Please turn on JavaScript

Brooks Wilson's Economics Blog: WWII and the Economy (Repost I)

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

WWII and the Economy (Repost I)

In one of my first posts, I criticized Paul Krugman and George Will over their description of depression era economic policy and its effectiveness. Although I believe my reading of the economic literature is correct, I wish I had offered my opinion as another hypothesis of events that had some empirical support.

I also disagree with their assessment that WWII was a great public works program that ended the Great Depression. After reviewing a few sources, I am less sure that the opinion I will offer is the majority opinion, but I believe that it is correct.

War is never good for an economy. It may be the least bad alternative or it may be the morally right action, but it is never good for the economy. I am not only worried about an incorrect interpretation of WWII, but the implication that if war can be good for the economy once, then it might be good again.

clip_image001

Those who argue the economic virtues of WWII generally point to two apparent economic accomplishments of the war: unemployment fell and gross domestic product grew. The graph, "U.S. Economy: 1938-1945", a nostalgic "guns and butter" graph for those of us who studied economics during the Vietnam War, illustrates this position. This graph has made up numbers and breaks down production into two goods, guns representing armaments, and butter representing consumer goods. In 1938, the nation was in the interior of the frontier. As the war progressed, unemployment fell, and production increased. We ended up at a point labeled 1945. The expansion of the production frontier from the blue line to the red line represents economic growth.

Why is this analysis flawed? Value in exchange occurs only when it is voluntary. When another country threatens our physical safety, or our way of life, we have been denied our freedom to select the mix of guns and butter that we desire. We do not build armaments or go to war because we enjoy it, but because we must. I hope that I am correctly stating American values.

Unemployment did decrease during the war. In 1939 between 7 and 8 million workers were unemployed. In part that was accomplished by drafting a big chunk of our labor force. By the ended of the war, approximately 12 million men were in uniform. I doubt that hundreds of thousands of the newly unemployed are lining up at recruiters offices. They apparently value their unemployed civilian activities more than their potential employed military activities.

War is also tough on resources. Output did increase as illustrated on the graph, but those resources were used to make goods that are only desirable if we are threatened, tanks, artillery, bombers, etc. Furthermore, use of these resources generally leads to their destruction. They might add to GDP, but they add little to national wealth. We have also failed to mention what I believe to be the biggest loss, about 400,000 dead and 1,000,000 injured.

Growth in our economy should be measured by the increase in the value of goods and services we wish to consume. The production of consumer goods did not grow during the war, and a large number of those goods were rationed. Because we could not purchase goods that we wished to consume and we were compelled to produce goods we did not wish to produce, it could be argued that the price mechanism was not functioning and GNP was improperly measured.

Three conditions must be met to conclude that war is good for the economy. It must be fought in foreign lands, must be won, and a low value must be placed on American dead. Unemployment is growing and production is declining. Certainly we could find a war that meets the first two conditions, and if we are careful, we could minimize American deaths. Should we reinstitute the draft and expand the War on Terrorism as part of a stimulus package?

72 comments:

  1. Natasha King15/9/09 7:40 PM

    Absolutely not. What would Americans gain by reinstuting the draft? Yes unemployment may drop but then there is the possibility that deaths of Americans will increase. Is the cost of American lives worth the decrease in unemployment?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mary Catherine Driese15/9/09 10:03 PM

    I do not believe any one thing could have single-handedly helped us out of The Depression, though that may seem non-committal. It was a combination of a publicly supported war, the draft, the success of the war(as you stated), and a new attitude of the American people as young men came home and hoped to live normal lives. A stable economy seemed like a terrific option after a tumultuous decade or so of risk and instability, and most Americans would do what they could to attain that ideal safety.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I do not believe reinstating the draft would help our economy. It might help with the unemployment that devestates our country at this time but suppose it did happen, those that were unemployed before the war would be unemployed after the war, not to mention being forced to put their lives at stake when that wasn't what they wanted to do. I believe those that want to fight in the war against terrorism are doing so and forcing those to fight who don't want to just because of unemployment is unethical and not good for our economy as a whole.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I certainly disagree on the idea of re institute the draft. I mean after all of that war and that we got were nothing but miserable and pain. I know my anti-war opinion sounds very general, but draft is not a good idea to help the unemployment rate to decline.

    ReplyDelete
  5. During WWII, one of the biggest reasons why the draft helped to boost the economy was because it united the country under a common cause. This mainly happened because support for the war was fairly large. Support for the War on Terrorism is not near what it was for WWII. Although reinstituting the draft may positively affect the economy, it would cause an uproar from the people and create an even bigger problem between the government and the people. The negative effects would far outweight the positive.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Richard Inge said........

    No, I do not believe that we should reinstate the draft. So many people choose not to enlist due to their beliefs. Yes, the unemployment would probably drop, however, the death rates would rise.

