Thus the only plausible case for a way out of the worldwide Great Depression in 1931 lay, as the great economic historian Charles Kindleberger emphasized, with some step from the US. At the time, there were all kinds of convincing reasons why Americans should not want to take on the burden of a worldwide rescue: sending more money to Europe might be seen as pouring money down a drain; had not the Europeans fought a World War that had been the fount and origin of the financial mess?  Economically such action would have made a great deal of sense from a long term perspective; but politically it was a non-starter with no short term payoff at all.
因此，正如著名经济史学家金乐伯格所强调的那样，摆脱1931年全球大萧条的唯一可行办法就是美国伸出援手。当时，美国不愿意承担拯救全球经济的负担有各种各样令人信服的理由。它们包括，把钱送给欧洲就有去无回；难道不是欧洲打了一场世界大战导致了金融危机吗？从经济上来说，拯救欧洲在长远角度上很有意义，但是从政治上而言，这是失败之举，短期内毫无回报可言。