Does anybody remember this?

[HongKong2LA 9]

From 1973, but might as well have been written today. No matter your politics, as an American, this has got to make you proud of our great country and our shining, selfless and often thankless contributions to world. Looking back after all these years though, thanks or not, doing the right thing and the pride we can feel for it, vastly outweighs any thanks we might have received and to this day sets an example for the rest of the world.

The following is an opinion from one Canadian...Gordon Sinclair

The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French, and

British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in

West Germany.

It has declined there by 41 since 1971, and this Canadian

Thinks it's time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and

Possibly the least appreciated people in all the world.

As long as sixty

Years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods on

The Yellow River and the Yangtze.

Well, who rushed in with men and money

To help?

The Americans did, that's who.

They have helped control floods

On the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges, and the Niger.

Today, the rich bottom land of the Mississippi is underwater, and no foreign land has sent

A dollar to help.

Germany, Japan, and to a lesser extent Britain and Italy, were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in

Billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts.

None of those countries is today paying even the interest on it's remaining debts to the

United States.

When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and

Swindled on the streets of Paris--and I was there, I saw that.

When distant cities are hit by earthquake, it's the United States that hurries

In to help; Managua, Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples.

So far this spring, 59 American communities have been flattened by

Tornadoes--nobody has helped.

The Marshall Plan, the Truman Policy--all

Pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries, and

Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, war-mongering Americans. Now, I'd like to see just one of those countries

That is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build it's own airplanes.

Come on, now you--lets hear it!

Does any country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing jumbo jet, the Lockheed Tristar, or the Douglas Ten.

If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all

International lines except Russia fly American planes?

Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or a woman on the moon? You

Talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios.

You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles.

You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon, not once, but several times, and safely home again.

You talk about scandals, and the Americans put

Theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at.

Even the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded.

They're right here on our streets in Toronto. Most of them, unless they're breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend up here.

When the Americans get out of this bind, as they will, who could blame

Them if they said to hell with the rest of the world.

Let somebody else buy the bonds.

Let somebody else build or repair foreign dams, or design foreign buildings that wont shake apart in earthquakes.

When the railways of France and Germany and India were breaking down through age,

It was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and

The New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose.

Both of them are still broke.

I can name to you five thousand times when the

Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble.

Can you name to me even one time when someone raced to the help of the Americans in

Trouble?

I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbors have faced it alone.

And I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them kicked around.

They'll come out of this thing with their flag high, and when they do, they're entitled

To thumb their noses at the lands that are gloating over their present trouble.

I hope Canada is not one of these.

But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians.

And finally, the American Red Cross was told at

It's 48th annual meeting in New Orleans this morning that it was broke.

This years disasters, with the year less than half over, have taken it

All, and nobody, but nobody, has helped. --

Here is the link to him reading this on tv...

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Airbus.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

I don't remember it, but I think much of it still applies today. We have done far more good in the world than bad. Too bad more don't see it that way.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

From 1973, but might as well have been written today. No matter your politics, as an American, this has got to make you proud of our great country and our shining, selfless and often thankless contributions to world. Looking back after all these years though, thanks or not, doing the right thing and the pride we can feel for it, vastly outweighs any thanks we might have received and to this day sets an example for the rest of the world.

The following is an opinion from one Canadian...Gordon Sinclair

The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French, and

British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in

West Germany.

It has declined there by 41 since 1971, and this Canadian

Thinks it's time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and

Possibly the least appreciated people in all the world.

As long as sixty

Years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods on

The Yellow River and the Yangtze.

Well, who rushed in with men and money

To help?

The Americans did, that's who.

They have helped control floods

On the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges, and the Niger.

Today, the rich bottom land of the Mississippi is underwater, and no foreign land has sent

A dollar to help.

Germany, Japan, and to a lesser extent Britain and Italy, were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in

Billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts.

None of those countries is today paying even the interest on it's remaining debts to the

United States.

When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and

Swindled on the streets of Paris--and I was there, I saw that.

When distant cities are hit by earthquake, it's the United States that hurries

In to help; Managua, Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples.

So far this spring, 59 American communities have been flattened by

Tornadoes--nobody has helped.

The Marshall Plan, the Truman Policy--all

Pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries, and

Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, war-mongering Americans. Now, I'd like to see just one of those countries

That is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build it's own airplanes.

Come on, now you--lets hear it!

Does any country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing jumbo jet, the Lockheed Tristar, or the Douglas Ten.

If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all

International lines except Russia fly American planes?

Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or a woman on the moon? You

Talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios.

You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles.

You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon, not once, but several times, and safely home again.

You talk about scandals, and the Americans put

Theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at.

Even the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded.

They're right here on our streets in Toronto. Most of them, unless they're breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend up here.

When the Americans get out of this bind, as they will, who could blame

Them if they said to hell with the rest of the world.

Let somebody else buy the bonds.

Let somebody else build or repair foreign dams, or design foreign buildings that wont shake apart in earthquakes.

When the railways of France and Germany and India were breaking down through age,

It was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and

The New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose.

Both of them are still broke.

I can name to you five thousand times when the

Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble.

Can you name to me even one time when someone raced to the help of the Americans in

Trouble?

I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbors have faced it alone.

And I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them kicked around.

They'll come out of this thing with their flag high, and when they do, they're entitled

To thumb their noses at the lands that are gloating over their present trouble.

I hope Canada is not one of these.

But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians.

And finally, the American Red Cross was told at

It's 48th annual meeting in New Orleans this morning that it was broke.

This years disasters, with the year less than half over, have taken it

All, and nobody, but nobody, has helped. --

Here is the link to him reading this on tv...