    ReplyDelete
  7. How reinstate draft help situation in our country is the unemployment is at high and war should be the last thing talk about there are to many issues her in American that always has to be solve by war.
    Does any good come out of war? No so why draft Anything will still not be resolve by issuing of fightings would be worst and unemployment rate will still be high.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ryan Mezynski20/9/09 9:19 PM

    I believe that reinstituting the draft in this current war would only waste lives, the most important resource for an economy. WWII was a different kind of warfare, which required lots of resources for large armies that would meet openly on the battle field, but the war in Iraq requires a concentrated group specialized troops to fight the gorilla warfare tactics. Also for anything good to come out of a war, you need to in foreign lands so your industry isn't in the battle zone, and minimize the loss of lives and goods produced. Finally you need to win, and from winning you need to gain every kind of resource they have to offer, so you can boost the resources you put into your economy.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jennifer Molina21/9/09 2:55 PM

    I, like many others, do not believe that the draft is the right thing to do. I would be willing to bet that most of the individuals that were drafted would not continue with a job in the military, leaving our country with the same unemployment rate we have now. Many people stood behind the cause of WWII, but not many people stand behind the cause of the War on Terrorism. Drafting would only put more lives in danger of being lost.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have to agree with Jennifer Molina and Ryan Mezynski. Reinstituting would only lead to more lives lose and win or lose we would still lose a great deal of lives, especially like in the war we are in now. Terrorism is a big issue for our country and it's economy, yes, but with our unstability of our economy at this instant, no one is going to want to leave their lives of saftey at their home and workplace.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Kaitlyn Wooley21/9/09 6:32 PM

    I believe that having a draft would not be a wise decision. I in general do not believe that war is good for the economy. How can it be good for the economy when many lives are sacrificed? I agree with your statement on the only way it could possibly good. I agree that we would have to fight on foreign lands so that our industries do not suffer. However, by being on foreign lands, it makes it harder to win because its not your own terrain. Winning, is a priority and must be accomplished in order for war to stimulate the economy. Also, there must be fewer deaths. If you could accomplish these three things, then i guess you could say that war could help the economy. The only other thing i disagree with the fact that war decreases unemployment. This happens because many people are sent off to war. When they leave, jobs open up. Also when the demand of guns and other goods increases, more jobs are available so to be able to fill this need of goods. I believe this is the reason that there are less people unemployed people during a war, instead of the idea that the unemployed are sent off. The only way this would not be true was if you did reinstitute a draft and then you would be pulling a variety of people, not just unemployed, but also the employed. However, I still believe that war is not a good decision. Even if war has some up sides, the downs greatly out weigh the ups.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Laura Bronw22/9/09 10:52 PM

    Laura Brown

    When I was growing up, I would hear my grandfather and his brothers say that we needed war to improve the economy. I learned that they were basing this on World War II, in which they lived through and enjoyed the prosperous aftermath. My view is that the economy did well more because if the times then. During the war, production increased on war goods. Many of the women took jobs outside the home for the first time. Some even worked their regular jobs as teachers, etc. during the day and worked in the bomb factories at night. As you pointed out, there weren't choice consumer goods to purchase during the war so I believe they saved the money they earned. Then after the war, there was money to be spent on new household products and inventions during that time. Also, the war production changed to meet these demands and jobs were available for returning soliders because many of the women returned to being housewives. This is a very simpllistic view of how the economy did well during this time, but as you stated the GNP may have been improperly measured. I don't believe the draft should be reinstated for the purpose of increasing the war on terrorism to stimulate the economy. The draft should be re-instated if it is needed to increase military and for reasons only to protect our safety and freedom. Losing human lives should not be a means to stimulate the economy.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Katrina Morris23/9/09 11:27 AM

    I don't believe we should we reinstitute the draft and expand the War on Terrorism as part of a stimulus package. Although this may help the economy's growth by decreasing the unemployment rate. Is this really a solution to the problem it seems that the same situation before the war would be there after the war and many lives would be lost. The cost is far to great to me.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Diane Navejas24/9/09 12:17 AM

    As unemployment rises and domestic production decreases, many of us are not willing to support the reinstatement of the draft. WWII had a different purpose and common ground among Americans. Many people oppose the War on Terrorism. Implementing the draft would cause an uproar in our society.
    Yes, unemployment would decrease but fatalaties would increase. To many people, trading American lives with the enemy would not be worth stimulating our economy.
    According to Dr. Wilson, "growth in our economy should be measured by the increase in the value of goods and services we wish to consume." Producing more would not necessarily mean we would be able to purchase the goods we want or need. It would mean we would be producing more things needed for war like artillary, bombs, and tanks. So, in conclusion, I do not think the draft would be a solution to boost our economy.

