“The World’s Financial Crisis”- The printing press solution” Or more commonly known as The Qwerty keyboard!
By Dr. Mehenou Amouzou
History is repeating itself with a human desire to control or rule the world by any means. This obsession has created three categories of human beings: One that has chosen the route to rule, one that has chosen the role of servant and a third that considers themselves to be subordinate to all other humans.
For many centuries the world has been and continues to support the aspects mentioned above by the actions of its Governments and their failing policies to sustain the well being of its citizens. To conceal the failure of their policies, Governments have become more and more aggressive via using military powers and or financing muscle to intimidate, oppress and take over other less able countries.
From the past several centuries to 1884 in Berlin where European countries had decided to take over Africa and colonized the Africa continent to the war world I, war world II, Vietnam War, Korean War, Chinese revolution, all the proxy wars etc; to present. We are still facing the same scenario; the greed power hunger of few people to add to government’s economic & social policies failures to hide behind the wars and develop an imperialism approach due to three categories of humans being: One that is selected to rule, second to serve and the third is considered like to be less human. The World War I killed more than 37 million people and other causalities; the World War II killed 85 million and with other casualties.
European Economy between 1850 and 1884
For a time the European trade balance has shown a growing deficit, with shrinking exports and continental markets becoming increasingly protectionist because of the recession. Britain, Germany, France and other industrial countries thought the African continent to be an “uncivilized, barbarian continent” and open market for their trades’ surplus. Britain, with other European countries, had extensively commenced to run deficit balance of trade (which was more and more offset, on the other hand, by the oversea revenue). Still today most of Europe continues to take the stance that “we can import as much as we need and build and create nothing”-Oh dear!! Until someone eventually asks-“How do we pay for that??” Simple economics-you must generate more revenue than expenditure!!!!
As a result of an increased problem between European countries during the late 19th century, the partitioning of Africa may have been seen as a way for the Europeans to eliminate the war in Europe over Africa.
Britain became the first post-industrial nation in the world; the financial services sector became increasingly important to its economy. Invisible financial exports keep Britain in the red, especially investments outside Europe, particularly in the developing and open markets in Africa as colonies of white settlement in the Middle East, Asia South and Southeast prevailed.
Additionally, extra funds were time and again more beneficially invested overseas, in inexpensive materials, limited competition, and plentiful raw resources which made greater the best that was promised. A further encouragement for imperialism occurred from the need for natural resources that were not accessible in Europe, particularly copper, cotton, rubber, palm oil, cocoa, diamonds, tea, and tin, to which European customers had become familiar and upon which European industry had become dependent, the outdated industrial so called power house countries were damaging and were facing mounting resistance from other industrializing nations, comparable to Germany, who had newer plants and cheap labor.
Furthermore, Britain wished to retain the southern and eastern coastlines of Africa for harbor stopover on the way to Asia and its territories in India. The invasion, occupation, colonization, and annexation of African territory by European powers during the era of New Imperialism exploration between 1881 and World War I, (1914) had met some refusal in acceptance to becoming colonized. By way of the military supremacy, the Europeans were expecting to succeed, with the exception of Ethiopia and Liberia who remained independents, merely 10% of Africa was surrendered in 1870 and 90% by 1914.
The African imperialism expedition and domination started at the Berlin convention in 1884, European decided the partition and took possession of Africa and its natural resources, consequent to the economic, political, stayed away from warring and competition between themselves.
Wars World I
World War I was a disaster, tragedy on all fronts and destroyed humanity for nothing more that the goal of imperialism, nationalism, domination, being a war mogul, exercising economic prowess. The ongoing endeavors of nationalism had created other issues also such as the unification of Italy and especially Germany power, Germany rose as a military, political and economic giant.
