War Bonds

A nobleman mentioned that they had taken on a lot of war bonds for their country.

War Bonds, When bonds are a wager over death.

Summary

The common name for government bonds offered in wartime. War incurs tremendous expenses, including pay for soldiers, procurement of materiel, and compensation for families of the fallen. This is financed in part by the government borrowing money by issuing war bonds.

The purchase earns interest for the buyer, and, if the war ends in victory, profit. But defeat means the value of these bonds will diminish along with the power of the government itself. In hopes of financing victory, the government uses all sorts of methods to encourage the purchase of war bonds. Advertisements are posted and parades organized; information is spun so that nobody doubts a favorable outcome. Officials throw parties for wealthy investors where war heroes are instructed to tell tales of glory to convince those gathered that victory is certain.

The government even establishes banks to deal in war bonds and concocts provisional laws to make the distribution of funds all the more convenient. The war effort involves agitating the decorum, pride and patriotism of the upper classes, using any available means to make them purchase bonds. An extreme argument might be that those upper classes are blithely enabling violence by funding the slaughter of men from the safety of the home front. But for the wealthiest people, with their roots deeply embedded in the nation’s economy, the fall of the government would in many cases lead to their own fortunes being wiped out. Whether or not they realize it, these investments also put the lives of the rich on the line.