Great War ... finally ends?

[Luke]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/8029948/First-World-War-officially-ends.html

[Brian Wolfe]

Hi Luke,

If I recall correctly the First World War was the reason for the impementation of the Income Tax in Canada.

Hmmm, now the War is "over" I wonder how long it will be until Ottawa does away with the Income Tax Act?

I won't hold my breath.

Regards

Brian

[Chris Boonzaier]

An interesting point floated by a reader...

"No, you have picked up a story from Spiegel that was worded in a very tricky way. Germany has not paid off "the last of the reparations". Germany has only ever paid about one fourteenth part of the reparations in total.

What Germany has paid off is the Bonds that it floated in the twenties to fund the *initial* reparations payments, not the full amount of reparations.

What actually happened was that in the Twenties Germany issued Bonds to pay the first few years - a small part of the total - and then reneged on the Bonds. So the people who actually aid the first few years of reparations were Western Bondholders, not Germany itself. And the remainder of reparations were never paid at all.

Of course, in the end, the damage Germany did in Belgium and Northern France - the damage reparations were supposed to pay for - was eventually paid for, but by French and Belgian taxpayers, not by Germany.

It is startling, to say the least, to see Spiegel, and now the Daily Telgrah, repeating what is essentially Nazi propaganda.