Brazil may be next. The frightening lesson of the depression of the 1920s and 1930s is that the dominoes simply go on falling. In the end, nowhere is safe from contagion. It is an illusion to think that a bad crisis can easily be isolated or confined in a globalized, integrated world. The stakes could hardly be higher.
World depressions destroy political stability.
In the past, deflation and depression have frequently led to a vicious circle of nationalism, xenophobia, the disintegration of states, and even war. Three carloads of concrete utility poles had arrived at the train station. This was a matter of utmost importance to Karpova, because her factory was a year behind on its electric bill and had no cash on hand. First, her factory shipped fabric 200 miles to a sewing factory in Nizhny Novgorod. In exchange for the fabric, that factory sewed shirts for the security guards who work at a nearby automobile manufacturer.