War stimulates the economy

[Major_Gagger]

War creates jobs... War is good for the economy... every time civilization has had growth is in times of war everyone rallies together negatively or positively....

[DamnthatDavid]

War helps when we need to produce something. Like weapons.

To bad we had all the weapons we needed before we attacked anyone.

If you notice, only 3 main new things where introduced in Iraq and Afghan. The Stryker Urban Military Transports, a new SAW machine gun guide rail on humvees, and a new model of sunglasses. (UV protected :) )

We only using the same ammount of ammo as we use in military excersies.

[El Blanco]

War creates jobs... War is good for the economy... every time civilization has had growth is in times of war everyone rallies together negatively or positively....

Wow, you finally caught up with what 6 graders have been taught the last 62 years

[Major_Gagger]

Wow, you finally caught up with what 6 graders have been taught the last 62 years

It looks like I am about even steven with the IQ of the average american then....

[mesobe]

ha ha ha... good call

[KevinTheOmnivore]

To my recollection, this is actually a popular myth, which only genuinely happened during WW II. Where's uber-geek OAO when you need him...?

[mesobe]

Myth my ass... Its amazing how the american economy jumped into exhaulted strength right after 9/11

[The One and Only...]

To my recollection, this is actually a popular myth, which only genuinely happened during WW II. Where's uber-geek OAO when you need him...?

Working on a project for school. I'll come back and reply later...

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Myth my ass... Its amazing how the american economy jumped into exhaulted strength right after 9/11

That wasn't a war, that was an attack.

Name another war, other than WW II, where the country economically thrived.

It's been a little while, and my brain has gotten mushy, so I'll have to think about it, and wait for OAO to respond (who I'm sure will be all over the case once he finishes his homework :)).

[Royal Tenenbaum]

Well, WW I set the ecomony up to be booming in the 20s.

[The One and Only...]

All right, it's time for me to get up on my soapbox.

Let's look at WWI and II first. Our economy had been recovering for quite some time before WWII, and there is no reason to believe that the trend would have stopped. Even if we admit that the war did improve the economy, it can hardly be given full credit.trades, such as what happened after the Crusades. I would also hope that our little friend would remember that many of these

Much of the low unemployment rates in WWII can be attributed to conscription by the army. In fact, "between 1940 and 1944, the number of unemployed persons fell by 4.62 million, while the armed forces increased by 10.87 million."

As for GDP growth, I ask you - so what? GDP only matters when items that improve our standard of living are being created. Granted, weapons that protect us might increase of SOL by keeping us alive, but to say that unnecessary wars increase our economy is another matter entirely.

Yet there is one major, very important factor that both lowered unemployment and raised GDP - namely, government deficit spending.

Yes, deficit spending does create an inflationary economic boom. Deficits are still ultimately harmful - but I feel that is beyond the scope of this thread. Deficit spending would help explain better economic conditions in both WWI and II.

Also, recall that after WWII we began to enter a new global era.

Now, the pro-war crowd might still argue about wars in the past. Why is it that economies did so well in times past during war periods? I would hope that the pro-war pundit would remember that international trade was much less during these time periods. Wars were often followed by periods of greater cross-culture wars had imperial goals - and while the victorious nation might end up in a superior economic situation, we can hardly say the same thing about the conquered lands.

[Zhukov]

"between 1940 and 1944, the number of unemployed persons fell by 4.62 million, while the armed forces increased by 10.87 million."

Where is this quote from? Where did you copy and paste from, I ask you?


I would like to put myself on the record as saying that wars don't stimulate Socialist society.

[The One and Only...]

http://www.fff.org/freedom/0395d.asp

Wars most certainly do stimulate socialist society, because it virtually requires a jingoistic populace. The Russians realized this - why don't you?

[Zhukov]

The USSR fell OAO :rolleyes

[The One and Only...]

Hence the past tense.

[ranxer]

i love that bumper sticker..

'war stimulates the economy - invest your children'

[Anonymouse]

War creates jobs... War is good for the economy... every time civilization has had growth is in times of war everyone rallies together negatively or positively....

Liar liar your penis is on fire.

[Anonymouse]

War never "stimulates the economy", government never "creates jobs". It's time to get those Statist myths out of your minds.

[The One and Only...]

Why do you have Ron Popeil as your avatar?

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Don't fall for it OAO, definitely a character.....

[ScruU2wice]

War creates jobs... War is good for the economy... every time civilization has had growth is in times of war everyone rallies together negatively or positively....


AND LIEK OMG DU U REALISED HOW MCDONALDS IS RUNNYNG MCFILLET OF FISH COMMERCIALS BECAUSE ITS LNET... OMG THIS IS ANTI-SEMITIMS....

[Helm]

Hey, it really does help your economy when you manufacture a war, and secretly sell arms to both sides! The US are very good at that sort of thing!

[Helm]

Watch out for the leftover fundamentalists! They might throw a plane at you! :lol

[Zhukov]

Hence the past tense.

Hence, the nationalist theory of 'Socialism in One Country' does not work. Hence, it hasn't worked for China, Vietnam, Eastern Europe or any other place. A 'jingoistic population' in Russia was a nessicary evil for Stalin and co to remain in power. The need for nationalism over internationalism took Stalin and co by surprise when revolution elsewhere threatenend to disrupt all the beuracracy had made for itself. Spain, Georgia, Germany, Italy...etc. all put down in favour of being patriotic to the motherland.

How can you say that it requires 'a jingoistic populace', and not be talking about Stalinism?

Socialist society is based on worker democracy, plan, and internationalism - none of these would gain anything from a war.

[The One and Only...]

Socialist society would quickly collapse, then.

[Anonymouse]

As Mises pointed out, you may begin with a single axiom – man acts – and deduce all the fundamental truths of economic science.

[Anonymouse]

Why do you have Ron Popeil as your avatar?

My mom got ripped off by Mr. Popeil. She bought the machine, and we set it in a corner and forgot about it.

[The One and Only...]

Yay!!! An Austrian economist!!!

[Anonymouse]

Yay!!! An Austrian economist!!!

Yes, and nothing less.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Group hug!!!

[mburbank]

Returning to the original point of this thread, is war good for the economy, Our president recently weighed in with his own carefully reasoned answer.

"The march to war affected the people's confidence. It's hard to make investment. See, if you're a small business owner or a large business owner and you're thinking about investing, you've got to be optimistic when you invest. Except when you're marching to war, it's not a very optimistic thought, is it? In other words, it's the opposite of optimistic when you're thinking you're going to war." —Springfield, Mo., Feb. 9, 2004

[KevinTheOmnivore]

It seems the focus has been on World War II, which is a pretty narrow attempt to answer the question.

I think it can be said that specific sectors thrive during war, particularly war industries. Prior to the War of 1812 for example, Treasury Sec. Galadin and Thomas Jefferson theorized that America would never really need a strong navy, so Galadin had the navy stripped down to essentially small gun boats that patroled the shores. He was very fiscally conservative, and figured that America would never get embroiled in a naval war. Oops.

So Madison becomes president, War of 1812 kicks up, British and French piracy, etc. etc., and we have no capable response mechanism. The navy is built up again to fight the war, and (theoretically) they did well. I'd have to research some more to see if any certain companies thrived, though.