    ReplyDelete
  15. No, the draft shouldn’t be reinstituted because I think the draft wouldn’t be fair and only the lower to middle class would be effected .I agree the war helps with unemployment , by producing contract and permanent jobs in foreign countries and the USA . As for as helping our economy I think the stimulus package will actual harm us because we are spending millions and millions of dollars fighting wars which most of the times we end up destroying those cities and then having to rebuild them. We are spending money we don’t have

    ReplyDelete
  16. Austin Burke27/9/09 6:56 PM

    Reinstituting the draft would be a very bad choice for the United states right now in my opinion. Sure you may lower the unemployment rate by making it where people have to go overseas and fight, but would this be the best way to do that? By sending more people across seas that will mean more deaths, more resources used up,(for more war supplies-guns,tanks etc.)and less consumer good most likely. IT may have worked in WWII but this is a different kind of war and as a country i do not believe we have the same amount of support for this war as we did for WWII. Were already spending alot of money for this war so i do not think the solution is to reinstate the draft and cause us to spend even more money.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Funny how you say your opinion wouldn't win the majority vote. I would like to speak to these people who say War is good for the economy based on those two factors alone. Well of course back in WWII employment and production rose and maintained a good percentage. Women who had never worked suddenly became employed so they could feed their family while the husband was off to War. The country did what they had to do to survive. I certainly wouldn't call this a good thing, simply a predictable economic happening during such a time. Are we that close minded not to be able to come up with a better way to "stimulate" our economy?

    ReplyDelete
  18. I do not think the draft is right! The reason the economy got better during the war was because of the way the people of the United States felt about their country. That love is still there but the people these days are not nearly like the people years ago. Many people believe different things these days and the issuance of a drart would make many Americans mad. This would not give the necessary support we would need to help fight the war on terrorism. I think that if there was a draft many people would go absent with out leave. This would in turn hurt us due to the lack of support by differt Americans and the lack of organization as well as the leadership.This would not help our economy out in any way.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Alexandra Goarin27/9/09 9:25 PM

    I think that reinstituting the draft would only cause more and more lives being lost. The more people we send the greater number of unnecessary deaths. However, sending more people could help this war come to an end, but which do we chose? Should we put more peolpe's lives at stake for the sake of ending this war?
    The loss of life can only harm the economy, by having less and less people adding to the economy.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Chanel P said...

    I think that reinstituting the draft would cause america to lose more loved ones. The more people we send out to do these jobs the more uncalled for deaths we have. Even though this could mean that the war could eventually stop its still hard to figure out which one we should do. Many people believe different things today and sending a draft out isnt the right way to try and end all of this. Though this may have worked back in WWII that was a whole differnt situation and people saw it differently. Basically sending out a draft isnt the way to go.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Kristie DeMaria28/9/09 9:10 AM

    Based on numbers, a little bit of war is not bad for the economy. The true question is how much growth in the economy is war worth verses the number of lives it takes. The graph is correct;productivity will increase. It is only forced because we have make more guns for protection, but butter would not decrease because you have to feed the guns (the military). A little bit of war would still decrease unemployment because the military would need more people and start offering more benefits for signing up; those that sign up then leave open position for civilians to get jobs. At the time and place, the draft was necessary and worked. Now days, it is more of a political issue than an economic one, because people would not stand to the side and allow it to be reinstated. At the end of war, the items that are left are then broken down and put back into the economy. The items that get destroyed simply have a higher depreciation value. The draft does have implecations on the economy, but for this small occupation that we are currently in it would cause more problems than it would fix. To the military, the value of a life is the amount of time and money that has gone into that person. To that person's friends and family, the value is hopefully more.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Mackenzie Montgomery28/9/09 9:31 AM

    Of course we could manufacture a war under perfect conditions in a foreign land, and use it simply as a way of profiting and stimulating our market...but we don't...and hopefully we never will. That is the epitomy of evil. IF there were economic benefits as a result of WWII, they definitely did not outweigh the real cost of war. It may have looked good on paper, but only a fool would be so naive to think that war was the best thing for a struggling market. Was the depression the reason we went to war? Of course not. So, it is ridiculous to assume that we would use war again as a tool to stimulate the economy. It is simply NOT American. Americans are smarter than that, and we have too many other alternatives. The REAL cost of war is NOT worth the economic "side-effects" that may be produced as a bi-product of war...and furthermore, there's no guarantee that there would actually be postive growth. I believe it's highly probably that the war could very likely HURT the market. We don't go to war unless we HAVE to. We don't put our soldiers in harms-way to stimulate the market. And, THAT is a good thing. We do still have SOME principles in this country. If America condoned war as a stimulus tactic, those in power would easily sucuumb to their humanistic greedy natures and we would surely be declaring war at the first sign of economic downturn. So, as long as we stick to our principles and following the foundation laid by our founding fathers, and rely on our constitution, we will prosper. Yes there will be ups and downs, but America is the greatest country in the world, and we can win any economic battle without firing a single shot.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Brittany Paris29/9/09 5:21 PM

