How the U.S.A. Could Afford the Second World War

John Kenneth Galbraith, a Canadian economist following in John Maynard Keynes deficit spending, pump priming policies- not entirely dissimilar from Arthur Laffer’s Supply Side Economic policy that advised the Reagan administration, was one of F.D.R.’s wartime economic advisers(Arthur Laffer - Wikipedia) . Galbraith was the Deputy head of the Office of Price Administration that set prices on goods during the war.
John Kenneth Galbraith - Wikipedia

Select goods were rationed during the war, including gasoline. Industry was converted to produce war materials rather than consumer goods. Total war required total commitment of the economy toward defeating the axis powers.

With 20 million Americans drafted into the military during the war years, in a nation with a population of 132 million, labor surplus from the post-depression era with a 14% unemployment rate probably dried up. Wage and price controls and the need for full employment producing items for war as well as national sustenance allowed the United States- a largely self-reliant nation at the time, to devote itself to defeating the foreign enemies of the Republic.

Running deficits, selling bonds and raising the tax rate to 90% on the rich helped finance the war. Economic growth after the war’s conclusion allowed the very large public debt to be repaid rather quickly.

A Brief Reply to Some Anti-American Int Relations Intervention

 The United States has been the target of terrorists for some time. There are fascists and communists in the world still- as well as genocidal racists, imperialists and criminals of sundry sorts. Those all require defense strategies. I will mention a couple of points, though not reply to all.

Just in May there were about 133,000 people arrested trying to cross the U.S. border illegally. Maybe an equal number made it across. Some of those are terrorists; many are criminals. U.S. security faces challenges from nuclear weapons including suitcase devices as well as biological attacks and more. Russia only really closed down the Biopreparat facilities of the former Soviet Union completely about 1999. Some of those programs migrated elsewhere.

Russia has some fine weapons systems that are have global attack coverage. So does China and others…ICBMs. The anti-nuclear weapons proliferation sentiment that developed after World War Two when the U.S.A. was the sole nuclear power and could have taken the opportunity to annihilate Russia, China and others if it wanted to has not been shared by several countries. Even so the Middle East and the world will not be more secure if Iran develops nuclear weapons too.

Nazi and Japan did declare war on the United States to commence the Second World War. Chinese mass casualties were nothing to brag about; the point is to win a war with as few casualties as possible- the enemy can have the casualties.

The C.I.A. developed from the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.) following the Second World War. It’s primary task was to counter communist expansion around the globe. The Cold War was a global conflict itself with wars against communist insurgencies and infrastructure permeating underdeveloped countries. The Cold War required perpetual vigilance against the Soviet bloc-Warsaw pact nations. That was very costly. Africa became saturated with weapons. Soviets tried to install nuclear missiles in Cuba. Che Guevara and other Cubans fomented revolutions in Latin America and Africa. The Khmer Rouge perpetrated genocide, etc. Unfortunately post-Cold War socialists still exist to subvert democracy through other means. They present an opportunity cost to the free world that is substantial; the need to reform Democracy and capitalism to make it more egalitarian, ecologically sustainable and more effective is obscured and neglected with the continuing stupid neo-Marxist paradigm of dialectical clash between capitalism and socialism continuing.

There are far too many poorly educated people that work intentionally or unintentionally for a neo-authoritarian socialist global political system. And then there is the Muslim problem of theocracy, religious law and world conquest philosophy.

Some Believe Famous Chess Players Have a Higher Than Normal Rate of Mental Illness

I wasn’t aware that famous chess players have a higher than normal incidence of mental illness. In the United States, purportedly, about half of the population technically qualifies for some kind of a mental illness . However the definition of mental illness includes a wide variety of behavioral issues such as alcoholism, p.m.s. (?), marijuana smoking etc. so that may inflate the number. They sometimes redefine the list identifying metal illnesses if some items become politically unpopular.