The Industrial Revolution through Europe after 1850 had created consumer markets available for businesses to explore. It had grown the number of producers competing for those markets, triggering more competition for what was considered a stagnant economy by the turn of the century. The competition intensified in each country with fierce nationalistic feelings fostered by an expanding public schooling that preached its nation’s superiority over other nations and the dangers other nations posed. For example, Britain thought that it was the country’s obligation to “enlighten” barbaric or savage customs in Africa and Asia, Russia also exercised cultural motivations to validate its heaviness on the Balkans and Austria in the early twentieth century. The Russian Czar Nicholas II desired to follow what was identified “pan-Slavism” or an effort to bring together all Slavic-speaking population under the direction of the Czar. They would use of defensive levies (import taxes) to raise the cost of foreign goods and make the home nation’s goods likewise more interesting to its customers. Obviously, other nations did the same thing. Prices went up, commerce deteriorated, and unemployment rose, producing internal disorder and instability. As consequence, politicians looked for scapegoats and opportunely held responsible other nations. This led to more tariffs, lower trade, rising unemployment, unrest, blame, and so on.
This industrial revolution had developed new technologies which were not restrained to just peaceful consumer ends, but the building of new and enhanced weapons such as guns, marine vessels, and steel clad battleships. All this mixed with nationalist pride and an internal domestic worry about another nations ability to compete in an arms race like the world had never seen, this in association with an insatiable appetite for a/many countries desire to increase its wealth via the needs to grab someone else’s via military means. As soon as one nation started building armaments, its competitors would do the same and try to outdo the first nation. This would only alarm the first power, which would further increase its armaments, and so on. Each nation acted in what it felt and considered was self-defense, but to another nation this saw seen as an act of aggression.
Did World War I generate a key advantageous break in the United States? Did the U.S. financial system transform in some fundamental and durable ways as consequence of that war? The U.S. economy was in depression when the war started, the access of the US into war in 1917 let loose substantial US federal expenditure which changed national fabrication from civilians to war good. They were 3 millions of workers added up to the military complex and Five hundred thousand to the administration jobs from 1914 to 1918. The job loss dropped from 7.9 percent to 1.4 percent because of the manufacturing jobs creation. Europeans started to procure U.S. supplies for the war and later the United States itself enrolled in the combat.
According to Hugh Rockoff research associate at NBER, estimates the complete cost of World War I to the United States was roughly speaking $32 billion, or 52 percent of gross national product at the time. He rundown the financial support of the U.S. war attempt as result: 22 percent in taxes, 58 percent through borrowings from the public, and 20 percent in money creation. The War Revenue Act of 1917 taxed “surplus profits” — profits greater than an amount established by the rate of return on capital in a base period by some 20 to 60 percent, and the tax rate on income starting at $50,000 rose from 1.5 percent in 1913-15 to more than 18 percent in 1918.
| WWI CASULTIES AND DEATH TABLES
One approach to comprehend the bloodshed and massacre that took place in the Great War is to scrutinize the number of fatalities and deaths. Accurate numbers are still in disagreement, because of diverse definitions used by each group as well as the problematic meticulousness of the recording system used and the loss or destruction of a number of official documents. The statistics in the tables below indicate information from several sources and are consistent with most experts’ current estimates. |
