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> Japan was not an economic powerhouse before WW2. It was massively unable to compete with the US economically. It could not replace the combat losses of equipm

> Japan was not an economic powerhouse before WW2. It was massively unable to compete with the US economically. It could not replace the combat losses of equipment. Etc. At that time there wasn't any nation in the world that could compete with the US in war production mode. (Well, maybe the Soviet, and that's it.) You might as well say that Germany and Britain weren't economic powerhouses.

WalterBright 9y ago
> At that time there wasn't any nation in the world that could compete with the US in war production mode. That's right. Aren't free markets and free trade amazing? :-) The Soviet Union in WW2 was heavily supplied by the US.
- yongjik 9y ago
  Well, being the single industrialized country in the world whose soil is not constantly being bombarded by enemy force should be pretty amazing (compared to the alternatives), but I'm not sure what that has to do with free markets.
  - WalterBright 9y ago
    The US was effective at preventing other countries from bombing it, and was effective at bombing other countries, ocean or no ocean. To what do you attribute that? The US was able to sustain a crushing advantage against multiple enemies across two oceans, plus sustain all of its allies with desperately needed arms, fuel, food, and support. The US soldiers were the best equipped, best fed, and best supported.
- emodendroket 9y ago
  In the inter-war period the United States passed massive tariffs on foreign goods (and they had substantial ones before that too). The zenith of that was the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of 1930. Also, one reason the US was easily able to go on a war footing was that its grinding depression meant a lot of productive capacity was idle. And once the war started there was much more, not less, government intervention in the economy (introducing price controls and the like and obviously tremendously increasing government spending).
  - WalterBright 9y ago
    > In the inter-war period the United States passed massive tariffs on foreign goods (and they had substantial ones before that too). Yup, and that's credited with deepening and lengthening the Great Depression, not making America's economy better. > much more, not less, government intervention in the economy All Roosevelt's New Deal interventions failed to get the country out of the GD. What did was a massive influx of money from foreign governments buying arms. All price controls did was produce a black market. If planned economies worked, the USSR economy would have been a powerhouse, not a basket case propped up by shipments of grain from Kansas to keep starvation away. Want a modern example of an unplanned, unregulated free market industry? The software business. It's characterized by incredible innovation, prices dropping to $0, the biggest companies in the world, and a constant stream of billionaires being minted.
    - emodendroket 9y ago
      > All Roosevelt's New Deal interventions failed to get the country out of the GD. What did was a massive influx of money from foreign governments buying arms. They couldn't and didn't pay for most of those weapons.
      - WalterBright 9y ago
        Before Lend-Lease, they did. See Freidman's "Monetary History of the United States" about the massive influx of foreign money buying armaments before the US entry into the war.
        emodendroket 9y ago
        That's not really relevant. The paid stuff is dwarfed by the unpaid. The reason World War II ended the depression was it was a massive government stimulus at a level unimaginable politically during peacetime.
        WalterBright 9y ago

WalterBright 9y ago

> At that time there wasn't any nation in the world that could compete with the US in war production mode. That's right. Aren't free markets and free trade amazing? :-) The Soviet Union in WW2 was heavily supplied by the US.

yongjik 9y ago
Well, being the single industrialized country in the world whose soil is not constantly being bombarded by enemy force should be pretty amazing (compared to the alternatives), but I'm not sure what that has to do with free markets.
- WalterBright 9y ago
  The US was effective at preventing other countries from bombing it, and was effective at bombing other countries, ocean or no ocean. To what do you attribute that? The US was able to sustain a crushing advantage against multiple enemies across two oceans, plus sustain all of its allies with desperately needed arms, fuel, food, and support. The US soldiers were the best equipped, best fed, and best supported.
emodendroket 9y ago
In the inter-war period the United States passed massive tariffs on foreign goods (and they had substantial ones before that too). The zenith of that was the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of 1930. Also, one reason the US was easily able to go on a war footing was that its grinding depression meant a lot of productive capacity was idle. And once the war started there was much more, not less, government intervention in the economy (introducing price controls and the like and obviously tremendously increasing government spending).
- WalterBright 9y ago
  > In the inter-war period the United States passed massive tariffs on foreign goods (and they had substantial ones before that too). Yup, and that's credited with deepening and lengthening the Great Depression, not making America's economy better. > much more, not less, government intervention in the economy All Roosevelt's New Deal interventions failed to get the country out of the GD. What did was a massive influx of money from foreign governments buying arms. All price controls did was produce a black market. If planned economies worked, the USSR economy would have been a powerhouse, not a basket case propped up by shipments of grain from Kansas to keep starvation away. Want a modern example of an unplanned, unregulated free market industry? The software business. It's characterized by incredible innovation, prices dropping to $0, the biggest companies in the world, and a constant stream of billionaires being minted.
  - emodendroket 9y ago
    > All Roosevelt's New Deal interventions failed to get the country out of the GD. What did was a massive influx of money from foreign governments buying arms. They couldn't and didn't pay for most of those weapons.
    - WalterBright 9y ago
      Before Lend-Lease, they did. See Freidman's "Monetary History of the United States" about the massive influx of foreign money buying armaments before the US entry into the war.
      - emodendroket 9y ago
        That's not really relevant. The paid stuff is dwarfed by the unpaid. The reason World War II ended the depression was it was a massive government stimulus at a level unimaginable politically during peacetime.
        WalterBright 9y ago