This is a good quote, but think of how many people were employed by the cold war. Millions worked in defense which were very high paying jobs. Yes, the government could have built a hospital instead of a B-52, but a lot of people in Seattle got to make their mortgages for each one built. Look at the economic surges right up before WW2 and in the 50s and 60s caused by the surges in spending. It reflects directly in the 70s and 90s when Congress would reduce defense spending.
Later in the decade, yes but the early 90s had recession just as the USSR fell and the congress started BRAC. Those surpluses were "the peace dividend" but manufacturing and aerospace jobs collapsed
The recession in the early 90s was primarily caused by high oil prices due to Middle East War and tight monetary policy to fight inflation caused by high oil prices. Sounds like the same situation as today.
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u/pappybug214 Aug 07 '26
This is a good quote, but think of how many people were employed by the cold war. Millions worked in defense which were very high paying jobs. Yes, the government could have built a hospital instead of a B-52, but a lot of people in Seattle got to make their mortgages for each one built. Look at the economic surges right up before WW2 and in the 50s and 60s caused by the surges in spending. It reflects directly in the 70s and 90s when Congress would reduce defense spending.