#时事热点头条说#
China is the world's largest creditor, and the United States alone owes China $800 billion. At its peak, the United States owed China $1.3 trillion. In addition to the United States, Russia, Argentina, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Ethiopia and other countries all owe China huge debts, with a cumulative amount of more than one trillion US dollars, which is converted into more than 7 trillion yuan, equivalent to 5,000 yuan per capita.
But today's global economy is sluggish, more and more countries are financially bankrupt, they can't pay back the money they owe China, and one after another the debt is bursting. What should we do if we can't get this money back? Before China, the United States was the world's largest creditor country, and Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and other European powers owed the United States huge debts. How did the United States deal with the old lai? What are the implications for China? Today, Yilin will talk to you about how the old European lai, who did not repay the money he owed and was being collected by the United States in those years, survived?
The United States did not become a world hegemon overnight, it mainly went through four stages. The first stage was when the industrial output surpassed the United Kingdom to become the world's largest industrial power. The second stage is to surpass the United Kingdom in terms of purchasing power parity and reach the top of the world. The third stage is the military rise, reaching the point of equality with the British. In the fourth stage, it will become the world's largest creditor country and establish a financial hegemony system centered on the US dollar.
At present, China has gone through two stages. First, it has become the world's largest industrial power. Second, in terms of purchasing power parity, the total economic output surpasses that of the United States. However, there is still a big gap between China and the United States in the military and financial fields. Similarly, the United States, like China, did not have the world's largest military power when it became the world's largest creditor.
Before World War I, the United States owed $6 billion to Britain, France and other European countries, making it the most indebted country in the world at that time. But the First World War completely reversed this situation. The main battlefield of World War I was located in Western Europe, and European powers such as Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Italy and Austria were all involved. Crushed by planes and artillery, all of Europe was smashed. Among them, France was the worst beaten, with 5 million casualties, but the total population of France was only 40 million. This knocked out an entire generation of young people in France. To make matters worse, France invested heavily in Tsarist Russia before the war, and the October Revolution took place in Tsarist Russia, announcing the nationalization of all foreign capital and the cancellation of all foreign debts, refusing to repay. All French investments in Tsarist Russia were lost.
In order to win, Britain and France desperately sought money from the United States. After World War I, the United States not only paid off its $6 billion debt, but also became the world's largest creditor, lending more than $10 billion to the Entente countries. France owes $4 billion, and Britain owes $4.7 billion. The war is over, but the debt owed by the war must be paid. But the entire national economy has been destroyed, and how can there be money to repay debts? Britain and France have come up with two methods:
First, play the emotional card. During World War I, the big guys were all fighting in the same trench, and for the sake of the comradeship that blood was thicker than fire, or they would have forgiven some debts? The United States did not accept this at all, and if it owed debts and repaid money, if it had no money, it would sell its property and pay it back. As a result, 70% of Britain's assets in the United States were mortgaged to pay off debts.
The second is to squeeze Germany. France owed a huge amount of foreign debt as a result of the First World War, all of which was caused by Germany. Therefore, France demanded a sky-high indemnity to Germany, demanding that Germany compensate 269 billion gold marks, which is only the principal, and the interest is calculated separately. However, based on the strategy of "continental equilibrium", Britain did not want France to grow in Europe, so it united with the United States to reduce this reparation to 132 billion gold marks.
France intended to transfer all the money it owed to the Germans. Britain saw that France was trying to force Germany to death. If Germany were to be driven to death, France would regain its position as the number one power on the European continent. In order to support Germany and balance France, Britain took the initiative to give up war reparations and support Germany instead. If France owes the United States money and wants Germany to pay it back, then Germany must achieve economic growth before the money can be repaid. As a result, the United States invested heavily in Germany and lent money to Germany to restore its economy.
But the wool came out of the sheep, and the Germans had more and more debts, and finally they couldn't bear it anymore, so they promoted World War II. As soon as World War II began, the French learned to be obedient, did not resist, and surrendered directly. This saved France from the ravages of war and from incurring new debts. But Britain and the Soviet Union could not stay out of the situation, and Britain and the Soviet Union desperately borrowed money from the United States in order to resist Nazi Germany. After World War II, Britain owed $31.4 billion to the United States, and the Soviet Union owed $11.3 billion.
Both Britain and the Soviet Union suffered heavy sacrifices in World War II, and their industries were completely destroyed. After winning World War II, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union quickly began, and the United States became the biggest adversary of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union directly defaulted on the $11.3 billion owed and did not pay a dime. Throughout World War II, the Soviet Union received 14,000 aircraft, 7,000 tanks, 500,000 vehicles, 12,000 armored vehicles, and more than 7,000 artillery pieces from the United States. But the Soviet Union believed that without the bloody struggle of the Soviets, there would have been no victory in World War II. The Soviets shed blood and sacrificed, and the Americans donated weapons, which was fair and reciprocal, and the Soviet Red Army could not be allowed to shed blood and be in debt.
The Soviet Union lost $11.3 billion owed to the United States. But Britain could not afford to pay its debts, because Britain's post-war reconstruction depended on American investment. Without American money, Britain would not have been able to rebuild after the war. The United States is also willing to invest in the United Kingdom, because only when the British economy recovers can it pay back to the United States.
For the whole world, post-war reconstruction is a megatask. The entire Western world is counting on capital injections from the United States. At this time, the United States said that it was okay to borrow money, but it had to be exchanged for gold, that is, to peg the dollar to gold. Almost overnight, the United States established the dollar as a world currency. This was followed by the introduction of the Marshall Plan, which supported the revival of Europe in all aspects. The countries of Western Europe are desperately trying to develop their economies, and then desperately trying to repay the money to the United States, and the American capital will make money while lying down. The financial hegemony of the United States was also established during this period.
Why did the Soviet Union dare to repay its debts to the United States, while the countries of Western Europe did not dare to repay its debts? This is about absolute strength. After World War II, the United States was already the world's most powerful superpower. With the exception of the Soviet Union, no country dared to match the United States. All the countries of Western Europe taken together cannot defeat the United States, so how dare they rely on the United States?
From the history of the United States, we can see that debt is part of financial dominance, but this dominance must be maintained by strong military power. France was once the largest investor in Tsarist Russia, but France was crushed in World War I and Tsarist Russia collapsed. The establishment of Soviet Russia relied on all the debts of France, and France had no way at all. After World War II, the Soviet Union relied on the debts of the United States, and the United States could not recover them.
Why are we building more and more aircraft carriers now? We must continue to build up our military strength? Because if an economic power does not have a strong military to escort it, it is just a fat sheep to be slaughtered in the eyes of the great powers. The GDP of the late Qing Dynasty was the largest in the world, but as a result, all the wealth created was used to pay war reparations. In the future, whether the United States will dare to rely on China's accounts depends not on the credit of the Americans, but on whether the sword blade in the hands of the Chinese is sharp enough.