    I do not believe that we should reinstate the draft for the War on Terrorism. Personally, I do not believe in the draft at all unless absolutely necessary. We should not take men and women out of their homes and away from their families, who are not volunteering to leave, unless our nation as a whole is at risk. WWII and the War on Terrorism are two completely different types of wars. During World War II we were alot less knowledgable on what it took to win a war. The War on Terrorism is directed towards a certain group of people and not towards a country itself. It would help the unemployment rate but it would also increase the death rate. I would rather see the unemployment rate stay high then see our fellow Americans die when unnecessary. Reinstating the draft at this time, is not necessary.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Eric Wallace3/10/09 1:50 PM

    No we should not reinstitute the draft. It might lower unemployment and possibly help the economy now but the lives lost of the men and women who were drafted is a loss of potential workers who, when the economy comes out of the current recesion, could find jobs and help build the economy back up to what it was before it crashed. It's also unethical to start a war or reinstitute the draft just to send our unemployed over seas to a war so we could improve our economy now when in the long run it might even hurt our economy more than it helped

    ReplyDelete
  25. Kayla Neumann3/10/09 6:22 PM

    I do not believe that we should reinstate the draft for the War on Terrorism. Frankly, I do not support the draft at all unless absolutely necessary. I believe families should remain as a whole unit and not be torn apart by war. For those who voluntarily choose to enlist and serve our country, their efforts should be greatly commended. World War II served a different purpose and most Americans during this war were effected greatly. Women who had only known to be housewives were now having to work outside the home to support the family. Yes, the economy may have flourished during this time and consumer goods such as guns may have increased, but the effects that World War II had on family life was devastating. Besides families being torn apart and thrust into a new environment, many lives were lost. Who can put a price on human life? For a period of time, unemployment may increase, but would the casualty of war be worth it? For many people, the War on Terrorism is meaningless and a senseless waste of human life and astronomical expense. I feel that implementing the draft would cause an uproar and instability in our society. The draft should only be reinstated if our military forces need to increase and our own safety and freedom are jeopardized. I most certainly do not believe that reinstatement of the draft should be used as a means to stimulate the economy. How much more money and human life are we going to waste before our government wakes up!

    ReplyDelete
  26. I dont think the draft should be reinstated. I agree with others in saying that it could possibly cost more lives, which would rule out the third condition.

    tammy mader

    ReplyDelete
  27. Tyler Fadal4/10/09 3:37 PM

    I don't believe that WWII got us out of the Great Depression, but I do beleive that it helped. Many people were employed as soldiers, and workers in America to help fuel our war effort. Things were different back then and there was more of a sense of pride in our country, which meant people were more likely to volunteer, support, and help the war effort in any way they could. The downside to this was that many Americans lost their lives, and people are by far our most valuable resources. I believe that now Americans are too consumed in being a Republican or a Democrat instead of an American first; so instead of everybody uniting and supporting this war like we did during WWII the country is split which lowers our moral, and effectiveness. Because of these conditions reinstituting the draft would be a terrible idea, and wouldn't be very effective. Reinstituting the draft would only split our country more in my opinion, and that is the last thing we need. we can definitely find a war in a foreign country and win it, but because Americans wouldn't unite and support it the loss of American lives would be even more devastating and controversial.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Laura Ehlers4/10/09 7:57 PM

    I do not believe that it is morally correct to increase the war on terroism to stimulate the economy. The people of today are not as willing to line up to fight as the people during WWII. The times have changed. The government should not require citizens to fight for the sake of economic stimulation.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Lindsey L. said...
    I do not believe that the United States should reinstate the draft for the sake of economic stimulus. I believe it would cause another reason for Americans to disagree about a government policy and would cost the United States more lives. I do not believe that possible temporary economic relief is worth the lives of numerous Americans and increased division in our nation.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Taylor Drapela4/10/09 9:44 PM

    I think that a draft could help some areas of the economy for a short period of time. It would give jobs to some people who have none. Thus being employed by the U.S Government. Those being drafted would be making money for their services and spending that, or giving it to their family memeber in the U.S to spend. Also when in war, the armed services will need supplies. They get those supplies from U.S sivilian companies which employ U.S citizens. When people make money, they spend money, which helps our economy. Now what you have to think about is what happens when the war is over? All those that were drafted come home and are once again jobless. The demand for war items are gone, therefore the sivialan companies don't need to make them any more so they lay off employees they once hired to increase production. So what happens when the war is over? The US has invested so much money on war items that we have used up and are gone. We spent all this money on the war and have nothing of value in return of these losses. We should not reinstitute the draft and expand the War on Terrorism as part of a stimulus package.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Jordan Rhodes4/10/09 10:02 PM