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| Country | Total Mobilized Forces | Killed | Wounded | Prisoners and Missing | Total Casualties | Casualties as % of Forces |
| ALLIED AND ASSOCIATED POWERS | ||||||
| Russia | 12,000,000 | 1,700,000 | 4,950,000 | 2,500,000 | 9,150,000 | 76.3 |
| British Empire | 8,904,467 | 908,371 | 2,090,212 | 191,652 | 3,190,235 | 35.8 |
| France | 8,410,000 | 1,357,800 | 4,266,000 | 537,000 | 6,160,800 | 73.3 |
| Italy | 5,615,000 | 650,000 | 947,000 | 600,000 | 2,197,000 | 39.1 |
| United States | 4,355,000 | 116,516 | 204,002 | 4,500 | 323,018 | 7.1 |
| Japan | 800,000 | 300 | 907 | 3 | 1,210 | 0.2 |
| Romania | 750,000 | 335,706 | 120,000 | 80,000 | 535,706 | 71.4 |
| Serbia | 707,343 | 45,000 | 133,148 | 152,958 | 331,106 | 46.8 |
| Belgium | 267,000 | 13,716 | 44,686 | 34,659 | 93,061 | 34.9 |
| Greece | 230,000 | 5,000 | 21,000 | 1,000 | 27,000 | 11.7 |
| Portugal | 100,000 | 7,222 | 13,751 | 12,318 | 33,291 | 33.3 |
| Montenegro | 50,000 | 3,000 | 10,000 | 7,000 | 20,000 | 40.0 |
| TOTAL | 42,188,810 | 5,142,631 | 12,800,706 | 4,121,090 | 22,062,427 | 52.3 |
| ALLIED AND ASSOCIATED POWERS | ||||||
| Germany | 11,000,000 | 1,773,700 | 4,216,058 | 1,152,800 | 7,142,558 | 64.9 |
| Austria-Hungary | 7,800,000 | 1,200,000 | 3,620,000 | 2,200,000 | 7,020,000 | 90.0 |
| Turkey | 2,850,000 | 325,000 | 400,000 | 250,000 | 975,000 | 34.2 |
| Bulgaria | 1,200,000 | 87,500 | 152,390 | 27,029 | 266,919 | 22.2 |
| TOTAL | 22,850,000 | 3,386,200 | 8,388,448 | 3,629,829 | 15,404,477 | 67.4 |
| GRAND TOTAL | 65,038,810 | 8,528,831 | 21,189,154 | 7,750,919 | 37,466,904 | 57.5 |
The following estimates of deaths, within contemporary borders, during World War I were made by a Russian journalist Vadim Erlikman in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Erlikman’s estimates are based on sources published in the Soviet Union and Russia. These figures just showed dead soldier not including the civil, war causalities and also aftermath which are much bigger but was not reported maybe to under estimate their participation in the war!
- Algeria(1914 known as French Algeria): 26,000
Benin (1914 part of French West Africa): 27,000
Burkina Faso (1914 part of French West Africa): 17,000
Cameroon (1914 known as Kamerun): 5,000 military and 50,000
Central African Republic (1914 known as French Oubangui-Chari): 1,000
Chad (1914 part of French Equatorial Africa): 1,500
Republic of the Congo (1914 part of French Equatorial Africa):32,000
Gabon (1914 part of French Equatorial Africa): 10,500
Ghana (1914 known as the Gold Coast): 16,200
Guinea (1914 part of French West Africa): 14,500
Ivory Coast (1914 part of French West Africa): 12,000
Kenya (1914 known as British East Africa): 32,000
Madagascar: 2,500 military
Malawi (1914 known as Nyasaland): 3,000
Mali (1914 part of French West Africa): 60,000
Morocco (1914 known as the French protectorate of Morocco): 8,000
Mozambique The losses of Portuguese Mozambique were estimated by a Russian
journalist Vadim Erlikman in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Erlikman’s estimates are based on sources published in the Soviet Union and Russia 52,000
Namibia (1914 known as German South-West Africa): 1,000
Niger (1914 part of French West Africa): 1,000
Nigeria (1914 part of British West Africa): 85,000
Rwanda (1914 part of German East Africa) 15,000
Senegal (1914 part of French West Africa): 36,000
Sierra Leone (1914 part of British West Africa): 1,000
Tanzania (1914 part of German East Africa): 50,000
Togo (1914 known as German Togoland): 2,000
Tunisia (1914 known as French Tunisia): 2,000
Uganda (1914 known as the Uganda Protectorate): 1,500
Zambia (1914 known as Northern Rhodesia): 2,000
Zimbabwe (1914 known as Southern Rhodesia): 5,716 persons of European origin served in the war, 700 were killed, died of wounds or other causes. In Rhodesian units,127 were killed, 24 died of wounds, 101 died of disease or other causes and 294 were wounded. 31 Africans were killed in action, 142 died of other causes and 116 were wounded.
