Posted on Wednesday, 22nd December 2010 by
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens was published in 1843. It is the book that is given credit for renewing interest in celebrating Christmas in England during the 19th century.
The theme of the novella focuses on the problems facing the new industrial era. Growing population. Discrepancies in incomes and education between haves and have-not. Set on Christmas Eve, Scrooge turns away family, friends, and the community until his turn around.
What is interesting in the book is there is a passing topical reference to the United States and its financial condition at the time:
“‘three days after sight of this First of Exchange pay to Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge or his order,’ and so forth, would have become a mere United States’ security if there were no days to count by.”
The passage is discussing the fact that Scrooge cannot tell what time of day it is and is concerned an entire day has passed. Scrooge’s notes and investments seem to be time-valued and without an ability to tell time would have no value – equal to a “mere United States’ security.”
The passage was written while the United States was still recovering from the financial panic of 1837. The panic started in New York and by April, over one hundred firms including eight stock brokers, several commission houses and insurers, twenty-eight real estate speculators, had failed. By the end of the year, the entire country felt the effects including high inflation and massive unemployment.
There is no consensus on what caused the financial crisis that year…but, we will all recognize some of the more commonly blamed culprits: unlimited and speculative credit, real estate speculation driving prices up in a real estate “bubble,” foreign trade issues, and recent government policy. United States’ securities were not highly valued and were highly speculative hence the comparison by Dickens.
I thought of this as I read about AIG’s turnaround in recent weeks. Financial collapses are not new. Over 160 years ago, the financial collapse of the United States was significant enough to draw parody in one of Dickens’ greatest novels five years after the panic. Let’s hope in this Holiday Season that, just a little over two years after our most recent “panic,” we are moving ahead and into a full recovery.
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Tags: Carol, Christmas Carol
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