In my opinion the reason that the number is 49% is that if a majority were credited with having recognizable mental illness then there are various philosophical problems that arise such as the crazies are running the asylum kind of thing. Nations with a lot of psychiatrists and psychologists have much higher numbers of people with mental illness. Europe has a lot of psychiatrists and chess players so it may logically follow that statistics might show that a higher percentage of the population including chess players have mental illness. Fortunately, famous chess players often can earn good enough money to deal with their handicaps and illness challenges for-themselves instead of relying on social welfare benefits.

It is possible that having a mind running toward blindfolded, cool chess calculations detaches great chess players from the usual chit chat about Donald Trump. Democrats at least may consider that sic.

Being a great chess player may require a fanatical devotion to the game, and the game is rather worthless in any social application concerning survival. I recall reading of one great German chess player who starved to death at home during one of the wars- the first I believe, in a gentlemanly way instead of asking someone for help (maybe he couldn’t have got any help if he had asked). He was a famous chess player with a good chess game and bad farmer/soldier/forager survival skills.

Mexican Tariff Could Be Good for the Economy

I wonder if minor corrections might not prevent the kind of irrational exuberance that leads to bubbles and recession or depression. Some pre-emptive economic measures that cut back yet reload might allow continued economic growth-even though that should be in quality rather than quantity. The national ecosystem is quite over-stressed and requires substantial work for recovery.

Mexico might benefit from some externally stimulated discipline. The Mexican economy relies too much on oil and drugs, its good workers flee abroad and criminals in and out of government take a larger share than they should. I think the genius required to transition to a sustainable economic infrastructure is too great of a challenge for any U.S. politician. Quality just doesn’t enter politics any more. Mexico has similar problems in that a paucity of ecological economics literate politicians prevails.

China's Divergent Development Choices

I.M.O. China has an unlikable political template-for-others. People don’t really like authoritarian governance, nor the repression of creativity and political self-determination that are implicit features of communism, fascism, national socialism and so forth. Life needs to be about more than breeding and food, work and entertainment as authorities permit. China does not even permit religious freedom. Crimping spirituality is a definite litmus test for freedom or lack thereof.

China has some brilliant physicists, yet they cannot take their work and simply apply it commercially for-themselves, as they determine is in their best self-interest. That limits technological development. The communists need to expropriate too much and keep the inventors under the eye of the state. A super-power that is super-oppressive may not be the electorate’s choice.

National Collapse With Inflationary Pizza Policy?

Collapse like a souffle’? Arnold Toynbee the late British historian of civilization viewed the collapse of civilizations generally as occurring in cycles. Some large nations might be compared to old style civilizations to a limited extent. Toynbee felt however , in the final analysis of his final book, that there was just one world civilization that existed after all the others had perished or merged through cultural proximity and shared content.

The United States could collapse from entering the universal phase where it is over-extended globally in trade and investment- even reciprocally. Following the Universal phase of a civilization in the Toynbee schema is collapse- like a super nova, volcano that spews its guts out or a failed souffle expanded like a soup bubble before the terrible collapse.

Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and the rest of Wall Street will invest and develop far more overseas than in the United States. Leaders and gentry of ancient Rome made the same mistake. The United States will become an afterthought and regarded by the rich as being in a state of good enough as it is. No longer will politicians and the rich seek to make the nation itself a global leader by example with the best infrastructure most well-adapted to ecospheric challenges. They will not lead to assure a quality lifestyle for all American citizens. Neither will they protect the polity against 150,000 illegal aliens arrested each month with that number probably making it through successfully.

As people become to rich and complacent, so interested in their own affairs that they neglect public affairs, and as they allow moral decay to become the norm and fall away from the faith of the founders; these things can all lead to collapse.

So could extreme inflation in the price of pizza.

Trump Admin Should Form a Dept of Space Agriculture

With food being necessary for all life forms including humans to live, the U.S. Government should consider formally creating a Department of Space Agriculture to coordinate extra-terrestrial farming methods beginning with the moon. Farming should be prioritized for all extra-terrestrial settlements.

N.A.S.A. photo of Lunar North Pole

It should be possible to create a terrarium on the moon to grow food under glass or under-ground in air-sealed chambers. making space agriculture greatly productive is not a bad idea. Some of the food might even be dehydrated and returned to Earth in compressed form.