    There are good and bad sides economically in engaging in a war. In the case of WWII, I believe the pluses outweighed the downsides. Citizens were drafted, opening up jobs to be taked by the unemployed. It increased production of expendable war goods, while limiting the consumption of consumer goods, giving them a higher value. While lives were lost in the war, it decreased unemployment even more. Propaganda from the media kept citizens enthusiastic about their work. While these things might not have singlehandedly brought the US out of the Depression, it definitely was what the economy needed at the present time.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Morgan Shaw4/10/09 10:33 PM

    By reinstituting the draft and expanding the War on Terrorism as part of a stimulus package, we would only be digging ourselves into a deeper hole. Sure if there was a draft and many civilians went to fight in the war there would then be jobs available for the unemployed, but what about when the war is over and they come home? During the war the ones who took over on the labor jobs could provide the needed materials to fight the war, but once again what about when the war is over? We will no longer need those items.
    By a reinstate of the draft, we would also be risking the lives of Americans just like during WWII. Like some have said above, times have changed and back then there was more pride in America than there is today. When President Bush declared war, there was an instant division that split our country into two. Half that believed that war was the answer to fight against terrorism, and the other half that disagreed.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Caitlyn Boyd5/10/09 8:37 PM

    I believe that reinstating would although having good intentions, would greatly harm the economy. Yes war can create jobs and lower the unemployment rate, but it would only have a postitive effect for a short term. War is very expensive,the lives of many people are lost, and increase the division in our country.

    ReplyDelete
  34. I agree with the analysis that war seems to help the economy but in fact only provides a temporary fix for unemployment and decreasing production. A good proof of your analysis would be the failure of the Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.) and Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) that the Roosevelt administration developed during the great depression of the 1930's. When the C.C.C. workers built hiking trails and helped build out houses in the Appalachians they went back home and were unemployed again. They did produce some products but did not produce the products that would help to keep them employed. The W.P.A. helped to finance art projects to keep artist employed and did produce art that some people liked and some that looked like socialist propaganda posters. Make work does not work and making war does not make work. The first is a waste of resources at a time when they are needed else where and the second is just plain dumb.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Hmmm...forcing the unemployed to work as an American solider and produce income ,which is taxed, rather then draw unemployment, which is taxed at a fraction of income tax and cost the American tax payer more to support unemployment then employment ...is re-instituting the draft that absurd?

    In my opinion no its not, however when the war has come to an end and we bring the drafted soldiers home, will there be a job waiting or is it back to the unemployment line?

    That being said War is an ugly thing, as are many necessary evils, however war also produces somethings that are not manufactured: Hope, Honor, and a sense of Patriotism. The necessary evil produces the necessary good or will which we need to survive, and by gaining these intangible things they allow us as a country to "find a way" (Jurassic Park) to recover from a recession, depression, etc. On the tangible side: Numbers can be spun in a multitude of directions...if statisticians want the Amercian tax payer to see that war is good or bad for our economy then we will see it as such.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Patricia Gager30/1/10 11:26 AM

    I found this blog to be very interesting. I have heard rumblings in the past from people who thought that war was good for our economy, but I never really analyzed it until reading this post. Additionally, I am sure there are some joining the military, due to lack of jobs and education benefits, but I do not see it as beneficial to our economy. Nor do I see a draft beneficial either. Regardless of war, civilian work, or any other activity, you lose production when trying to MAKE someone do something. I can see where war would create more activity economically to support it, but as some mention, it is only a temporary fix and the resources mainly support that area of the ecomonmy. What about the remaining economy that must continue to grow even after the war is over?

    ReplyDelete
  37. I think we could all agree that WWII had to be fought. If we had to gave in to the Japanese advances in the east and let the Nazis control all of Europe, who knows what our world would look like. I can safely say we would probably not be enjoining the standard of living we are today. To expanding the war on terror to expand our economy? I would disagree, wars are fought to save lives and protect freedoms. I can tell you, these people we are fighting do not think like we do. You cannot talk with them, they hate us. Does this war make for a better economy? I don’t think so, we are not fighting a professional military force from a strong economic country (such as Germany or Japan in WWII). We don’t need to pool the bulk of our GDP to combat our enemy. During WWII everything was rationed so production of weapons could and other items for the Military had production priorities. We don’t have that problem today. When I was in the service we said, “We are at war, our country is at the mall” (referring to our current war). During WWII everyone felt the effects of the war either by having a family member in the service or by lack or rationing of products. Today I doubt any one has gone to the store to buy a pack of razor blades and heard there are none available because we need to the steel to produce weapons. It there anyone that has been issued a ration card, no.
    In some way I think a company could use the war as an excuse to price gorge us a little. Like the price of commercial ammunition has gone up in price, and the factories are claiming the Military demands are the reason. I don’t think we are using that much more small arms ammunition overseas. Are units are not fighting at Stalingrad, where a rifle company was recorded using several hundred thousand rounds of ammunition in a week and the total loss of life was over a million in about six months.
    We should not put American lives in danger because we think it is good for the economy. I think that is morally wrong. Fight a war should be the last option. Besides production will increase in some area, but we hurt in others, just as WWII showed. I think the money spent on war would be better used like say like putting into medical research or other such production research to make production of butter type products easier and more efficient.

