Monday, October 01, 2007

Economic expansion

I must admit to historical and geographic ignorance, but I've just heard something which seems very interesting:
Which two countries had the greatest economic expansions after WWII?
Japan and Germany.
Which two countries were not allowed to use any resources on military power after WWII?
You think those free-up resources had anything to do with that economic expansion?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

It had more to do with the billions and billions of dollars pumped into those countries after the war, mainly by the U.S.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

I wonder why they did that.

Anonymous said...

They didn't want to come back and do it again. Germany's ruined economy after WWI was a major cause of the rise of Nazism and of WW2.

Of course, now that they're doing so well it's maybe time they paid some of those reparations they still owe...

Maybe not.

Anonymous said...

Why? The cold war in Europe and the revolution in China. (West) Germany and Japan were seen as the front line in the battle to contain Communism, and thus needed to be strong and viable. The thought, among others, that an economically strong Germany and Japan would also reduce the opportunity for Communist expansion in the post-war world. Enlightened self-interest on the U.S. part.

Anonymous said...

That's not why.

Anonymous said...

Great helpful comment, #1! :)

Pascal [P-04referent] said...

25% of Lebanon's budget goes into "Defense". (I never said our country could AFFORD it, but...)
Which makes me wonder how come our Army is so appallingly under-equiped. Without their bravery, they never would've crushed Fath-el-islam, and the victory cost them dearly. Most of their stuff is from before the war, or obsolete surplus given by the Americans.
For info, our latest resident islamists had state-of-the-art british-made remote-controlled infrared & thermo-vision electronic sniper rifles, real sci-fi stuff. Yes, really. Among other "fireworks"... War for them wasn't very different from a videogame.
Don't ask me who funded THEM, it's classified intel.

Oops! Gotta go. Power went out AGAIN. Our power plants are also pre-war material, and the war started in 1975.
I'd love to meet the part of our economy that's "expanding". Probably the handout business...
):-P

Anonymous said...

You don't need to spend all that money on defence. Just tell your enemies that if they don't leave you alone, you'll force them to have sex with your large, hairy, amazonian women.

Anonymous said...

LOLZ! What anonymous said was damn funny.

Pascal [P-04referent] said...

Ah, but "amazonian" doesn't evoke ugly, fat or hairy. It suggests tall, strong, and typically very sexy dominatrix types. The military tend to fancy those.

Suggest to let loose Borat's mother on them, that's far more dissuasive!

Anonymous said...

Kazakh women? That's nothing. In my Caucasian country of Yughuristan, the women are so hairy they're not afraid to meet a bear in the mountains. But the bears are afraid, and then the woman comes home frustrated. Very sad story. Birth rate is declining.

Anonymous said...

"It suggests tall, strong, and typically very sexy dominatrix types."

Tall, strong, muscular, not necessarily good looking. The Erotic Adventures of Hercules notwithstanding, if Amazons existed they're unlikely to have all looked like supermodels.

Dominatrix types? I don't want to know what weird, kinky stuff you're into, Pascal!

Pascal [P-04referent] said...

Quite true. I too wish sometimes I could forget what weird, kinky stuff I'm into. :-)

You wouldn't believe how costly metal-adorned black leather clothing has become these days! Why, just the other day, my neighbor Xena was telling me about her astronomic dry-cleaning bills. Because the spikes scratch the inside of washing-machines.

The economic expansion of the dry-cleaning business is doing very well in my area. We're testing the "make love not war" budget-balancing method.

Anonymous said...

Selling your body sounds like fun, but I've been down that road. I know it's glamorous and the parties are great, but you end up spending every dollar you make on jewelry and skintight pants.

Pascal [P-04referent] said...

Here's a money-saving tip, Joe: instead of skintight clothing, which is supremely uncomfy, how about some crafty body painting?
Can save you a lot of time when getting to serious work, too. :-)