The Second World War was paid for by the Tooth Fairy

[eridani]

At least that's what the so-called "deficit hawks" and anti-FDR folks seem to believe. They insist that New Deal policies made the Depression worse, and that it was only entry into WW II that dropped unemployment significantly. The government, of course, could not have possibly funded the war.

During that period of close to full employment, there were price controls, rationing of nylon, meat, gasoline and many other goods, and of course very high taxes.

[madrchsod]

1. you realize there is at least two generations that...

have`t a clue about life during ww2. i`m 64 so i grew up with stories about my family during the depression and ww2. hell i bet most people in the usa have`t seen or know nothing about the ration books.

come to think of it ..i wonder if my parents old books are still good?

[jtrockville]

7. WOW, do you still have them?

I'd LOVE to see an image of those ration books.

[sufrommich]

10. Here's some images:

http://blujay.com/item/WW-II-WAR-RATION-STAMP-BOOK-CONTAINS-226-STAMPS-WORLD-WAR-2-CALIFORNIA-FREE-SHIPPING-7220000-2670629

I have a couple of my Grandma's ration books somewhere down in my basement,haven't looked at them in years.

[jtrockville]

14. OMG those are awesome.

We must never forget the sacrifices that generation made.
What a marvelous reminder.

Thank you!

[madrchsod]

15. yup...

i have no way to post images at this time

[Turbineguy]

2. We may need to ration again

to ensure that the rich have unlimited access to all the goodies.

[OHdem10]

3. FDR instituted a WAR TAX. .

[jtrockville]

8. I always said...

The "Bush" tax cuts SHOULD have been set to expire after X years (was it 8? or 10?) OR when we stopped running a SURPLUS.

I'd bet a LARGE sum of money we'd NEVER have gone to war if it meant the uber-wealthy had to contribute even one thin dime to the cause.

[old mark]

11. ...and some private companies - such as Bell Telephone-kept CHARGING

customers a WWII tax on each month's phone bill (Excise tax) till the 1980's, IIRC...it went right into the company's profits.
Link:

http://iret.org/pub/BLTN-74.PDF


mark

[Historic NY]

4. & American workers were the arsenal of defense.

[WatsonT]

5. We also racked up considerable debt during that time

So it wasn't entirely funded by taxes.


Nor would people tolerate rationing today (or sending our youth off to fight and die abroad).

[Liberal Gramma]

6. Interesting how the debt climbs up during the reign of the deficit hawks,

and back down under the rule of the party reputed to be big spenders.

[WatsonT]

13. Well to be fair

it's based on a percentage of the GDP. So you could still grow the debt considerably but as long as the economy is growing even slightly faster it would appear that you are decreasing the debt on this graph.

[reformist2]

9. GOP views on the economics of the FDR years are contradictory.

They always say that FDR's Keynesian policies did nothing to help the people, or that it even prolonged the depression. But then say that it took WWII, essentially a super-sized Keynesian program, to get us out of the depression. So they oppose small Keynesian programs, but support big ones? Or maybe it's peaceful programs that don't work - it's only when the spending program kills people that it makes the economy recover?

[eridani]

16. Yep. You can really twist them into knots on this n/t

[Javaman]

12. At the height of the depression, around '32, unemployment was at 25%

in 1940, unemployment stood at 14%.

FDR's policies were working. The war accelerated it, that's all.

But if there were no war, unemployment would have eventually settled out.