• Part 1a—In the Grip of Money Worries
    Awake!—1992 | January 8

    • The Power of Economic Pressures

      The Great Depression of the 1930’s, says one authority, was an economic tragedy that “touched every country and every side of life, social and political, domestic and international.” By strengthening extremist political forces in Germany and Italy, it helped bring on World War II, thus illustrating the power of economic pressures. It was as John K. Galbraith wrote in his book Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went: “In Germany early in 1933, Adolf Hitler came to power. Much of his success must be attributed to the massive unemployment and the deeply painful contraction in wages, salaries, prices and property values.” Commenting on the inflation in the United States at that time, Galbraith adds: “Whatever the importance of money, none could doubt the importance of the fears it engendered.”

      The political changes that swept Eastern Europe at the end of the 1980’s were largely influenced by economic factors. These are also frequently decisive in deciding elections in Western democracies, where people, it has long been said, vote as they are swayed by those issues that affect their pocketbooks.

      Economic pressure is often applied in an attempt to force governments to change their policies. Thus, at times, modern economic sanctions have become the equivalent of ancient military sieges. In 1986, Europe, Japan, and the United States imposed economic sanctions against South Africa to protest its policy of apartheid, apparently with some success. In 1990 the world community, as represented in the UN, exerted economic pressure on Iraq, obviously with less success.

      Nevertheless, the trend seems clear. Jacques Attali, French writer and presidential adviser, claims that ‘merchants are replacing warriors as the main actors on the world stage.’ And a newsmagazine commented: “[In many countries] economic strength has replaced military might as the measure that matters.”