hyperinflation was in the end ended, why the resulting deflation and depression was worse in numerous ways, and why; and what those living through the deflation/depression amount of time had then to do in order to survive and, in numerous cases, prosper.
There is also much anecdotal proof as to just how much misery both inflation and deflation may cause. For example: the well dressed elderly man who couldn't afford two cents (American money) for a bag of apples; the little old lady who supported herself by syndication her crucifix chain one tiny gold link at a tme; the alien students who purchased rows of houses out of their allowance; the substitution of paste-board coffins for wooden ones; the life insurance policies that in the long run were worth less than their annual premiums; the banks that did away with littler savings accounts because the paper required to book them was worth more that the cash in the accounts; the man who said it was better to have a prostitute in the house than the corpse of a dead baby; the beggars who, in October 1923, purportedly wouldn't receive anything littler than a one million mark note; and finally, that even with the original "billiard" [a thousand million million] and five billiard notes being printed in November 1923, persons still clamored for more.
Apart from the Weimar Republic: This book is basically a case study in inflation and it is aftermath which ought to be of interest to any individual contemplating or concerned regarding the current state of America's, and the world's economic future, and the direction America is headed. In reading it, it is well to keep in mind what Gunter Schmolders articulates (pg. 248), "With inflation alone may a government extinguish debt without repayment, or wage war and engage in other non-productive actions on a big scale: it is still not recognized as a tax by the tax-payer."
In any event, if you do read this book, and if you are anything like me: You'll likely conclude, as I did, that everyone talks with regards to inflation, but no one, exceptionally the politicians who cause it, genuinely knows what they are dealing with or what the aftermaths may be. 107 of 116 humans found the following review helpful.
those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it
By Keith M. Barron
This is a horrendous account of the German, Austrian and Hungarian hyperinflations of the early 1920's. It includes blow-by-blow accounts by diplomats, bankers, and ordinary folk who pulled through the total annihilation of their currencies. Fergusson has done an outstanding occupation of documentation and must have expended thousands of hours in archives. It is in truth a shame that this book is out-of-print. 124 of 145 people found the following review helpful.
Review of the 1st Edition "Making the Same Old Mistakes, but not Makin' Mo' Money" or "Zeros in -- Zeros out. Naught is Naught."
By Jamal J. Hattab
Review of the First Edition (rare hardcover) of When Money Dies, written by me on May 25, 2006, & not reedited:
I primary read this book a lot of 25 years ago. I was so impressed I without delay purchased a dozen copies & gave them to pals. (In 1980 they were 3-4 pounds sterling each--it's ironic & interesting that the price of this out-of-print book now fetches multiple zeros).
Here are a great deal of parallels with our time:
The Germany of the '20s finds it can not meet the costs of war reparations. The US of the 2000s starts a war intending to recompense reparations before it begins, and then finds itself unable to meet the mounting costs of war reparations it in the first place thought would leap out of the ground and just recompense themselves. (Meanwhile, the US's wounded soldiers [& the families of it is dead soldiers] are going to require entire lifetimes of domestic reparations).
The Germany of the '20s attempted to buy/finance successfulness with ballooning deficits. The US of the 2000s wants to buy/finance successfulness with ballooning deficits. Neither nation-State may be told it is wrong--and neither admits (or even recognizes) inflation is a concealed and pernicious tax.
Germany before the '20s had each selfconfidence in the mark. The US in the 2000s believes the only currency in the world is the dollar, & the only thing cash may be made of is paper and ink (never gold or silver). But as one mixes ink with paper, hoping the mixture will have interchange value, one finds that one has given value to neither material.
As Germany becomes more unhinged in the '20s, it moves towards a strong man as a moth to a flame. As the US grows more unhinged, it loses faith in it is 'strong man' (even if he does not lose faith in himself). If the US will have to subsequently shun whoever wants to be the next 'strong man', there may yet be be hope. Since it is possible for the next wannabe 'strong man' to be laughed off the stage, it is yet possible the US will not succumb. The jury is still out.
At times the mark strenghthens (goes versus the uttermost trend, for short periods): the Germans of the '20s (and other investors) think the crisis is over and it is time to buy. At times the dollar strengthens (goes versus the ultmate trend [?], for short periods): the world of the 2000s thinks the crisis may end--isn't it now time to buy cheap US assets?
The Germans of the '20s may add more zeros to their paper--but paper production does not keep up with the 'demand' for money. The US of the 2000s has but to generate a computer entry and like magic, the 'demand' for cash is met. The paper of Germany leaves a trail [Fergusson proves this]--computer entries may be a concealed and dirty little State Secret [until prices rise as the cash genuinely depreciates, the state may suppress much of the evidence].
At a good deal of levels, this book when it comes to a dreadful past speaks to a menacing present. Because of it is price, a lot of will not get to read that message. Between the Germany of the '20s and the US of the 2000s, there are deviations too, but not deviations that inevitably help. The potential for cash supply to soar (the Fed's capacity to construct credit by computer without even having to buy ink, paper, and printers) has never been so boundless. We of the 2000s prefer to believe we are more intellegent than the Germans of the 20s. We live with the hope that our enlightened leaders [!] comprehend inflation & perceive that deficit spending shall ruin us. Enlighted persons that they are, from government top to government bottom, we recognise and rely upon our leaders' fiscal responsibility. Just look at how enlightenment runs through the Nation--budgetary constraints are placed upon our brilliant leader, by those guardians of the Public Purse & Trust, a US legislature that checks and balances all his raw power. In truthiness [that is, if one buys their spin], they all do their utmost to preserve & protect the currency, while shouldering their duties to preserve and protect our Constitution. Tonight, may I sleep contentedly, knowing both these National Treasures are safe and sound?
Read this book: it is still found in libraries. You will be witness to ink on paper that in truth has and holds it is value.
May 25, 2006 See all 53 client reviews... |
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