Dulce Et Decorum Est

Where Do I Enlist?

July 22nd, 2010

This is a syndicated post, originally from der Blaustrumpf » Being Rational Doesn’t Make You a Misogynist.

This was good for a chuckle:

There is overwhelming agreement among economists that the Second World War was responsible for decisively ending the Great Depression. When asked why the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are failing to make the same impact today, they often claim that the current conflicts are simply too small to be economically significant.

There is, of course, much irony here. No one argues that World War II, with its genocide, tens of millions of combatant casualties, and wholesale destruction of cities and regions, was good for humanity. But the improved American economy of the late 1940s seems to illustrate the benefits of large-scale government stimulus. This conundrum may be causing some to wonder how we could capture the good without the bad.

If one believes that government spending can create economic growth, then the answer should be simple: let’s have a huge pretend war that rivals the Second World War in size. However, this time, let’s not kill anyone.

Peter Schiff: Why Not Another World War? | Euro Pacific Capital.

Honestly, I see a lot of promise here. So many Americans see the military mainly as a men’s club and pageant, or as a nifty science and gadget lab. Feminists and gays seem oblivious to the military’s actual purpose and see it chiefly as a testing ground for social equality, while middle-class advocates for the working class consider it a job program for youths pushed out of work by the minimum wage and other economic tinkering. We could have a lot of fun with this if you keep the waste of time, material, and productivity and take out the killing, especially since so many have already mentally subtracted the actual loss of life from the equation.

Schiff, though, is merely kidding:

If all of this seems absurd, that’s because it is. War is a great way to destroy things, but it’s a terrible way to grow an economy.

What is often overlooked is that war creates hardship, and not just for those who endure the violence. Yes, US production increased during the Second World War, but very little of that was of use to anyone but soldiers. Consumers can’t use a bomber to take a family vacation.

The goal of an economy is to raise living standards. During the War, as productive output was diverted to the front, consumer goods were rationed back home and living standards fell. While it’s easy to see the numerical results of wartime spending, it is much harder to see the civilian cutbacks that enabled it.

The truth is that we cannot spend our way out of our current crisis, no matter how great a spectacle we create. Even if we spent on infrastructure rather than war, we would still have no means to fund it, and there would still be no guarantee that the economy would grow as a result.

Ok. I still want tassels. And a parade. And a fancy funeral.

Filed under: War Tagged: economy, military, spectacle, War