Inevitability

clipped from mises.org According to my grandfather, as told to me around 1910, Carl Menger had made the following remarks: The policies being pursued by the European powers will lead to a terrible war ending with gruesome revolutions, the extinction of European culture and destruction of prosperity for people of all nations. In anticipation of these inevitable events, all that can be recommended are investments in gold hoards and the securities of the two Scandinavian countries. $15 $11 Menger's savings, in fact, were invested in Swedish securities. One who so clearly foresees disaster and the destruction of everything he deems valuable before his fortieth year cannot avoid pessimism and depression. Ancient rhetoricians were careful to consider the kind of life King Priam would have had, had he at the age of twenty already foreseen the fall of Ilium![5] Carl Menger barely had the first half of his life behind him when he recognized the inevitability of the demise of his own Troy.