 Germany, Japan, to a lesser extent Britain and Italy, were lifted up out of the debris of the war by Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions of debts. None of these countries today are paying off even the interest remaining on the debts of the United States. When the franc was in danger of collapsing, it was the Americans who propped it up. The Marshall Plan, the Truman Policy, pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries.