Re: ECON: War (was: Why Microsoft is a Threat to Freedom)

Michael Lorrey (retroman@together.net)
Sun, 09 Nov 1997 08:32:51 -0500

Geoff Smith wrote:
>
> On Wed, 5 Nov 1997, Anton Sherwood wrote:
>
> > How many war-dead is a spinoff worth?
> >
> > What research never happened, because the money to do it
> > was taxed away to spend on war?
> >
> > How the Cold War is relevant to Microsoft, I'm sure I don't know.
>
> In reading this, a old question of mine pops up: Is a war really a good
> thing for an economy? I any history class, you'll hear over and over that
> a good war will pick up a sluggish economy. Is this true? Has anyone
> analyzed this phenomenon? I think it would be useful to debunk this (if
> it's a myth) since it can be packaged in a very pro-conscription meme.
> (ie. we *need* conscription to boost our economy!)

Sorry, its not debunkable, except that if you were able to get a country
to act EXACTLY as if it were mobilizing for full scale war, if
technoligical advancement were not a societal priority at the time, and
the country was in the bottom of a market cycle, then it would behave
EXACTLY as if it were at war. Socio phsychologically this means you've
got to convince the populace that there is an enemy to fight, goal to
reach, etc. to get the desired effect. If you could do all of this and
avoid the maiming and killing then that would definitely be a good
thing.

Do you want one example of just this sort of program? The Apollo
Program. End of story.

-- 
TANSTAAFL!!!
			Michael Lorrey
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mailto:retroman@together.net	Inventor of the Lorrey Drive
MikeySoft: Graphic Design/Animation/Publishing/Engineering
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