GERMANY: It’s 1923 and a goods shortage means that prices are rising like crazy.

The German Hyperinflation History

Following the armistice of 1918 and the subsequent Paris Peace Conference, culminating in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, The First World War finally ended. The financial reparations required by the Treaty were deemed as excessively harsh by many Germans and even by some Allied commentators such as the English economist John Maynard Keynes. This huge debt made the new Republic of Germany (Called the Weimar Republic) with the Socialist Democratic Party leader, Friederich Ebert, and his Secretary of State, Phillip Scheidemann, after Kaiser Wilhelm's abdication, began to respond to growing economic uncertainty by printing increased quantities of marks, rather than by borrowing from other countries' banks. This resulted in the progressive devaluation of the currency and eventually in an exponential collapse of currency value known as hyperinflation. In January 1923 a loaf of bread cost 250 marks. By November the price had risen to 100,000 million marks. Workers were transporting wage payments home in wheelbarrows. Photographs from this period show children playing with building blocks made from banknotes and homeowners satirically papering their walls with worthless marks. Factory workers would be paid twice daily since, by the afternoon, their morning wages would be considerably devalued. Eventually, it cost more to print a banknote than the note was worth. By the end of summer, single banknotes worth 50 trillion marks were being printed. The appearance of Gustav Stresemann would be more than key to recovering Germany's growth but the 1929 great crash, made some political parties use the Versailles Treaty as a tool to get in power. In 1932 and 1933 the election would change Germany forever starting one of the darkest moments in the history of Europe.

TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Intro 01:54 1918-1919: Struggle for democracy 04:05 1920-1923: Reparations and Hyperinflation 06:38 1923-1924: Reichmarks and the Dawes plan 10:02 1924-1929: The golden twenties 11:52 1929-1933: Fall of the republic

Inflation and hyperinflation - goods shortages in early 1923 meant that prices went up - this is called inflation - people had to pay more money to get what they needed - government decisions made things worse - the gov needed money to pay their debts but unemployment and failing factories meant they were getting less tax money - 1919-23 gov income was a quarter of what was needed - the gov resorted to printing more money - 1923 gove had 300 paper mills and 2000 printing shops dedicated to printing more bank notes - initially it made it easier to pay reparations - but it made inflation worse - vicious circle: prices rose more, more money printed, caused prices to rise again - by 1923 prices where huge - this extreme inflation is called hyperinflation - price of a loaf of bread: 1919 1 mark, 1922, 100 marks, 1923 200 000 billion marks the effects of hyperinflation 1) Normal Living became impossible - printing presses couldn’t produce enough money - people had to pin money to letters because stamps were useless - they had to carry bundles of money in baskets and even wheelbarrows - many workers were paid twice a day so they could rush out and buy goods before prices rose even more - some shops refused to take money at all, asking for payment in kind (swapping goods) - some people raided shops because they couldn’t afford food 2) Everyone suffered from shortages - german marks became worthless for importing goods - 1918 buying £1 worth of foreign goods cost 20 marks, by nov 1923, £1 worth of foreign goods cost 20 billion marks - foreign suppliers refused to accept german marks for goods so imports dried up and shortages of food and other goods got worse for everyone 3) People with savings were hit hardest - those with money in bank accounts, insurance policies or pensions had their saved money become worthless - thus the middle classes were the worst affected There were people who benefited from inflation - people who had loans or took them out found that the value of the money they owed went down, e.g. some big businessmen borrowed money and profited because the value of their debts went down - other people hoarded goods and then sold them for a large profit as prices went up - foreign visitors also benefited, as the value of their own currency rose against the german mark, so they could buy much more with their money - german people bitterly resented people who made money out of their suffering the damage done - after august 1923 a new chancellor gustav stresemann found solutions to some of the problems of 1923 - by this point however the political and economic turmoil from 1918 to 1923 had done its damage - the WR was shown to be weak, it had been rescued by the freikorps in 1919 and workers striked in 1920, government forces had killed thousands of germans in order to stay in power - all germans had suffered. most blamed the WR for their suffering, the middle classes which would normally be the bedrock of the republic suffered most - extremist parties with private armies hostile to the republic had gained in strength

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Dr. Michael Burry Predicts The Downfall Of America via Hyperinflation

Dr. Michael Burry, a man shrouded in mystery following his sudden disappearance from Twitter in mid-March. Before deleting his profile Burry had been shouting warning after warning about the rampant speculation and excessive valuations in the financial markets. Most notably in Feb, he had stated that the stock market was quote “dancing on a knife's edge," and slammed stock-trading app Robinhood as a "dangerous casino”. But it was not until his dire warnings about upcoming hyperinflation, comparing the United States with the Weimar Republic that officials really began to grow concerned. According to various reports, Burry was visited by SEC officials who supposedly warned him about his Twitter behavior and how it could be influencing the markets. These last tweets before the profile was deleted are very very interesting and open a portal into the mind of a man well known to predict severe market downfalls. In today's video, we examine these horrifying tweets that suggest a rather uncomfortable truth about the future of America and its thriving economy.