Following WWI, scholars have decided to research what are the reasons of the World War and the primary grounds which unavoidably contributing elements to the World War I. The United States government sponsored a commission thereafter the conclusion of the war to see why the United States particularly was involved in the war. The agreement among the panel members was that the United States entered the war to protect their international business interests, predominantly in the arms trade. The USA was not engaged in the war to battle for democracy or to free the world. While the United States initially stayed neutral country, they continued to furnish supplies to both the Triple Entente (Great Britain, France, and the Russian Empires) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy). Ultimately, both coalitions made a decision to no longer recognize impartiality rights, and commenced attacking American business interests/merchants, which led to intervention. It was the underlying cause why the United States involved into World War I. The goal of this article’s is to also address the primary causes attributed to the causes of World War I. It is vital to better understand what leads to such devastating wars, in order to better ensure that they do not occur again.
The scholars also recognized the beginning of World War I to the fact that the European economies often conflicted and competition with one another. In essence, during the late 1800’s, the European countries economic became involved in the struggle for emerging markets, as well as the imperialistic struggle for further colonies. This imperialism doctrine led to numerous confrontations among the European powers, as the traditional European powers England and France had to strive to maintain control over their colonies, as new European powers such as Germany tried to gain control over them. A diplomatic factor that also was influential in World War I was that in the period following the Crimean War throughout World War I, European nations engaged in numerous secret military alliances which led to distrust among one another. In fact, the two main military alliances during World War I, the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance, emerged for these very reasons.
The US is considered to be beneficiary of the world War I, when the war started the United States economic was in downturn unemployment extremely high and was net defaulter in international money markets but thereafter the war the US launched to play a main role by supplying large amount internationally in Latin America, other European capital exporters and other parts of the world, taking on the traditionally perceived UK role. New York appeared as equivalent to London or better to grow to be the World principal monetary center due to the war had weakened UK.
Wars World II
At the end of the First World War, many of the disagreements that ground it still required to be resolved. When Germany admitted defeated, the German people still suffered an enormous amount of bitterness for new countries obstructing in the infrastructure of Germany itself. The stage of awful reaction upcoming from Germany and other countries was so immense that they weren’t even asked to take part in the peace treaties that were set at the end of the war. The agreement of Versailles, signed at the end of World War I, placed responsibility for the war solely on Germany and Austria-Hungary.
Because the culpability was placed on the Central Powers alone, they were accountable for producing reparations for the devastation and debts of France and Great Britain. Since Germany was previously deeply overwhelmed from their own debts and the devastation of their homeland, they were forced to borrow in large sums from the United States in order to pay back France and Britain for war reparations. Once the Great Recession hit American and European economies, Germany could no longer have access to a loan from the United States. France and Great Britain still withdrew monetary resources out of Germany, who believed it would be protected by Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points for peace, which France and England rejected. America’s failure to join the League of Nations kept Europe weakened. The Agreement of Versailles was so weak and uncoordinated a treaty, that it permitted Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party to rise to power amidst distraught German citizens and economy. It’s fair to presume consequently that the First World War was the principal reason of the Second World War because it was the first in the chain of events that eventually led to the announcement of war in 1939.
The challenging surroundings to the majority vicious war ever, were the creation of the German-Italian-Japanese coalition and determined their effort to spread out at the cost of weaker neighbors and the older colonial powers, especially Britain, France and Holland. Italy and Germany had long earlier than 1914 went into the colonial struggle but they expanded late and found all the best territories, strategic positions and trade routes. The arrangement prior to 1914 was, on the one part, the ‘Triple Coalition’ of Germany, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and positioned against their expansionist aspirations the ‘Triple Entente’ of Britain, France and Russia. The worldwide economic recession instigated nations to create strict economic “coalitions” in order to defend their industries and horde significant raw materials. Regrettably, Nations similar to Japan and Germany had to import critical resources like oil and rubber from places which were outside their area of authority; and often unfriendly towards them for ideological purposes. In addition, trade barriers made many resources just too expensive to import even if exporter nations were willing. The answer to this predicament for Japan and Germany was to actually acquire hegemony through military invasion, the resources they required to fuel their economies.
