Aftermath

At the end of World War II, the United States stood as a colossus astride the world. It could have established political and economic hegemony around the globe. Instead it concentrated on satisfying consumer wants and policing the world against Communism during the Cold War. Except for Arms Manufacture, it lost to other countries much of the manufacturing that had enabled it to defeat the Axis, such as steel, machine tools, shipping, and automobiles. The living standards of the average American declined relative to those in countries that had been impoverished by the war. What happened to produce this reversal?

[To be continued.]