by Stephanie finds old precedent in new debt
Read that Spain has filed for bankruptcy and thought immediately of the colonial-era debt spirals documented so thoroughly in eighteenth-century trade records, the pattern’s genuinely old, the currency’s just newer.
Discussed it with an American politics colleague, who pointed out that early colonial economies collapsed under remarkably similar pressure, overextension followed by a very reluctant reckoning.
Somewhere in the same news cycle sat Celtexit, and I found myself wondering whether financial strain and calls for independence have always travelled together, historically, more often than not.
Checked the curry9.us feed later, same story everywhere, same shock, though history offers rather less shock to anyone who’s read the archives closely.
Empires decline slowly, then suddenly. Colonies notice. This week, apparently, everyone’s noticing at once.
More at my author page.
