From Ages of American Capitalism: A History of the United States - by Jonathan Levy

p. 360 "The United States was responsible for 60 percent of all international loans between 1924 and 1931. U.S. capital financed European reconstruction. "

"the punitive Treaty of Versailles (1919) had burndened Germany with $33 billion in war reparations but Britain and France owed prodigious war debts to the United States--$5 billion and $4 billion respectively. Famously, after massive international capital flight, Germany suffered hyperinflation from 1921 to 1923. In 1923, after a currency devaluation, Germany repegged its currency to gold.  That same year, to extract reparations payments, France occupied Germany's coal-rich Ruhr Valley. ...

"In sum, U.S. loans to Germany began to be recycled into reparations payments to Britain and France, which then traveled back across the Atlantic to pay down British and French war debts."

p. 603f re: the "Volcker Shock" around 1980: "High interest rates made credit for investment of any kind scarce, while recession only undermined profits for reinvestment. Furthermore, as the Fed relinquished control over interest rates during the monetarist experiment, rates not only climbed but became far more volatile than usual. ...In response, the owners of capital hoarded what cash they had, sapping long-term investment. Between 1979 and 1982, the percentage of manufacturing firms' total revenues resulting from "portfolio income," whether dividends, capital gains or interest accrual, climbed from 20 percent to 40 percent."

p.621 "In the early 1980s, provits from the FIRE sector (finance, insurance, and real estate) surpassed those from manufacturing. In 1978, for manufacturing firms, portfolio income (from interest accrual, dividends and realized capital gains) was 18 percent of total profits. By 1990 it was 60 percent."

 

...Among other things, Levy notes the FIRE sector does the bulk of our economic planning now, preferring portfolio income to actual productivity growth. Our current economy sets aside productivity for asset appreciation...not a good trend. 

In related news:

“How Public Housing was Destined to Fail” is certainly worth a look.

Also: realestate4ransom.com

In any case, asset price appreciation (the perception of wealth) certainly has priority now, rather than genuine productivity (actual wealth). Alfred North Whitehead calls this the “fallacy of misplaced concreteness.” It’s like going to a restaurant and devouring the paper menu rather than the food. The Bible calls this “idolatry,” so its a longstanding human issue.