War helps manufacturing and fabrication the way earthquakes help construction, and plagues help doctors. If that produced actual prosperity, why not just blow up all the cities in the country and give everyone a good dose of cancer from time to time?

The market solves problems, and in the process makes old technologies and professions obsolete. Governments prolong the problems to protect the established interests who profit from treating, but not solving, those problems.

But for the U.S. it stimulates jobs and somehow gains money out of it. Probably witchcraft…

At the group psychological level, the second Iraq was “sold” to the US population as a response to being attacked on 9/11. Stupid, I know.

Keith Henson

Wars seem to have been close to constant in the past and are an evolved human behavioral trait. That means that genes for this behavior did better in the past in humans who engaged in wars than those who did not.

But war is not something humans, especially hunter gatherer humans, could do all the time. It makes no sense from the gene’s viewpoint to fight (risking genes) unless the consequence of not fighting are worse.

Here is where economics comes in. Humans groups anticipating or actually in a declining economy (measured in income per capita, or game and berries before farming) become sensitive to xenophobic memes. The memes bias them toward starting a war.

Some years ago, when I was working this out from evolutionary psychology first principles, I could not account for the US Civil war by the economy at the time. However, there was widespread (and correct) belief that slavery was near the end. The Southern economy was so dependent on slavery that it could be said the South took a hundred years to recover.

In applying economics to wars, economists should consider who started the war in question and look at economic expectations on the starting side as much as actual conditions.

There is a non economic mode for wars as well, being attacked, or believing your group has been attacked. Does this sound familiar? The other factor out of our past is that wars make people, including leaders, irrational. You need to understand inclusive fitness for this one.

In wars the “interests” of a fighters genes (spread out among his tribal relatives) are in conflict with his personal interest of not being killed. Genes win by inducing irrational behavior. No wonder we can look back and see war behaviors were so stupid!

I developed this in a paper published a few years ago in “Mankind Quarterly.” There is a slightly longer and non reviewed version on the net. Google for “evolutionary psychology, memes and the origin of war.”

Keith Henson

The depression and tariffs were important because they epicly bashed Germany to goo. People got mad, and Hitler used that anger to ride into political power.

Curiously enough, Hitler actually did everything that he promised his constituents. Now, I am most definitely NOT supporting or condoning his evil genocide, just stating facts.

And, the best humor always has truth in it. But, not all truth has humor in it. If you don;t see any humor, sorry to hear that. It’s not especially funny anyway.

Go to lolcats, that will make you feel better! (they’re cute )

1. get facts horribly wrong AND religiously refuse to budge in the face of hard evidence and honest expertiese,

2. T41k 1|\| 1337, it’s stupid (the 1 key is used for to many letters!)

3. use ad hominem statements (like saying “Your gay!” all the time)

4. Spam a comment for pages and pages

5. Make stupid, general, and blanket statements or assumptions (like saying “warning: having a view on this site that doesn’t suck obama’s schlong as the savior of our economy and country may result into banishment from the site”. As far as I know, nobody has been banished, booted, kicked, blocked, etc. for not having a leftist view)

6. Troll

Hope y’all got that.

Actually, that style of fighting was really smart, since the US just had to jump in and clean up the stragglers of the fighting at the end of the wars. So, a lot fewer americans died in combat than other nations’.

Sorry about the incoherence, i’m feeling all stuffy today

Oh wait.

The Civil War was started by the Confederates attacking Union forces at Ft. Sumpter in Charleston, SC… and they had already seceded from the United States, so technically the United States did not start that war.

Vietnam had been going on for years before the United States got into it – North Vietnamese communists had attacked the South Vietnamese – we came to their defense.

Korea was kind of in the same boat – North Korea began attacking South Korea very shortly after WW2 due to a very disrupted and weakened southeast Asia and pressure from an expansionist China under Mao.

The first Iraq war was us coming to the defense of an invaded Kuwait. We did not start this war, either.

The second Iraq war WAS started by us, hey, looks like you got one right.

In other words… learn your history and quit blaming America first.

So yes, to echo what everyone else is saying, the arrows are backward, generally speaking. That’s particularly true of recent history.

Spanish American War – Rising economy
Afterwards – Recession
WWI – Rising Economy
After – Recession
WWII – Rising Economy
After – Recession
Korea – Rise
AFter – Fall
Vietnam – Rise
After – Fall
Six-Day War – Rise
Afterward – Embargo from Arabs down economy and United States covers up the USS Liberty incident (attack on a US vessel from Israeli Jets and Boats)
9/11 – Middle East War – Rise (gold prices skyrocket after 9/11 and oil is secured in foreign territories)
Afterward – NOW

The UNITED STATES Civil War.

If any of that had been relevant to the graph, I’m sure the joke would be made.

Bush did destroy our economy and get us into a disastrous war.

Was it a fresh, new comment? No.
Was it relevant? Yes.

So STFU, because I guess you “aren’t”. Idiot.

Also Bush has not even been out of office for a year. In your case with the calling some one an Idiot would be a pot calling the kettle black.