Military spending as a percent of national income rose a huge amount in the 1940s, but so did spending on pretty much everything else. Over the period from 1930

Military spending as a percent of national income rose a huge amount in the 1940s, but so did spending on pretty much everything else. Over the period from 1930 to 1950 the United States (as well as many other Western countries) transformed themselves from societies with pretty low taxes who spent the bulk of their (small amounts of) revenue on defense to higher-tax societies which spent (a lot more) revenue on defense, education, all kinds of scientific research etc. In fact, while defense spending rose a lot during this period, these other categories of spending rose significantly more (as percentages of national income) because prior to the early twentieth century they weren't really considered core functions of the state. That is the bigger story (rather than World War II). > Unfortunately, the only reliable "reset" button society has found seems to be war. In my opinion this claim needs significantly more justification even though it is frequently tossed around.