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Because in part the greatest economy came out of being the only economy left after 2 world wars wiped out pretty much everyone else's and the Iron Curtain was b

Because in part the greatest economy came out of being the only economy left after 2 world wars wiped out pretty much everyone else's and the Iron Curtain was brought down to trap 1/3 of the worlds population under a genocidal communist dictatorship.

OfSanguineFire 3y ago
The USA wasn't "the only economy left" except for the immediate postwar years. The 1950s and 1960s, the period when the US was doing so well according to the linked article, also saw economic booms for France (les trente glorieuses) and West Germany (Wirtschaftswunder), for example. The socialist world wasn't necessarily stuck in place either: Yugoslavia's high point, the years of the vikendica and middle-class leisure travel across Europe and Asia, was the 1960s-1970s. Granted, Yugoslavia was outside the Iron Curtain, but even the USSR is instructive here: living standards were rising even there during the Krushchev era, which is why the Brezhnev era is regarded as such stagnation.
LIligEST 3y ago
[dead]
toasted-subs 3y ago
You could say the same thing about China under Mao.
timeagain 3y ago
It’s easy to have a labor utopia when the vast majority of the rest of the developed world is far behind. But just like with the recent rate hike you see what was actually a solid business model once the free money dries up.
gumby 3y ago
"Only economy left?" You know, despite being called a "world" war, no American countries south of the USA were involved, nor most of Africa, India nor European powers like Portugal, Spain, Switzerland or Turkey, and probably others I forget. And this was despite two globe-girdling empires dragging in many of their subject states (e.g. Australia and Canada were dragged into the European theatre). Also the article was discussing "greatest economy ever for the USA".
- alephnerd 3y ago
  Most of Africa, India, South America, and the Mediterranean was still agrarian in 1945. Portuguese industrialization only began in the post-war period, Spain was still rebuilding from the destructive civil war in the 1930s, Türkiye was rebuilding from it's civil war in the 1920s, and South America largely had extraction economies that industrialized thanks to mass immigration from Europe throughout the 20th century Post WW2, the only standing untouched industrial countries were the US, Canada, and Australia. And those 3 countries led developmental indicators until the early 2000s when Western Europe finally caught up.
- AnimalMuppet 3y ago
  India? India was part of the UK at the time. Also, India got both carrier raids and land invasion from Japan.
  - alephnerd 3y ago
    The land invasion was only in Northeast India (Manipur and Nagaland specifically) - which isn't industrialized to this day either. During WW2, British India's primary industrial hubs were Bengal (Calcutta, Dhaka), Bombay Presidency (Bombay), Punjab (Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Lahore, Delhi outskirts), Sindh (Karachi), Hyderabad Sultanate (Hyderabad), and portions of UP (Kanpur, Lucknow). Also, British India had de facto autonomy during WW2. WW2 did help India industrialize, but British India was starting from such a relatively low base that it was basically playing catch up. I'd recommend reading India's War by Srinath Raghavan to get an economic history of India during the interwar and WW2 period.
  - gumby 3y ago
    India was most definitely never “part of the UK”! Not even the Channel Islands, Man, etc are.
- arroz 3y ago
  there were countries in South America in the war. Brazil was one such country. I don’t know about other South American countries. I wouldn’t call Portugal an European power, they never had a significant population. Same for Switzerland. Spain was completely destroyed just before world war 2 during a civil war Most of Asia and Africa had been put under European control before world war 2, which actually was one of the reasons there was war: Germans had almost no colonies and wanted to expand Turkey had lost world war 1 a few years back (Ottoman Empire)

OfSanguineFire 3y ago

The USA wasn't "the only economy left" except for the immediate postwar years. The 1950s and 1960s, the period when the US was doing so well according to the linked article, also saw economic booms for France (les trente glorieuses) and West Germany (Wirtschaftswunder), for example. The socialist world wasn't necessarily stuck in place either: Yugoslavia's high point, the years of the vikendica and middle-class leisure travel across Europe and Asia, was the 1960s-1970s. Granted, Yugoslavia was outside the Iron Curtain, but even the USSR is instructive here: living standards were rising even there during the Krushchev era, which is why the Brezhnev era is regarded as such stagnation.

LIligEST 3y ago

[dead]

toasted-subs 3y ago

You could say the same thing about China under Mao.

timeagain 3y ago

It’s easy to have a labor utopia when the vast majority of the rest of the developed world is far behind. But just like with the recent rate hike you see what was actually a solid business model once the free money dries up.

gumby 3y ago

"Only economy left?" You know, despite being called a "world" war, no American countries south of the USA were involved, nor most of Africa, India nor European powers like Portugal, Spain, Switzerland or Turkey, and probably others I forget. And this was despite two globe-girdling empires dragging in many of their subject states (e.g. Australia and Canada were dragged into the European theatre). Also the article was discussing "greatest economy ever for the USA".

alephnerd 3y ago
Most of Africa, India, South America, and the Mediterranean was still agrarian in 1945. Portuguese industrialization only began in the post-war period, Spain was still rebuilding from the destructive civil war in the 1930s, Türkiye was rebuilding from it's civil war in the 1920s, and South America largely had extraction economies that industrialized thanks to mass immigration from Europe throughout the 20th century Post WW2, the only standing untouched industrial countries were the US, Canada, and Australia. And those 3 countries led developmental indicators until the early 2000s when Western Europe finally caught up.
AnimalMuppet 3y ago
India? India was part of the UK at the time. Also, India got both carrier raids and land invasion from Japan.
- alephnerd 3y ago
  The land invasion was only in Northeast India (Manipur and Nagaland specifically) - which isn't industrialized to this day either. During WW2, British India's primary industrial hubs were Bengal (Calcutta, Dhaka), Bombay Presidency (Bombay), Punjab (Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Lahore, Delhi outskirts), Sindh (Karachi), Hyderabad Sultanate (Hyderabad), and portions of UP (Kanpur, Lucknow). Also, British India had de facto autonomy during WW2. WW2 did help India industrialize, but British India was starting from such a relatively low base that it was basically playing catch up. I'd recommend reading India's War by Srinath Raghavan to get an economic history of India during the interwar and WW2 period.
- gumby 3y ago
  India was most definitely never “part of the UK”! Not even the Channel Islands, Man, etc are.
arroz 3y ago
there were countries in South America in the war. Brazil was one such country. I don’t know about other South American countries. I wouldn’t call Portugal an European power, they never had a significant population. Same for Switzerland. Spain was completely destroyed just before world war 2 during a civil war Most of Asia and Africa had been put under European control before world war 2, which actually was one of the reasons there was war: Germans had almost no colonies and wanted to expand Turkey had lost world war 1 a few years back (Ottoman Empire)