Letters to | the Editor

A century ago, a fellow named George Santayana said, “Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.” I’ve seen nothing in the history of the past couple of centuries that proves him wrong. 

In the recent past, you have printed a few letters, including one or more of mine, that commented on the U.S. government’s debt at the annual deficits. The debt, of course, is the accumulated deficit of the past half-century or more. I thought I’d draw more people’s attention to some economic history. 

Back in the 1880s, Germany, which was then a monarchy, developed a fairly comprehensive social welfare system. World War I came along in the 1900s, Germany and her allies were defeated, and the victors assessed crushing “reparations” to punish the Germans for that war. The war was really started by the Serbians, specifically by a fellow named Gavrilo Princip, who murdered Austria’s Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife, not Germans. Interlocking mutual defense treaties caused the conflict to grow to include nearly all of Europe. 

Despite those crushing reparations, the German government continued its generous social welfare programs even though it didn’t have the money to pay for them. Inflation reared its ugly head in about 1920. By 1923, when the German economy collapsed, inflation was running at about 100 percent per DAY. There was massive unemployment and those who had jobs would be paid every day at noon so they could rush out and spend their worthless money as quickly as they could, before it lost even more value. As I noted, the German economy collapsed in 1923. The resulting political turmoil gave rise to Adolf Hitler, and eventually to World War II.

There are those who say it can’t happen here. It not only can, but in my opinion, it probably will. Sooner, rather than later, President Hillary! Who I predicted for election nearly eight years ago, not because she’s the best candidate but because the election is rigged, isn’t about to cut back on vote-buying spending and will probably massively increase it. I’m not optimistic. 

A book entitled “The Ominous Parallels” by Leonard Peikoff is a good read on this particular subject. 

Bob Ackley

Emerson