Chappers Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 Just heard on the News ,This great country of ours has just finished paying the Yanks back from the War. Apparently the bank of England made the final payment today 60 or so years later http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4757181.stm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Degsy Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 Apparently the final payment was also made to Canada but this is only for WW11, we still owe the USA for WW1 and it is suggested that this debt is in the region of 12 thousand billion dollars! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chappers Posted December 29, 2006 Author Share Posted December 29, 2006 If we have had to pay the Yanks then the Germans and Japs should have paid us .They caused all the problem .we should all have free BMW's and Free Sony TV's. :-D :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karoshi Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 Now lets not forget that "Special relationship" we have with Uncle Sam: Back in 1940 Churchill had asked America to 'give us the tools and we will finish the job'. Unfortunately, despite Roosevelt's promise to ignore the dollar sign, America had not given anything without requiring payment. Within two years, by 1943, Britain's £1,924 million investments in Canada were sold off to pay for raw materials bought in the US. To make sure that the Americans got their money, Roosevelt dispatched the cruiser Louisville to Simonstown, South Africa to pick up £42 million in gold, Britain's last negotiable asset. America also demanded that Britain transfer all her scientific and technological secrets to the United States, everything from penicillin, to atomic development to the new radar fuses used by the artillery. Leases on the islands of Newfoundland, Trinidad, Jamaica, etc. were demanded in order to set up US bases there. Broke as she was, Britain still hoped that the Americans would bale her out financially in the post-war world. She was wrong. The economist Keynes wrote of the situation that year: 'The Americans were interested in the future, not in the past. Old soldiers [i.e. the British allies] showing their medals were not a persuasive advocate.' In the end the Americans would provide a loan that would help to fund the new socialist 'Welfare State', including the National Health Service, anathema to many Americans. But they did so at twice the interest rate that the British Government had refused to pay the year before. Its good to have friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marmite!! Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 Apparently the final payment was also made to Canada but this is only for WW11, we still owe the USA for WW1 and it is suggested that this debt is in the region of 12 thousand billion dollars! Britain owed to US in 1934: £866m Adjusted by RPI to 2006: £40bn Other nations owed Britain: £2.3bn Adjusted by RPI to 2006: £104bn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 That is the most fasinating reading Karoshi, they really did make sure we lost our empire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karoshi Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 That is the most fascinating reading Karoshi, they really did make sure we lost our empire. and so as to ensure we didn't make gains in the Far East, they fought the Pacific war without us ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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