SESSION VI . UPTON: 307 What about Latin America, Australia? EISENBUD: No, they weren't included and it would seem to me they ought not be included, UPTON: Can one imagine a six-century- long dislocation if Latin America and Australia survived practically intact? EISENBUD: I didn't say it was six centuries. It could be six months or presumably six ‘centuries, I would say it would be longer than six months, AYRES: You have to remember that you cannot expect much help from places like South America because even the surviving production in the first year is perhaps more than they have on a per capita baais. The pattern would probably be very unbalanced and distorted com- pared to pre-war. UPTON: But in the presence of flourishing civilizations on other continents one can't imagine a Dark Ages that would last centuries. AYRES: lagree with that. I'm saying that our surviving wealth would be considerably greater than the existing wealth in most parts of the world. WARREN: countries? AYRES: But would it be enough to purchase food from other It depends. WARREN: We've got a lot of gold in Fort Knox, AYRES: We've got a lot of gold in Fort Knox; we have very much more overseas investments which can always be disinvested, We have something like $50 billion in overseas investments. WARREN: Unless they are appropriated by local powers and they thumb their noses at us. AYRES: This is one of the interesting questions. One reason that they might not want to appropriate your surviving overseas weaith is, first of all, that we hold a lot of their gold which, of course, is true, and secondly, we would still have a very, very impressive surviving military force.