Yes, absolutely I remember it. You will occasionally here it repeated on radio at 4th of July.

[Pooky 3,850]

Germany, Japan, and to a lesser extent Britain and Italy, were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in

Billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts.

None of those countries is today paying even the interest on it's remaining debts to the

United States.

It's a pity the author couldn't get his facts straight. The USA made sure it screwed the one major ally not to submit to foreign domination into the ground.

British Make Final Payment of WWII Debt to USA

by londonbear

Fri Dec 29, 2006 at 05:28:08 AM PST

Today the British government made the final payment of the debt taken out at the end of WWII to the USA and Canada. The loans taken out in 1945 from the US and 1946 from Canada were to pay for equipment remaining in the UK after the war which was still needed and for food. Even with those loans rationing continued and was even extended to cover bread.

These payments put some of the current issues in the USA into perspective. The most obvious is to question how long it will take to repay the cost of the second Iraq War (Bush I made a small profit as the donations from other non-combatant countries for the Kuwait operation covered the actual costs). The second is to answer criticism of plans to introduce universal health care for Americans for it was precisely over the period the loans were taken out that the arrangement to introduce the National Health Service were being brought to fruition.

The financial arrangements for paying for the food and materiel from the USA changed as the war progressed. From September 1939 to March 1941 when "Lend Lease" came into operation, payments were made effectively from the reserves. The payments for lend lease ceased when the USA entered the war but the period to then was seen by a substantial number of British as a time when the USA was war profiteering, much the same as Halliburton is viewed now in relation to Iraq. From then the contributions were seen as part of the US contribution to the war effort, Again this was viewed somewhat less than American generosity than a rightful compensation for late entry and the far lower proportion of the population under arms.

Britain had long relied on food imports to feed its predominantly urban population. Grain from North America and foods from the Empire were an essential part of the diet. Much of this stopped when the dangers of the sea voyages meant that only the most basic of foodstuffs could be transported. This was the time when Spam became part of the British diet, with a warmed can even replacing the Sunday roast in many homes. Citrus fruit virtually disappeared, an orange or tangerine becoming a treat at the bottom of a Christmas stocking. Vitamin C for babies was provided by rose hips gathered in the countryside and converted into a syrup. Every spare patch of land was given over to food production with the London parks converted to fields and backyard "Anderson" air raid shelters (corrugated metal huts half buried) having the earth covering planted with vegetables.

The basically vegetable diet did have advantages in that the health of most improved. Meat was highly rationed. A MacDonalds burger would be the equivalent of a week or more allocation. An average modern American breakfast would easily use up the a week's butter and egg ration (even if you used the powdered egg imported from the USA to supplement it).

Unfamiliar with the hardships the ignorance of some GIs who started to arrive caused discontent for being "over paid, over fed, over sexed and over here". When payment for the equipment to be left to aid the reconstruction effort was demanded at the end of the war it therefore caused some consider it churlish, no matter that the price was 10 cents on the dollar and the loans were at 2% interest. Those with that opinion included the economist John Maynard Keynes. There were even proposals to relieve the debt by selling colonies like the Bahamas to America.

The memory of the wartime payments and the post war loans still make some bristle when the right (and others) refer to the later Marshall plan as "rescuing Europe after the War". Distrust played both ways as payments for the loans from WWI had been suspended during the Depression. Those have never been repaid and when the moratorium started in 1934 this stood at $4.4 billion (£866 million at the then current exchange rate) At today's exchange rates this figure represents around $76 bn if adjusted for inflation and $425 bn if adjusted for the increase in GDP. I should mention that the debts by other nations to Britain for this stood at £2.3 billion or over twice the debt owed by Britain. Norway got great kudos in the USA for not taking part in the moratorium and the contrast affected the sentiment when it came to the WWII debt.

While the debt for WWI is unserviced, the UK still maintains bonds issued to pay for the Napoleonic wars and before. These were at such low interest rates that it is far cheaper to continue to service them than take out new loans to repay them. This gets back to the problem for the US. The expenditure for Iraq is being paid by bills issued at the current rates of interest. These are now fixed term so they will have to be repaid by taking out new loans at the rates that will apply 5, 10 or 20 years from now.

Still it is worth remembering at a time when virtually all consumer goods were destined for export to pay off the war debt, the British government believed that a commitment to invest in the health of the population by providing universal health care was a top priority. The USA already spends about as great a proportion of its GDP in public money on health care that the UK uses for the NHS. Rather than universal coverage, in the USA that only pays for such things as Medicaid, Medicare, the VA and for public employees including members of Congress and the President.

British War Debt

[HongKong2LA 9]

It's a pity the author couldn't get his facts straight. The USA made sure it screwed the one major ally not to submit to foreign domination into the ground.

You should note that the opinion was dated 1973...I note that your reply was in English and not German, if you catch my drift.

[HongKong2LA 9]

Airbus.

You mean Aircrash?

[trailmix 77]

You should note that the opinion was dated 1973...I note that your reply was in English and not German, if you catch my drift.

I don't know Gord and I have never heard this speech before - however I don't understand why people like him, (or people like you) expect accolades for every single thing the U.S. does? We may not be speaking German and there is no doubt that Americans fought and died in that war - but there are many other countries that sent soldiers to fight there and you never hear of them thinking people are 'ungrateful' to their countries - ever.

Why is that?

[SMR 368]

I don't know Gord and I have never heard this speech before - however I don't understand why people like him, (or people like you) expect accolades for every single thing the U.S. does? We may not be speaking German and there is no doubt that Americans fought and died in that war - but there are many other countries that sent soldiers to fight there and you never hear of them thinking people are 'ungrateful' to their countries - ever.

Why is that?

Have you been to Russia?