The Great Recession had significant impacts in the political area. In 1932 the United States economic agony led to the election of the Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt to the presidency. Roosevelt introduced major changes in the organization of the US economy, by means of increased government regulation and substantial public-works projects to support a recovery. But in spite of this energetic involvement, crowd unemployment and economic stagnation sustained, the recession ended completely soon after the United States’ entry into World War II in 1941. In Europe, the Great Recession strengthened radical forces and lowered the standing of liberal democracy. In Germany, economic suffering unswervingly contributed to Adolf Hitler’s climb to power in 1933.
The U.S. government lead on such a vigorous role in economic affairs during the war, concerning their economic ideology, this evolution however should not lead to the ratcheting up of government role in peacetime. Subsequent increases in federal expenses resulted for the most part from war-correlated matters (such as veterans’ benefits), and the most of the wartime regulatory agencies soon vanished due to the efforts of conservative politicians. The successful wartime period “augmented the self-assurance that central planning was the best way to meet a national crisis, certainly in wartime, and possibly in peacetime as well.” This central development was used by the funding policy to the former Soviet Union; this created confusion, an economy policy confusion with people who advocate for the free market and the central planning. Before both World War I and II USA economic was in recession same like the European but by supplying arms, logistics financing the wars and enter in both wars USA had got off from the recession and had wealthy economy. Why after 20 to 25 years after the Second War, USA and the European were still having economic and social problems and have created the cold war with the exception there were no fights like the World War I and II but had created three worlds: (capitalism world, Communism World and the Third World countries).
The central planning that was developed through the World War II and after had appeared to be working for few years during and post the big wars but largely failed due to Governments continued over spend of money exponentially although the war had stopped. Major European countries including Russia and the USA were in expansion crusade based on one ideology, ruthless power politics and economic expansion all over the world this has created the cold war and its consequences.
The pitiless power politics and economic spreading out has created two social and political systems each of the system portrayed itself to be the good guy and the other to be the bad guy with their own definition and interpretation:
“The Soviet Union was a Communist country, financed by “the capitalism funds” for the Bolsheviks revolution thus creating a society and ideology within. The top 1% and the 99% call proletarians. This Bolsheviks revolution has allowed the capitalism ideology to survive and to compare the two ideologies whilst financing by the same Group.
According to the President Truman of the US speech in 1947:
The Soviet Union was a Communist country was ruled by a dictator and put the needs of the state ahead of personal human rights it relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio; fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms”.
“The West was a capitalist democracy which valued freedom, free elections, individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion and feared Communism.”
Two merciless power economic and politics spreading out ideologies were not contradictory they were radical, aggressive and expansionist. They mutually supposed that one of the substitute ideologies was measured a danger to their own way of life, and that the merely secure way for the world to be free and in high spirits was for them to sell abroad their scrupulous philosophy to take over the world. This combination of heartless supremacy politics and economic expansion ideological terror and belligerence meant that in both America and Russia, their viewpoint invaded and exaggerated their foreign policies. These lacks of trusts were part of the fundamental ideological between the two sides, but they also provided weapons in the misinformation, propaganda war which both sides waged against each other.
Consequently to Russian historians, the British Prime Minister, Churchill and Truman the American President 1945-1953 were responsible during the Cold War with deliberated to demolish former Soviet Union which only was protecting itself with its rhetoric and political actions. The westerner’s views blamed former Soviet Union to construct an empire but later some of the westerner’s historians blamed America, they alleged Truman had not understood how much Russia had suffered during The World War II and lately historians are in agreement that the Cold War was principally a conflict of beliefs between Communism versus Capitalism.
