Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/03/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Martin wrote: "Greg J. Lorenzo wrote: > I wonder in what stateWestern Europe would be without the billions of > dollars invested by the Marshall Plan after WW2. Economies are linked, despite many people's efforts to pretend that they are not. The money spent by the US in the economic rebuilding of Europe *was* an investment, because Europeans where then able to start buying American goods sooner than they would have otherwise. In other words, not investing in the rebuilding of Europe after WWII would have affected the US economy too. The question "I wonder what state the US would be in without the billions of dollars invested by the Marshall Plan after WW2" is equally valid -- and, of course, equally impossible to answer. The world is not a simple, linearly casual place." Allow me to add my 2 cents worth, having lived through that period. The Marshall Plan was a brilliant strategic move to finally thwart Stalin's limitless and ruthless efforts to bring all of the continent under Soviet control. Neither Roosevelt nor Eisenhower saw what Joe was up to. Churchill never trusted him. Many books have dealt with this issue. In "The Fall of Berlin 1945" Anthony Beevor describes Stalin's machinations to exclude the western Allies from Berlin. Oliver Bryk - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html