    Posted by Anton Slavich

    ReplyDelete
  38. William Morrow31/1/10 10:09 PM

    A draft would not help the American economy because the War on Terrorism is a war of attrition. This attrition would require constant resupply of military goods, not to mention soldiers. We would raise our GDP, but that would not matter because the civilian consumer would not receive the products it wishes to consume, because all of America's resources would be focused on producing military supplies. We would create more and more military products to supply our enlarged army, but once we leave the war we would have more military products than are useful. Because a good economy is required to be healthy in all aspects, only having a high GDP would not help the American economy enough to justify the reinstitution of the draft.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Janet Frei1/2/10 10:19 PM

    I found this post to be very interesting. Especially when it is put in the context it was put in your last paragraph, which is "Three conditions must be met to conclude that war is good for the economy. It must be fought in foreign lands, it must be won, and a low value must be placed on American dead." I am sure that for America the first 2 are easy for us to achieve. As of this moment, I worry that with each passing month the war continues, our country's politicians already do place a low value on American dead. I honestly don't even know why we are in the war any longer. At first, I thought it was to catch Saddam Hussein. But months after this has occurred, we are still fighting the war on terrorism. If it is to catch Osama Bin Laden, he most likely will not be caught alive. How many more of our Americans will be killed because of him?
    If it comes to the use of a draft, I highly doubt that any of the politicians' sons and/or daughters will be called to duty. It all comes down to who you know and what family you are a member of in this country. It will be the hard-working middle class' sons and daughters that get called away. This is why America is called an imperialist country by many people.
    I don't believe this war is being fought for the economy or even for a good reason. I don't believe this war is anything like World War II. World War II was a war worth fighting. Without the occurrence of World War II, who knows how many people would have been exterminated and how much of the world Adolf Hitler would have succeeded in taking over.

    ReplyDelete
  40. i do not believe that draft would help the economy. i believe that the united states would face more deaths for a war the needs to be ended anyways. I do not think its worth starting a war within the united states and thats what i believe would happen. What would be for the people after the war was over? more unemployment? more govt help for the disable veterans? the draft would not be a long term fix for the economy..

    ReplyDelete
  41. Lamar Newman said......

    I do not think the draft would help. The draft would only give jobs til the war is over then the military would down size again just like after the gulf war. Now we're back to square one. High unemployment rates would raise again and then we would really see a depression.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Sheldon Williams said . . .

    I strongly oppose the draft and do not think it would help the economy or the US citizens. Although, unemployment would decrease, the casualties of war would be an immense burden on the American society. We need to learn from the mistakes made in WWII and be careful not to repeat them.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Rebecca Redmon5/2/10 11:48 PM

    I strongly agree that war does not improve the economy. I do not agree with the draft. I believe this country was founded on freedom of choice. I am however very proud of our men and women in the service. I agree with Sheldon, we need to learn from our mistakes, not repeat. Unfortuantly, War is a necessary evil. THough I wish it wasnt and I wish the world agreed.

    ReplyDelete
  44. I disagree as well that reinstatement of the draft would not help our economy. It would only result in lost lives which should not be an option for improving our economy.

    ReplyDelete
  45. I highly agree that war is never good for the economy. I would like to hear otherwise. World War II decreased unemployment, only because so many lives were being risked and lost overseas. America is the "land of the free." A draft would be contradicting. We as Americans should learn from past wars, and become better prepared for the future.

    -Rachel Moore

    ReplyDelete
  46. The draft should not be reinstated. It might help the economy, but the death toll, would be too great.

    ReplyDelete
  47. I think that if we brought the draft back it would be taking away from the freedom of the American people. Being that war is bad anyway, it would only bring the economy down more. A lot of people would die and then no one would be able to spend any money to help the economy, because they would be dead.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Jessica Pennington21/2/10 8:48 PM

    I do not believe that bringing the draft back would help with the unemployment rate. I believe that the draft would only bring hurt and pain back into the world. I think that being drafted and sent over seas would temporaily decrease the unemployment rate, but its not a permanent fix; what about when a person comes back from war, they still wont have a job? I think that thinking about bringing the draft back, is just a way people think for a "quick fix". We will eventually get back on top and the unemployment rate will decline, we have to go through struggles sometimes to get somewhere. This is just a setback we need to deal with and work through.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Analyn C. Sanders22/2/10 4:53 PM

    Analyn C. Sanders

    World War 11 is a good example of tradeoff, US had to invest its resources to war weapons and equipments and it stated in the article that the production of consumer goods did not increase during the war, the bulk of it was rationed. The US prioritized defending the homefront (defense) over the consumer goods (butter).