WWII THE NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM NEW ORLEANS
Deaths by Country
| Country | Military Deaths | Total Civilian and Military Deaths |
| Albania | 30,000 | 30,200 |
| Australia | 39,800 | 40,500 |
| Austria | 261,000 | 384,700 |
| Belgium | 12,100 | 86,100 |
| Brazil | 1,000 | 2,000 |
| Bulgaria | 22,000 | 25,000 |
| Canada | 45,400 | 45,400 |
| China | 3-4,000,000 | 20,000,000 |
| Czechoslovakia | 25,000 | 345,000 |
| Denmark | 2,100 | 3,200 |
| Dutch East Indies | — | 3-4,000,000 |
| Estonia | — | 51,000 |
| Ethiopia | 5,000 | 100,000 |
| Finland | 95,000 | 97,000 |
| France | 217,600 | 567,600 |
| French Indochina | — | 1-1,500,000 |
| Germany | 5,533,000 | 6,600,000-8,800,000 |
| Greece | 20,000-35,000 | 300,000-800,000 |
| Hungary | 300,000 | 580,000 |
| India | 87,000 | 1,500,000-2,500,000 |
| Italy | 301,400 | 457,000 |
| Japan | 2,120,000 | 2,600,000-3,100,000 |
| Korea | — | 378,000-473,000 |
| Latvia | — | 227,000 |
| Lithuania | — | 353,000 |
| Luxembourg | — | 2,000 |
| Malaya | — | 100,000 |
| Netherlands | 17,000 | 301,000 |
| New Zealand | 11,900 | 11,900 |
| Norway | 3,000 | 9,500 |
| Papua New Guinea | — | 15,000 |
| Philippines | 57,000 | 500,000-1,000,000 |
| Poland | 240,000 | 5,600,000 |
| Rumania | 300,000 | 833,000 |
| Singapore | — | 50,000 |
| South Africa | 11,900 | 11,900 |
| Soviet Union | 8,800,000-10,700,000 | 24,000,000 |
| United Kingdom | 383,600 | 450,700 |
| United States | 416,800 | 418,500 |
| Yugoslavia | 446,000 | 1,000,000 |
| War | Number Serving | Battle Deaths | Disease & Accidents | Wounded | Total Casualties |
| World War II | 16,353,659 | 292,131 | 115,185 | 670,846 | 1,078,162 |
World-Wide Casualties*
| Battle Deaths | 15,000,000 |
| Battle Wounded | 25,000,000 |
| Civilian Deaths | 45,000,000 |
*World-wide casualty estimates vary widely in several sources. The number of civilian deaths in China alone might well be more than 50,000,000.
Is capitalism is a prosperous economic model or it is just an illusion?
From the founding Father Adam Smith and up to now we have seen different schools come out with different theory’s and views on how to apply new theories, old theories and how to combine both to solve our society’s economics and social problems. There is also the fact of another issue the development of a chronic capitalism and or predator capitalism with no basic rule and regulations with negative consequences on the repartition of the wealth where 99% of the middle class is now in poverty and the other 1% become richer every day. This could draw a parallelism between the Communism ideologies of class that resumed 1% of the apparatchik enjoyed all the advantage versus the rest of the population. Although the communism philosophy disappeared in the years 90’s not much has really changed from the former Soviets countries. Citizens still don’t enjoy free democracy with plenty of food on the table. Their country’s economy systems are almost bankrupt and other European and world debts represent an average at least 95% plus of their GDP which is unsustainable!
It seems all these theories are there to serve the ruling class which represents barely the 1% of the population and the 99% who work two to three jobs dreaming to be prospered one day is a myth. In the USA the student loans debts are above 1 Trillions USD. Interest rate competing with credits cards interests, uncertain jobs security and potential at the end of your four years colleges all lead to a pending disaster. Zimbabwe has a good educational system with no bilateral aid or international assistance has maintained his education system affordable and fundable and with much lowers debt!
