When Money Dies
The Nightmare of Deficit Spending, Devaluation, and Hyperinflation in Weimar, Germany
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When Money Dies
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Narrated by:
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Antony Ferguson
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By:
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Adam Fergusson
About this listen
When Money Dies is the classic history of what happens when a nation's currency depreciates beyond recovery. 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 German 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. People watched helplessly as their life savings disappeared and their loved ones starved. Germany's finances descended into chaos, with severe social unrest in its wake.
Money may no longer be physically printed and distributed in the voluminous quantities of 1923. However, quantitative easing, that modern euphemism for surreptitious deficit financing in an electronic era, can 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 unemployment or deeper recession. What if it does not? Germany in 1923 provides a vivid, compelling, sobering moral tale.
©2010 Adam Fergusson (P)2010 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Rob.
- 09-06-21
History lite
All facts and no substance. Short on the underlying causes that led up to a unnecessary second world war.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- LaYarantella
- 03-08-21
Interesting factually but clunkily written
Needs much more story and fewer numbers, better writing and a professional narrator. Could have been a great book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 21-09-23
very interesting
gives you a deeper understanding of how horrible inflation is and about government mismanagement. good Read
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Dave
- 13-06-11
Entertaining and sometimes scarey real-life story
Lets face it - we all rely on money these days, and what might happen if it becomes worthless is a nightmare few would be prepared to contemplate. This book gives what I think is a very good narrative of the years after WWI when Germany, Austria and Hungary suffered that very fate - to one degree or another - and why things were allowed to go so wrong. Of course it is easy to reel off loads of enormous numbers to show just how unreal economics had got, but there are also plenty of spotlights on how this all affected ordinary people, and I found people's optimism that things couldn't get any worse particularly striking, since things certainly did get worse. There are lessons to be learned, but of course every moment in history is unique and the economic mistakes of today are very different to those of 1919 etc, so simply expect a well presented story of the collapse of an economic system and its human consequences. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in economic or social history.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kjell-Erling K.
- 28-10-21
with 2021 passing and caos is on the way, a read
shortage, xaos, mad politicians and massive corruptions. a smart xhoice to read to understand others struggle...
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- paul j.
- 05-09-22
Looking into the past to guide us!
A great insight into the dynamics of post war economics through sanctions, deficit spending, trade agreements, lending etc
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Winstone
- 29-11-22
Made a lot of sense…
A subject that at last was dealt with in a way that brought together so many of the factors of the time.
Well written and well read…
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Neil Green
- 18-07-21
Excellent book.
This is an excellent book about what must have been a nightmare for all those who lived through it. Well narrated by Antony Ferguson.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 13-12-20
amazing and detail rich
this book really makes one think about how multicomplex of a problem that inflation is for society.
great listen!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
- Judy Corstjens
- 22-03-11
Not as relevant as hoped
I thought that a book about inflation would raise interesting pointers for today's economic situation, but I couldn't find the hoped for relevance. Hungary and Germany after the first world war were very specific cases. I think the book is showing its age too - we expect more commentary and polemic, perhaps, so spice up a modern read. Still, an informative historical read (I mean listen!)
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2 people found this helpful