    War ended depression, based on the graph in 1945 (production possiblities frontier model) the problem of inefficiency will end if you eliminate causes and unemployment is one of those. The war decreased unemployment and the economy moved outward and maximized the available input (efficient).

    ReplyDelete
  50. Gabe Edwards23/2/10 8:43 PM

    I agree, to state that war helps economy is quite crazy. Even if it appears so the information is diluted, because like you stated most of the goods that were produced were destroyed, and a lot of the unemployed became employed only because of the draft.

    It is absurd to think that expanding the war on terrorism would boost are failing economy. Personally, I think that we are already using far too much money and resources on this war, and by no means does that mean we should pour even more money, more resources, and most of all more lives into the war on terrorism.

    ReplyDelete
  51. I dont think the draft should be reinstated. I find it unnecessary. Unemployment may decrease, but the death toll could eventually rise.

    -Morgan Johnson

    ReplyDelete
  52. brittnie white29/4/10 10:31 PM

    the question is would you rather have the unemployment rate up, or the death rate, and either way the economy is going to change

    ReplyDelete
  53. brittnie white30/4/10 8:49 AM

    the draft is not a good idea, and its not just because i disagree with war. if people want to volunteer that's all fine and dandy but noone should be forced to fight a war they might or might not believe in.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Reinstating the draft is a bad idea. As Americans the push for WW2 was huge, it a had all of America to support it, while the war on terrorism isnt uniting the country by on the contrary splitting us in half. Although WW2 helped us move out of the depression it cost us many american lives. Its a trade off that America had to face because their simply was no other option at the time. In our current situation I do believe their is other options then reinstating the draft.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Bringing back the draft is just crazy. This will not help with unemployment. My spouse has been deployed numerous times and it did not help our economy or help with unemployment. We don't need to expand the war on terrorism to boost our economy. We are pouring so much money in this war and our soldiers are still fighting in iraq for what? All this did was create contracting jobs overseas.
    We need to concentrate on our economy and don't put up with terrorism.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Post by Juanita Bolanos

    No the draft should not be implemented. War is not a voluntary choice, but whether or not you are on the front lines should always remain a choice. I completely aggree with your views of the war. Yes the War created jobs, and it took our young men out of unemployment, but at what cost? Hundred of Thousands lives were lost and many more injured. Did the War help us out of the depression, I do not think so, it reduced the population and did create jobs building and to supply the war, but it did not fix the true problems of the economy.
    We should not expand the War on Terroism, we need to get it under control. It is effecting our economy today, and it would only lead to thousands more loss of lives. I do think we need to continue the War on Terrisom, and continue to keep all Americans safe, but if possible I would like to see soldiers come home.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Andi Thomas23/1/11 10:19 AM

    Absolutely not. You are right that war does temporarily make it look like the economy is doing good but you are also right on the reasons. When you take all the young unemployed men and women and give them jobs in the military it changes the employment numbers. And we are making products that we would otherwise not make. Would a war possibly help if we weren't involved? Maybe. We would still be able to make war products but they wouldn't be used on our own people. Then again, would we really want to provide other countries with means to destroy human life? Maybe too, if America would simply concentrate on our own economy and not the rest of the world, we could find ways to improve the economy without war...

    ReplyDelete
  58. Modern war as a means of generating wealth and jobs is one of the biggest lies of what is commonly taught about how we climbed out of WWII a super power. Historically war has been both a gamble as well as the quickest way to gain wealth.

    A ruler or king would weight the cost of waging war and make a judgment on whether the risk in man power, treasure and resource was what he was willing to pay. When an army took a city or kingdom the spoils went to the victors. The ruler would respond to the incentive to collect the wealth of others.

    However, modern wars fought by the US are never fought in the "green," as we do not plunder the nations we fight against or for. No matter what conspiracy theorists may say, a war for the purpose of oil would be impractical at best. The cost of the Iraq and Afgan wars is slowly approaching 1.15 trillion dollars(1). A nation would be hard pressed to erroneously obtain enough sweet crud oil or reconstruction contracts to balance those books.

    (1) see: http://costofwar.com/en/

    ReplyDelete
  59. War is not the honorable way of getting an economy of a recession or a depression. However one can argue that the events that occurred in World War II led to a build up of pent up demand that led to an economic boom after the war. During the 1930s it appears that FDR policies was to build infrastructure projects to help put the population to work to reduce unemployment though such agencies as the Tennessee Valley Authority. While these projects were needed to help improve the quality of life in the nation (such as expanding electric service to more rural areas) it did little to boost demand in consumer product demand. During the war, many consumer products were rationed (gas, shoes, etc) and obtaining a new automobile during this time was impossible in an effort to produce products to help us protect the nation and win the war. When the war ended, it appears because of the rationing of consumer goods left us with a pent up demand for these goods as the war ended.

