Talk:Marshall Plan

Yugoslavia?

It seems like after Tito's break with the Soviet Union in 1948 or so, Yugoslavia also received aid through the Marshall Plan. Can anyone verify this and include it into the article? Teh Bomb Sophist (talk) 19:18, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

As a general term

The BBC have refered to the latest Greece aid package as "a 'Martial Plan' to boost the economy" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14245250). Has this really become a general term? If so it's probably worth a mention in the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.4.131.140 (talk) 06:36, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

Loans? Not

None of the ERP (Marshall Plan) money was in the form of loans--it was all grants says The Marshall Plan today: model and metaphor by John Agnew, J. Nicholas Entrikin, p 94. See the Repayments section on the London Debt Agreement, which covered repayment of loans made to Germany before the Marshall Plan (mostly in 1920s and 1946-47). Rjensen (talk) 01:51, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

Mr. Rjensen, I don't know whether to laugh or to cry. However, I do know that your revert, and the text here above, is not making you look very good. Maybe you should please take the time to actually read the source that you are referring to here above, so that you may understand the depth of your misunderstanding of the topic "Marshall plan".

There is nothing that supports your claims on page 94 of The Marshall Plan today: model and metaphor. If you however continue to page 95 (both are available as preview on google books) you will find a clear explanation of the 3 types of aid that were part of the Marshall plan Allotments. 1:Grants, which essentially were gifts. 2:loans, self explanatory. 3:conditional aid. If you respond without reading it I'll take this matter to "request for comment", where we also at the same time can discuss the matter of you frequently deleting references while using misleading edit-summaries such as "add cites"!

Mr. Rjensen, I am further outraged by your deletion the text that for example included the Irish situation, where the country received 128.2 million USD as loans, and a measly 18 million USD as grants. You really should read the source you deleted, Gary Murphy, In search of the promised land: the politics of post-war Ireland, p.70 It spends a whole chapter following the political maneuvers of the Irish government when they tried to get the U.S. to give them the Marshall plan aid as grants instead of as loans, but in the end failed miserably. I am hoping you deleted this without even reading it, no matter how it makes you look, for the alternative is even worse.

Mr. Rjensen, you are apparently deeply mislead about the 1953 London Debt Agreement as well, since you are using your very private and singular interpretation of its contents to support your amazing claim that all the Marshall plan aid was in the form of grants. Again, Mr. Rjenssen, you are WRONG. The London Debt agreement dealt with ALL of the German debt, every one, from those incurred by the Reich before the war all the way through including the GARIOA debt and the entire Marshall plan. The U.S. could not strongly influence the other claimants to drop their claims, but it could help the German economy get going by converting a very large chunk of the German Marshall plan loans into grants, which the US did.

Let me quote from a source that I assume you yourself have been using "FINANCIAL VERGANGENHEITSBEWÄLTIGUNG: THE 1953 LONDON DEBT AGREEMENT"

Both of these programs [GARIOA and Marshall] included a substantial grant element, but in both cases some of the assistance rendered was in the form of loans.(P.17)

Finally, the Federal Republic acknowledged its responsibility for repayment of advances under the Marshall Plan and other post-war recovery schemes. (P.22)

Agreements on the post-war debt were an inter-governmental matter, and on these the reduction in debt was a simple negotiation. The United States made this easy by writing-down much of the debt due to post-war assistance; the original U.S. claim of $3.2 billion was reduced unilaterally to $1.5 billion.(P.28)

The U.S. decision doubtless reflects political calculations, as detailed below, but as a practical matter the reduction treated Germany on a par with other recipients of Marshall plan aid. About 15 percent of Marshall Plan aid to the United Kingdom and France was in the form of loans, which was about the same percentage of the German’s aid once the London Debt Agreement had converted some German loans to grants.(P.28)

When the U.S. decided to forgive much of Germany’s Marshall plan debt, in effect treating it on a par with other European recipients of that aid, it was just recognizing that what in 1945 had been a defeated enemy was now a valued ally (P.40)

Now, Mr. Rjenssen, I've taken the time to lay it out very nicely to you. If you once more claim that the Marshall plan consisted entirely of free gifts then I can very well imagine smoke comming out my ears. Have a nice day Sir!--Stor stark7 ^Speak 22:02, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

Marshall Plan aid loans or no loans

I've deleted "The Marshall Plan aid was not a loan and there was no repayment." from the summary as it was uncited and contradicted a cited reference latter in the article. "The UK received 385 million USD of its Marshall plan aid in the form of loans.[71]". Source [71] appears valid given my limited knowledge. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.27.114.44 (talk) 14:14, 28 August 2011 (UTC)

US Aid to India

Enlarged detail p 901

Here is proof from an official US government document cited in footnote 89 that the US provided foreign aid to India of $255 million in the postwar period.

US postwar Foreign Aid to India and other countries

Rjensen (talk) 12:57, 16 September 2011 (UTC)