OK, but why did WWII pull us out of the Great Depression then?
It didn't. Or at least fighting in it, and buying weapons for it, didn't directly bring us out of the depression.
Selling weapons to those who fought in WWII helped pull us out, but fighting in it ourselves and paying for those weapons didn't, except in terms of unemployment. Tanks and aircraft and such for the war where not economically productive, it no more creates a real recovery than paying people to dig holes and paying other people to fill them in makes the economy recover, sure you have less unemployment, but you aren't bringing prosperity to the country (at least the tanks and aircraft and rifles, etc. can help you win the war so they aren't useless).
WWII caused the imposition of rationing, but also helped get rid of a lot of perverse policies enacted in the depression, then after WWII, you had the real economic recovery as rationing was ended, resources used for the war where freed up for civilian use, a generally optimistic mood set in, and the worst of the depression era policies where not reinstated. |
