I just can’t understand how the Golden Age in USA emerged after the World War 2. Although they “won” the war, they spent billions of dollars on their military and on the Marshall plan to assist and to restore the economic infrastructure of many countries in Europe.
EDIT: There are some comments mentioning that the USA didn’t get bombed during the WW2. I know that, but USA has never gotten bombed. Why did it happen right after the WW2 and not later?
In: Economics
The US survived the war virtually untouched because there was an ocean in the way.
So unlike Europe which had much of its industries destroyed the US made all these investments into building up manufacturing throughout the war that survived intact.
The GI Bill help train up an entire generation of returning soldiers for skilled jobs as well.
So after the war much of the Allies were in debt to the US for supplying arms, and the US was the #1 exporter of goods.
It’s no coincidence the Golden Age of the 50s and 60s ended when countries like Germany and Japan had rebuilt their industries.
There was also other factors like the US foreign policy during the Cold War starting to backfire. Supporting Israel during the Yom Kippur War for example resulted in OPEC creating an oil crisis.
The late 70s and 80s also saw wide spread deregulation and the offshoring of US labor
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