4 ms·

Those percentages aren't volumes, they're dollars. The profitability is built in to the numbers.

• Retric 11y ago
  First, there is a giant spike of exports from ~1944 to 1952 where exports hit ~5% GDP over imports. This brought a lot of money not just to businesses, but also individual households. Imports only really grow past exports in ~1975. Second, %GDP just says how much money exchanged hands. The important number for wealth accumulation is value capture. Aka Profit not Revenue. China has a huge chunk of worldwide manufacturing, but its mostly low margin sales slowing their wealth accumulation. PS: Foxconn employs 1.3 million people and has 4.106 billion in profit. Apple has more than 10x the profit with less than 1/10th the number of workers.
  • jordanb 11y ago
    Those exports were lend/lease and the Marshall plan. They were funded with US Govt. debt. Which is to say, they were funded with domestic stimulus spending.
    • Retric 11y ago
      Total government debt was dropping over that time period.
      • deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]
      • jordanb 11y ago
        It absolutely was not in dollar terms. As a % of GDP perhaps, simply because the economy was growing so fast. The government ran an aggregate of $120 billion in deficits over those years and only $22.5 billion in surpluses. The Marshal plan was 1948-1953 and the Korean War was 1949-1953.