Should the USA have given handouts to the UK during WWII instead of making it a loan to be paid back?

jeeper_peeper321

Your misinformed.

During WW ll, the US provided Britain with over 50 billion in lend lease aid, ( that's 700 billion in today's dollars )

There was no repayment for the material and aid.

All the US requested was access to military bases in British possessions during the war.

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What Britain had to pay back, was material and aid provided , after the war had ended.

After the war, the US sold Britain 3 billion dollars worth of material for only 300 million dollars.

That's 42 billion at today's value, for 4.2 billion dollars

That is the Debt that Britain had to pay back.

And made the final payment on December 29th 2006

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No country ever had to pay back a penny, of the Material and aid the US provided during WW ll.

We freely gave that material and aid.

But we did make countries pay back aid given after WW ll was over with.

But at 10 cents on the dollar value.

So you could really say, 90% of the post war aid, was also free.

SFC_Raptor

No doubt a very good question. However; you have to understand that during that time period the U.S. was recovering from a devastating depression.

Also, the U.K. was not the only country that benefited from the lend/ lease program U.S.S.R. also received billions of dollars in military aid.

Further more the lend/ lease program certainly was not the cause of debt in Great Britain as World War II itself was a major factor.

In closing Great Britain has always been The United States strongest ally and closest friend. World War II could never have been won without the mutual support of both countries....this world would be a very different place indeed.

jim k

ya bill h i think he is. it was only called that to schmooze congress. also the marshall plan and dollar diplomacy GAVE europeans money

B0uncingMoonman@aol.com

No, why should they have `given` handouts? They earn their money the same as anyone else does (I`m British by the way).

Tracey Seth

My understanding is that the USA loaned several countries in Europe money after/during WWII and Finland is the only one who paid it back.

regerugged

No. Most of the people in the US were opposed to getting involved in the war, before Pearl Harbor. FDR and the Congress devised a scheme to help the Allies without doing battle with people in the US.

Bamford1000

Hardly a handout many regard Americas treatment of Britain as bordering on treachery.

Farewell to Britainâ€™s US mortgage from Hell

We should learn from the cold calculation America showed after the war, says Sir Christopher Meyer

The Times (London)

December 31, 2006

At midnight tonight the Bank of England will transfer $83m (Â£42.4m) to the US Federal Reserve. This will be a historic moment: the last repayment of the loan that the United States made to Britain in 1946 and the final chapter in the story of Britainâ€™s alliance with America in the second world war.

Contd....

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article1265277.ece

Perhaps the lesson to be learnt is to stay out of wars and remain neutral like the Swiss.

Bill H

I guess you're referring to the lend/lease program ?

robert c

The Europeans more than paid back the money owed by them to the USA!For example,the Americans made us sell our stocks and shares held in America at real knockdown prices!So they made a killing there!Then there was the export of European technology such as radar and the jet engine by the British which helped the Americans to build up a vast engineering empire!Finally!What about the German scientists who got America to the Moon!But!it was not all one way!The Americans gave us Teflon none stick frying pans and Corn Flakes!The answer is Yes!We more than paid for it!

The Bruce spawn of Korky

It took 60 plus years to pay the Americans back for their kindness of supplying us with arms and munitions in a world war they wanted no part of,
yet when their in need of an Alli, its always the British armed forces standing at their side, without waiting to be pushed or forced into it, this is not a slight on the American forces,
but the dollar first political misfits.

CLIVE H

Business is business and the Americans came up with this clever idea of what they called 'lend lease'. My dad often wondered exactly what that meant, becuase fleeing from Dunkirk in 1940 before I was born, he had foolishly left his rifle behind somewhere.

He got another weapon later on, well, actually a Tommy Gun from America. So there's my dad with this Tommy Gun, looking not unlike a pal of Al Capone's.

Nothing wrong with what the Americans did. UK was rich enough and had a massive empire with which to pay off it's debts. In any event the overdraft was paid of about 8 years ago by the present UK.gov.

So, we do not actually owe any more money to the Americans - unless that is we've been secretly borrowing and we've not heard about it yet!

For some reason which I do not understand, Americans seem not to know very much about us here in UK. Pity. There's not much I can do about that - it's a long story. We've got far more in common with the Americans than we do with anyone else - hard to believe at time I know, but it is true.

Take the issue of humor (humour in English) - if this does not make you laugh, you must be dead. . . .

Foster Brooks and Dean Martin.. .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IGUuVQ_7ZY

. . .where is Skanectity anyway. . .?

roger.williams20@btinternet.com

Would you in the same position of power?

nosdda

You realise that over 5 years of war against Germany this "Handout " as you call it, amounted to Trillions of Dollars. No country on earth would not want this amount to be repaid.

Alexandrov

Well, the US is the only country that actually pays back its debts, so it doesnt really matter.

The silent pen

Britain hired the USA troops as mercenaries It is only right and proper that we pay them otherwise they will try to claim that they won the war.

Now who's a bit jealous. What about the brain train that alway leaves this country and ends up in the USA You rob all our scientists.You also robbed the atom bomb off us.
COME NOW BRITS, HOW MANY YANKS WOULD YOU SPANK FOR A DOLLAR.

Allen B

No, you lent, we took we paid, simple as.
Now, if you wouldn't mind returning the billions of pounds we have spent in Iraq to protect your sorry ***, I'd be much obliged!

sailor

Well you know the yanks, its always money first.

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