Thomas Piketty: “Germany has never repaid.” is a great article on why Germany should give the Greeks a break. Think about it. Germany did not pay its debts from WWI or WWII. Where do they come off as morally superior to any country needing debt relief? The US can’t require repayment for either debt because we “forgave” them through contract. But if we could we could force the Germans to repay us by paying off part of the Greek debt.
Piketty: My book recounts the history of income and wealth, including that of nations. What struck me while I was writing is that Germany is really the single best example of a country that, throughout its history, has never repaid its external debt. Neither after the First nor the Second World War. However, it has frequently made other nations pay up, such as after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, when it demanded massive reparations from France and indeed received them. The French state suffered for decades under this debt. The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.
I am not for having any country "pay their debts" back to us for WWII. We benefited greatly from Europe and Japan's Recovery in being able to export products and services. Besides it was the right thing to do morally ... forgiveness.
The Germans and French should reflect on their past before being judgmental
about the present.
Wed Jul 15, 2015 at 1:50 PM PT: Here is another article showing Germans forgetting history. In 1953, creditors forgave half Geman's debit