Oh, Crap, History Is Repeating Itself

History is sort of repeating itself, says the FT's Martin Wolf.  The 'Noughties' of the 20th Century marked the end of a global super-power and led to wars, depressions, and hell...

“History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes,” as Mark Twain is supposed to have said. The noughties of the 21st century now have the same fin de regime feeling as those of a century ago.

Then the US, Germany, Russia and Japan were on the rise; now it is China and India. Then it was the Boer war; now it is the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then it was an arms race between Germany and the UK; now it is the military build-up in China. Then the protectionism of the US undermined liberal trade; now conflicts between the US and China undermine our ability to tackle climate change. Then the US was isolationist; now China and other rising powers demand untrammelled sovereignty...

Read the whole thing >

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• It's Time For Governments To Issue Stock Instead Of Just Borrowing
• Teflon Buffett Has Fired 21,000 People This Year
• Government Screwing Savers, Retirees To Keep Secret Wall Street Bailout Going

Full story at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/c57ARJQYv2s/oh-crap-history-is-repeating-itself-2009-12