Why did WWII stimulate our economy but the iraq war is draining it?

There are many reasons WWII stimulated economy whereas Iraq is draining. One is when US went to this massive WWII it needed lots of equipment quickly, it converted many regular factories to build army supplies ie, car manufacturing went to building tanks etc. The government took control of the corporations to crank out much needed war supplies.
Secondly, these corporations and others that the US depended on for defense supplies were not allowed to turn a PROFIT. The US was at WAR, a state of emergency, Corporations were not allowed to benefit from such a crisis, it was seen as unfair for a weapons maker to get rich because a country had to defend itself. There was a law that prevented profiteering from wartime prodiction.
In iraq its just the opposite, you have existing companies making the supplies and companies are making ridiculous profits and taking advantage of the war to make profits. It can be argued some of these people look to extend or started the war to get richer. So in effect the government did not really create many new jobs and is getting jacked on the prices by the defense suppliers that are making crazy profits. Just look at Halliburton and friends.........Iraq is just a bunch of bigtime billionare buddies ripping off the govt.

jamie s

Technology is better...
Machines couldn't do all the work back then, making all them weapons/supplies took a lot of manpower back then.. = jobs

kristopher h

I would like to add that back during WWII there was rationing of gas and food.
There was metal "drives", people donating unused metal items such as pots and pans.
Working people also bought war bonds.
These things are unheard of now.

rememberthecole

Prior to WW II we were in the Great Depression with 25% unemployment. Thanks to the war we had full employment and the economy was booming.
We also put everything into it we could to clearly win the war and get it over with as fast as possible. We also funded the war by selling war bonds.

The Iraq war came about when the economy was already booming so did not stimulate anything. We have not gone to a war footing and did not put as much effort into winning it quickly and cleanly. So it drags on and on.
Also, we are funding this war with deficit spending.

Just "B" Free

ww2 really didnt stimulate the economy other than placing hundreds of thousands of unemployed men into the service. In fact WW2 coupled with the failed plans of FDR's New Deal policies almost placed the USA into bankruptcy. Massive bond drives were necessary to fund the war because the treasury was almost empty. One of the factors in dropping the atomic bombs to end the war was that we were almost economically bankrupt.

Christopher H

I think the biggest factor is that in WWII nearly all of the Axis and Allies production capacity was converted to make the tools of war. Almost all of the US's production was converted to guns, ammo, tanks, vehicles, warships for the war. This meant that all of the companies were selling war stuffs for the purpose of war.

The current war is not the same. We don't need massive amounts of equipment, so most things at home are status quo, but we are still spending huge amounts of money running the war, with almost no money returning to the business and economy.

pachl@sbcglobal.net

WWII envigorated and greatly enlarged many industries because the need for material goods for the war effort were immense.

The Iraq war is not so material-intensive. It doesn't create a lot of business for the average company.

Back in WWII, we had to quickly build planes, warships, tanks, guns, ammunition, bombs... all in massive quantities. The Iraq war doesn't involve probably even 1/20th the amount used for WWII. Another reason is that a lot of businesses are so efficient and automated, so an increase in orders simply means the production line goes an extra hour a day or so. The company doesn't have to increase capacity or hire more people.

Marc G

Because Americans backed our entry into WWII. We were fully supportive of our troops, and did whatever we could to help.

As you probably see in the news everyday, Americans aren't exactly fond of the idea of our presence in Iraq. They don't back it, so they won't show their support morally or financially.

warrior soul

because in WW2 they hired women workers to make factory made war products giving jobs to many who wouldn't even normally work. Every, man and woman was put to work in the war train. feeding our economy with employed people.

Lu W

We made our stuff in WW2.

We by our stuff in Iraq.

neuroticwilly

our military had to be built from scratch, we weren't ready to enter a world war. in wwII almost all able bodied men went in the military, thus eliminating them from the "unemployed" roles. the women that were left behind went to work building weapons and war supplies for the soldiers. "rosie the riveter" was born. military personnel required in middle east not close to numbers required to fight in WWII, weapons are automated requiring fewer people to operate.

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m1ndfr34k117

The motor industry played a vital role in that.

Also you should know, this is the only war in the past 100 or so years that HAS NOT boosted our economy.

Dave H

What the previous posters said is very good and true.

There is another thing to consider that I think a lot of people forget. The economy crashed when the World Trade Center got hit. The World Trade Center was the center hub of our economy.

bruce c

where did it drain it? it takes billions to make the plans,missiles,jeeps,high tech ect. for every completion job there are 10 offshuts,i.e i work 1 half mile away from toyota in georgetown kentucky,its a small fab shop and we do things to improve the line flow when they dont make money they dont inprove the assembly lines,80 % of our previous sales were from toyota.we have to scramble just to work week to week now. tell me how 35% coororate tax helps anyone but the fool at the whitehouse?

cordeliabrainiac

WWII helped stimulate our economy because at that time, Americans made more stuff. . .ie. the clothing the servicemen and women wore, the food they ate, the buildings they worked in, etc etc. Now some of those things are contracted out.

Mike

In World War II, we actually made our own items. Now, we buy them all from other countries so the money isn't circulating around our country.

cynical bugger

Because at the same time that we fight this unnecessary war we are being bled dry by refusing to tax the wealthy appropriately and borrowing from countries that are swiftly overtaking our own economy by flooding it with cheaply produced goods while they continue to accumulate wealth and grow their own economies at record levels- after WW2 we were the only advanced nation with any manufacturing capacities worthy of note. It was child's play to remain ahead of everyone where now a common factory worker must compete with a former water buffalo herder who must operate his machine for 12 hours a day and for a fraction of the wage. One must also not forget the "socialism" of the GI bill that educated millions of former service men and made individual ownership of homes possible. PS, interesting factoid, in constant dollars Bush's deficit spending equals the cost of fighting WW2- there's a wacky true fact never mentioned on Fox News, or anywhere else.

Retired navy 1972 - 1992

Actually Iraq isn't draining jack. What is hurting us right now is the bad mortgages that the Clinton/Frank/Pelosi policies allowed all went bad and have dragged down the rest of the economy.

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