PERHAPS THE MOST perverse consequence of the bubble was that by the strange mechanics of international money, it helped to tip Germany over the edge into recession. For five years, hordes of American bankers had descended on Berlin to press loans upon German companies and municipalities. However much Schacht had tried to wean his country from this dependence on foreign capital, there was little he was able to do about it. Over the five years between 1924 and 1928, Germany borrowed some $600 million a year, of which half went to reparations, the remainder to sustain the rebound in consumption
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