The Great Recession could have started earlier with the terrible collapse of prices on the stock exchange of New York in October 1929. Over the next couple of years, prices continually sustained a decline in the USA until the end of 1932 and were to a relative value of only 20 per cent of 1929 prices. In addition to the thousands of individual investors being harmed, this fall destroyed the banks and affected significantly the value of assets and other financial institutions, in particular the population and their private portfolios. With this motive, numerous banks had been mandated by government to bear out the collapse. 11,000 of the 25,000 financial institutions had gone into liquidation in the United States in 1933. The crash of certain banks created a loss of self-belief in the national economy, subsequently given rise to much lower levels of expenditure and demand and therefore production, hence the downhill. The result considerably reduced production and the dramatic rise in unemployment. The industrial production had dropped by 54 per cent in the United States in 1932, compared to its level of 1929 and job loss had augmented from 12 and 15 million, or 25-30 per cent of the workforce.
It furthermore became obvious that there had been a significant excess of production in agriculture, accordingly declining prices and a growing debt in the midst of farming. At the same time there was the banking crisis, as well as the “Wall Street collapse” of 1929. This situation was irritated by severe policy mistakes of the Federal Reserve, which also led to a decline in money supply and slowing down of the economy.
In 1932, the total value of world trade had plunged by more than half because most of the world nations required looking after their domestic production by imposing tariffs, raising taxes, and setting quotas on foreign imports. The consequence of these preventive measures, significantly decrease the size of international trade.
Before and during World War I the world was in aggravated recession due to economic policy failure and imperial ideology, invade and grab something that does not belong to you. As mentioned on the above the unemployment was very high, hitting the roof, the total mobilized armed forces during the first war was 65,038,810; deaths and casualties was 37,466,904 which represented 57.5% without mentioning any further collateral damages due to the World War I estimated to be another 10 million. During the World War II deaths and casualties were close to more than 85 million with a collection of deaths and casualties between the World War I and II to be more than 132 million which ultimately wiped out the existence of more than 75% of the unemployment rate as detailed before the World War I & II. The re-construction project created the so called the new economy boomed era. As you can see with this chart below the US unemployment before the second war was 37.6%, Germany 36.2% and etc., everything was almost gone during the war.
These countries borrowed funds to go to war and after the war they borrowed to reconstruct the countries the cost for the wars is passed to the population but not the profits?
According to General Smedley Butler one of the finest strategists of all times said “War is a racket”, wars are declared to protect a merely 1% of the population. To protect corporate interests and not Governments interests. A least amount of 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were produced in the United States throughout the World War. Several acknowledged their enormous blood gains in their income tax returns. How many supplementary warfare millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows? For General Smedley Butler, how lots of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How countless of them dug a trench? How tons of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat-infested foxhole? How several of them spent sleepless, terrified nights, ducking ammunitions and shrapnel and machine gun bullets? How lots of them parried a bayonet shove of an enemy? How many of them were injured or killed in battle?
And what is this bill? This cost renders a horrible accounting, newly placed gravestones, distorted bodies; traumatized minds, broken hearts and homes, economic instability; depression and all its attendant miseries; back-breaking taxation for generations and generations.
All these things beg us as again the same question which is: Is the capitalism is a prosperous economic model or it is just an illusion? We have been told that the middle class are the corner stone that capitalism has created and everybody dreams of such. If you work hard you can be successful! The middle class system is a just a temporary assignment or a lease of one’s wealth’s, it is just a question of timing for the lessee’s to get control of what belongs to the lessor. It appears with certainty that the entire world is in financial crisis every five to 10 years!
The United States of America is the only developed country in the world not to be devastated during the World War II but had spent during many years several hundred billions on unnecessary rational thinking by forgetting before the war the country was in severe recession, the unemployment was very high. This irrational spending choice came back after the Second War by creating economic problems, believing things were going to be better and went to worse.
CONTRIBUTIONS:
Dr. Amouzou received his Master in Business, from the European Advanced Institute of Management, also a Certificate in Finance and Investment in Paris, France. He completed his Post Graduation work in Political Strategy, International Relation and Defense Strategies and earned his Ph.D. in Finance.
Contribution to this article:
Raymond West from West International Petroleum LLC; Fundacion Paraiso Sin Fronteras; Morgan Lewis; Amouzou Nkrumah Production
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