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It's a booster shot of capital first into industry and agriculture, then into the hands of the wives of soldiers, then into the soldier's themselves when they g
by FussyZeus 9y ago
It's a booster shot of capital first into industry and agriculture, then into the hands of the wives of soldiers, then into the soldier's themselves when they got back.
It's not a great tool at all, I'm not saying it's a good thing, the fact that a war is fantastic for the economy is common knowledge, or at least I thought. It's a shitload of Government spending that's directed from all sides of the political spectrum (mostly) and often isn't questioned at the time, so you get the capital shot without the hangover of the political divide like we have now.
Things are objectively easier when your enemy is as well defined and totally evil as the Nazi's.
- Quenty 9y agoThat being said, War is really bad for quality of life. Every tank, missile, bullet, could be used to improve a consumer’s life instead. And every life lost, building destroyed, et cet is potential economic assets. Economics that are good on paper isn’t really the end goal.
- FussyZeus 9y agoI don't disagree, but you asked me how the war got us out. That's how it did.
- chii 9y ago> Every tank, missile, bullet, could be used to improve a consumer’s life instead but just because no war happesn doesn't mean that the consumer's life gets improved. THe bullet money would've been spent elsewhere similarly to a war, to benefit the few rich.
- peoplewindow 9y agothe fact that a war is fantastic for the economy is common knowledge, or at least I thought What?! This is absurd! Common sense should tell you that war is terrible for an economy because lots of valuable assets get destroyed repeatedly. What you mean is that war is good for GDP because suddenly every last scrap of spare resource is thrown into industrial production, often funded by running up massive debts. But don't make the mistake of confusing the economy for GDP. From a wealth perspective war is about as useful as paying people to dig holes in the ground and immediately fill them back up again. Yes, it pumps your stats around "production" (of holes), but it doesn't create wealth.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoMostly true, except that war does drive scientific and technological advancement, as well as investments in production capacity and resource extraction (basically it is an extreme form of competition that forces you to progress or die).
- s_kilk 9y ago> the fact that a war is fantastic for the economy is common knowledge It's pub philosophy, usually based on a very thin understanding of the economic and political conditions of the early 20th century. Unfortunately a lot of people have generalised this 'wisdom' into a broad "what we really need is a good war", as if that war wouldn't devastate pretty much all of the advanced capitalist economies.