    Ken Haltom

    ReplyDelete
  60. Rebecca Northcutt29/1/11 5:23 PM

    NO!! I don't believe that drafting people for war is a good way to bring back our economy!! The men and women that fight for our country in the military on a volunteer basis I believe will fight for our country because they choose too! They will make better soldiers because they will fight harder for what they love. Where a person that is forced to fight will inevidibly try to get out of it any way they can! Plus noone should risk thier life without thier heart being in it!

    ReplyDelete
  61. Everanit Lopez29/1/11 10:00 PM

    The draft should not be reinstated. A war costs money that we do not have. Not to mention, the lives that are lost because of it. Many factors can argue otherwise, but the majority of the reasons support that a war does not benefit our economy.

    ReplyDelete
  62. No I don't agree that we should reinstate the draft. We are already hearing and reading about our soliders dying. This day and time is different then what is was back then. Many people have the right to attend college to better themselves. If you want to send someone to war enlist the murders. I don't think it would change the economy because we are already spending too much money. Juliett Jones

    ReplyDelete
  63. Essence S.3/3/11 8:49 PM

    I do not believe that reinstating the draft would be at all beneficial to our economy. For one, we do not have the money to spend in the first place. Also, as you stated, war leads to death. Dead soldiers cannot contribute to national wealth. In fact, the amount of money expended in times of warfare is seldom justified. We would do much better to spend the money on diplomatic procedures. This would hopefully improve foreign relations, increasing trade opportunities and decreasing the need for warfare.

    ReplyDelete
  64. I dont believe that a draft would be the right decision. It would cause a lot more issues that America doesnt need right now in this time. I believe that war is the right thing for this country to resolve issues even though it has caused many deaths, but i do not believe reinstating a draft would be the right thing for America.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Bamma Moore

    I do not think adraft would help at all. We have a hard enough time just getting young men to finish high school. The thought of them having having to register for arm services would create an even larger problem. I do feel that we have the right to be given correct information when it is about our economy. I think politics have alot to do with what infomation gets out to the public.

    ReplyDelete
  66. montrelle mathews online class31/8/11 8:05 AM

    Many times I have thought about the logic used to say that "War" is good for the ecenomy. I have to say it is not even though production and many business get a finacial boost it is not the same due to the long term effect it will have on the economy. True it dose create revenue but it takes away as much as it creates so where is the gain in that.

    ReplyDelete
  67. Laura Ledford5/9/11 8:33 PM

    I believe if we need to go to war then we will need to start drafting individuals, but I also feel that most of the time the wars are not particularly purtained to the U.S.A. I think we should fight for what is right. We do hhave alot of people in jail prisons that have done things maybe they should be taken over and turn loose to take care of wars while our country can keep the ones that are decent and in the mean time maybe we wouldnt have alot of our funds that can go towards other things. Wars are a part of our everyday life and will be till the end of time.

    ReplyDelete
  68. Maria Lozano said....

    No I do not believe that we should reinstitute the draft!! Why should we put our men/women in harms way for a war on terrorism that may never be won. We can do everything in keeping our lands safe and capturing the enemy but after each capture there will be someone else to take there place and this will continue. If the goverment needs to start a stimulus package they should do it in a way that it will help create jobs and that will not be associated with the war. We shouldn't really compare how WWII helped the unemployment drop and how productive went up on certain goods. The negative part is that we lost many lives fighting this war. So, there should be something else that can be done to help our economy better.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Melissa Oliver2/2/12 12:03 AM

    The draft is not a good answer. I 100% agree with you. Common sense would say that yeah are unemployment rate drop but that was because they were drafted and not waiting on jobs. Also when a product is produced only in a time of need then that will create a even unstable economy afterwords when it is no longer needed.

    ReplyDelete
  70. I pretty much agree with most people here. While the draft would decrease unemployment, the risk does not outweigh the reward. Risking American lives to better the economy is unacceptable

    ReplyDelete
  71. I agree that the draft is not a good idea. The draft would decrease unemployment if the same economy existed as it did in WWII. However it is a much different economy now. Besides that, the US military is overrun with applicants. I lived in Fort Hood and was a part of it all, and also believe it is dangerously close to being in violation of civil rights to institute a draft.

    ReplyDelete
  72. I do not believe that the draft should be reinstated to help the economy. I realize that it helped the economy during WWII but the circumstances were different then. No matter whether there is a cause that can satisfy the first two conditions for war, I do not believe that the third is ever worth the outcome. There has to be a better, more practical way to boost our economy.

    ReplyDelete