Show Notes
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More from The Story of Money
The French Revolution was a bloody fight for liberty, equality and fraternity. But it was also a battle over money.
The French Revolution was a bloody fight for liberty, equality and fraternity. But it was also a battle over money.
The first world war was one of the deadliest conflicts the world has ever seen. And when the US entered the war in 1917, it faced a massive financial challenge: how to pay for its contribution? Enter Treasury Secretary William McAdoo who launches the groundbreaking Liberty Loan Programme and - alongside an unprecedented national propaganda campaign featuring silent film stars like Charlie Chaplin, Girl Scouts, even a captured German submarine in Central Park - encourages thousands of Americans to ‘buy a bond’ as part of their patriotic duty.
The US Treasury market - the world's largest government bond market - is worth about $32tn today, making it the largest pile of debt accumulated in history. But its roots lie in medieval Venice, a bloody military disaster and a leader who was forced to raise a loan to fund a war against the Byzantine Empire.
How do you tell if an economy is actually working? Most economics classes point to controlled inflation, steady growth, or low unemployment - but what if the level of financial fraud is the real hidden indicator?