ACt

I really hate using Wikipedia as a primary reference, but I don't have enough time to dig up more numbers. But:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II

You can scan it, but look carefully when you get to "Home Fronts and Production". Hey look - a graph. And what do you know, Allies production and GDP rose during the war. So much for never. Furthermore, after the war, some of the factories built for bombs were converted to other means and one happy impact of WWII was an increase in production ability by Western Nations. Another was the baby boom which increased consumers and workers which led to further improvements in the economy.

I don't think we can yet say that *THIS* war has any benefits on the economy, but I would argue that the majority of economic problems of the western world are not due to war but rather the deregulation of business practices and the unwillingness to actually undertake any massive production in North America or Europe any more - things come from Asia now.

Was that class you were talking about a history class? WWII began Sept 1st, 1939. The USA entered the war Dec 7th, 1941 (or there abouts - the declaration came fairly quickly). Prior to that, yes, in the 1930s they were selling arms to both sides, but that quickly ended by the mid 30s in a rail against Hitler's Germany. Also before they supported the rest of the Allies cause with supplies and security (banking on the idea that Germany wouldn't attack the USA navy and risk their involvement) and only were reluctant to enter the actual fighting due to the public mentality to war.

Don't qualify the evidence. Let everyone be the judge of it and let it go from there. But I'd still like to know your reasoning for the requirement of a completely open and public government and/or business.