# Countries going bankrupt.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-going-bankrupt/567324>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 12, 2011, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-going-bankrupt/567324 "2011-01-12T09:17:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![A.Gwilliam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@A.Gwilliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.Gwilliam)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-going-bankrupt/567324/21 "2011-02-12T02:09:50Z")

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> [@Schnitte](#):
>
> The methods of creditor countries to enforce debts were rather crude then, as was demonstrated in 1861 when Mexico suspended debt payments to its European creditors, triggering a French-led military intervention that led to the overthrow of the government and the installation of Maximilian from the Austrian imperial dynasty as Emperor of Mexico.

Slightly less crude, but still involving violence, was the British occupation of Egypt in the late 19th century due to the huge debts run up by the latter’s government.

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**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-going-bankrupt/567324/22 "2011-02-12T04:17:44Z")

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> [@Simplicio](#):
>
> Er, how is the Asian financial Crisis an example of a country defaulting? Countries ran up large amounts of debt when their economies crated, but I don’t think there was a string of defaults.

Just off the top of my head, Thailand, Indonesia and Korea all required IMF support and some serious pain. Malaysia basically froze it’s currency and was bankrupt in all but it’s own admission. The economies and the life of the average person in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and I believe to a lesser extent Korea got really tough.

Interestingly enough, S Korea was freaking amazing. The average Kim donated a substantial amount of personal jewelry and dollars to help the government get out from under it’s debt. It was humbling to watch the country pull together and go beyond harsh medicine to help get out of the hole. Here in the US, we can’t even get a consensus that taxes need to go up. :rolleyes:

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