3 ms·

>and we had to participate in a World War to get out of it). I think it wasn't participating in WW2 that got the US out of the depression, so much as everywher

>and we had to participate in a World War to get out of it). I think it wasn't participating in WW2 that got the US out of the depression, so much as everywhere else being completely fucked by war, with the USA being basically the holder of the best production setup at the end of the war, and therefore able to export an absolute fuckton of product to help Europe et al rebuild. I suspect that if USA never joined the war, it would actually be better off today economically, since WW2 would have proceeded regardless.

wavefunction 9y ago
The US never had a choice about joining the war or not. I know that we knew in advance about Pearl Harbor and I know that the US had already decided to join the war which precipitated specific aggression from the Axis powers against the US but there was no choice. Japan or Germany or both would have eventually come into conflict with the US due to any interests of one or more of the parties.
- solarhoma 9y ago
  I disagree. The US took the political stance as being neutral to appease the citizens, the population was for isolationism, while simultaneously changing imports/exports to drive the Japanese to attack us. The political elite wanted war, we were doing everything against the Japanese to start a war other than declare war. We put in place an oil embargo against the Japanese which forced them to attack, they knew with this embargo we were acting against our neutral stance and therefore wanted to destroy any chance of us joining the war, at least within a reasonable timeframe. Which is why they sunk our fleet at Pearl Harbor. The Japanese underestimated our ability to produce warships as well as the timeline we were able to enter the war.
rsync 9y ago
"I suspect that if USA never joined the war, it would actually be better off today economically, since WW2 would have proceeded regardless." Let me emphatically state that I am very much against waging war. With that out of the way, I must point out that the position the United States carved out for itself at the conclusion of WWII was such that it enjoyed absolutely unprecedented levels of autonomy and control over, basically, the entire world. It's really quite unbelievable how much of the worlds political and economic institutions were aligned directly with the interests of the US. Without question the economic benefits of that alignment are far and away beyond any possible position we could have had after not participating.

wavefunction 9y ago

The US never had a choice about joining the war or not. I know that we knew in advance about Pearl Harbor and I know that the US had already decided to join the war which precipitated specific aggression from the Axis powers against the US but there was no choice. Japan or Germany or both would have eventually come into conflict with the US due to any interests of one or more of the parties.

solarhoma 9y ago
I disagree. The US took the political stance as being neutral to appease the citizens, the population was for isolationism, while simultaneously changing imports/exports to drive the Japanese to attack us. The political elite wanted war, we were doing everything against the Japanese to start a war other than declare war. We put in place an oil embargo against the Japanese which forced them to attack, they knew with this embargo we were acting against our neutral stance and therefore wanted to destroy any chance of us joining the war, at least within a reasonable timeframe. Which is why they sunk our fleet at Pearl Harbor. The Japanese underestimated our ability to produce warships as well as the timeline we were able to enter the war.

rsync 9y ago

"I suspect that if USA never joined the war, it would actually be better off today economically, since WW2 would have proceeded regardless." Let me emphatically state that I am very much against waging war. With that out of the way, I must point out that the position the United States carved out for itself at the conclusion of WWII was such that it enjoyed absolutely unprecedented levels of autonomy and control over, basically, the entire world. It's really quite unbelievable how much of the worlds political and economic institutions were aligned directly with the interests of the US. Without question the economic benefits of that alignment are far and away beyond any possible position we could have had after not participating.