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| Boom
and Bust |
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consider some of the economic ups and downs of the century. |
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Spiralling
Out Of Control
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Herbert
Rees and Marion Gerver were children living in Germany after
the First World War. By 1923, five years after the war, paying
the heavy debt of reperations to the victorious allies meant
that inflation was escalating out of control. Paper money took
on a surreal existence in German life - being wheeled around
in barrows to pay for a few groceries.
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The
Wall Street Crash
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29th October 1929 is a seminal date in American history this
century - the day the stock market on Wall Street crashed. To
the majority of investors it was completely unexpected, and
their savings were wiped out overnight. The crash resulted in
a recession that was felt worldwide, and confidence in the US
banking system was dealt a shattering blow. The economist John
Kenneth Galbraith recounts his memories of that day, and of
the great depression which followed in America.
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The
Instant Millionaire
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The odds of winning a national lottery are tiny. But the lure
of huge jackpots for the gamble of just a small sum of money
attracts millions of people from around the world each week.
Bar owner Antonio Trinidad won what is perhaps the richest lottery
in the world - the Spanish El Gordo - meaning the Fat One. He
remembers the day he discovered he had the winning ticket.
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Going
Bust
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Siriwat Walleway Wittikun has experienced both boom and bust.
A millionaire property developer by the age of thirty-one, he'd
made hundreds of millions a decade later investing in the Thai
stock market. Siriwat was part of the Asian tiger economic boom
in Thailand. In the late 1990s, it all went horribly wrong for
him as it did for so many others in the region. He lost everything,
and has had to start again from scratch - selling sandwiches
in the streets of Bangkok. He now says cash is King.
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The
Boom Years
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Ahn Byung-wha tells the story of the economic reconstruction
of South Korea after the civil war of 1950-53 which split
the country into North and South. Ayn Bhung Wha joined the
national steel company of South Korea - POSCO - at its foundation
in the 1960s. POSCO became the mainstay of the nation's extraordinary
economic growth, providing cheap steel for the car, shipbuilding
and other export-driven industries. Now POSCO has become the
largest steel manufacturer in the world.
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