" NEW AUTOMOBILES " AUTO INDUSTRY IN WWII & POST-WWII CAR DESIGN & MANUFACTURE 10484

[@tjmmcd1]

So we had enough steel and iron to build 'Liberty ships', tanks, ammuntion and bombs during WW2, yet after the war, we suddenly didn't have enough steel to supply the car industries? Thanks again, for all these wonderful old films, Periscope!

[@loveisall5520]

I was born in '55, a decade after V-J day. So very, very proud of our American captains of industry in war and peace. Great men. Different world.

[@jacksons1010]

Those captains of industry took compensation about twenty times the median pay of their workers. Today’s CEOs take about 400 times the pay of a common worker. That’s four hundred…not a typo. They pay lower taxes now than back then too. A different world indeed.

[@michaelquinones-lx6ks]

Unlike this stupid woke world we live in today.

[@normsweet1710]

Great brazing know how, very light weight cast iron there. We had a big cast iron pot belly stove at home, one in kitchen & one in front room

[@jimihendrix1575]

Still waiting on delivery of my '47 Studebaker.

[@JerryDillon-r3x]

DONT WORRY THEY JUST FOUND A SUPPLIER OF LEFT HANDED SCREWDRIVERS & AS SOON AS THEY GET THEM IT'LL B NO LATER THAN 25 MID 26 AT THE LATEST (gotta integrate into system,train employees have to have vote on new job changes that can of stuff ..BUT 26 at latest YES SUREE!!!)🤓🤓🤓

[@sparkplug0000]

I have an all original 1941 Chevrolet. It’s 6 volt system still starts it every time, it’s comfortable and reliable and if something does go wrong, a regular guy like me can fix it. She’ll take me anywhere I want to go, albeit at 60 mph or less. So how far have we really come in the last 83 years? Yeah, I’d hold out for that ‘47 Studebaker, it’s better than what you can buy today.

[@toddsmith1617]

😂

[@michaelquinones-lx6ks]

@@sparkplug0000 The way they use to make them, Nowadays, its just plastic junk, Throw it away and get a new one in this throw away world we live in.

[@fromthesidelines]

The narrator, John Tillman, became WPIX-TV's news anchor [and eventually, director of news operations] in New York during the 1950's and '60s.

[@cetocoquinto4704]

Priceless video

[@moboutmen]

Clemenza hated those wood bumpers. He had to wait for the Chromium ones.

[@K-Effect]

Starting at 15:45 look at the beautiful almost clear lumber they're using for pallets!!!!

[@JohnSmith-cf4gn]

My granddaddy was a carpenter in the 30s--50s. He wouldn't use a board if it had a knothole in it. He was noted for his quality work.

[@tomweickmann6414]

​@@JohnSmith-cf4gn Sounds like a good solid man. The exact opposite of Carmela's dad in The Sopranos. Old goat loved to build houses out of knots.😊

[@JohnReitz-ps2ct]

Its amazing how nany 1946/1947 Packards are still around. The Plymouth factory in Evansville In. quickly converted from making cars to bullets before the war and back to cars after the war.

[@scratchdog2216]

21:42 Worked in a 'Just-in-Time' shop. 'Almost-in-Time' really messed things up in the assembly areas.

[@yowpyowp7374]

Aired Dec. 19, 1946 on WABD. Reviewed in the Dec. 28 issue of Billboard.

[@cme98]

Most major cities or "markets" didn't even have TV stations yet in 1946. Most Americans couldn't even afford the minimum $352 ($5,240/in 2022) for the only television set they made at the time. Many manufacturers bought the RCA set to place inside finely crafted wood cabinetry because the RCA set was so ugly it was easier to sell inside furniture, pleasing the housewife, at of course a higher price for the working husband: $500 ($7,444 today) not to mention the constant maintenance it required pulling out old tubes & replacing them with new tubes in which a qualified repairman was suggested because unlike a radio where you need only unplug it before opening it up to see which tube was blown, a TV set stored electricity in high capacity & touching anything other than the top glass head of a tube could trigger an immediate discharge of 10,000 volts or more which could throw you backwards 8 feet or kill you if your other hand was touching the top of the metal frame of the TV set. Another reason why housewives wanted them inside the more expensive wood cabinetry: more husbands survived fixing the TV if it had a wood frame-vs-metal frame. Modern electronics at that time is no different than it is today, its just that it all came in a glass tube. It took another year when AT&T revolutionized electronics with the invention of the transistor which immediately brought about pocket-sized electronics powered off a battery. That is, if you worked for AT&T. The transistor would never be spoke of in American living rooms until Sony sold the first Transistor Radio here in 1957 for only $69.50 ($718 today!) it became the hottest selling consumer electronics item for the rest of the 50s & 60s. Before the transistor anything electronic which you could lift, carry, & then plug in somewhere else was considered portable. Batteries were only used to start a car or for a flashlight. The transistor took a new design of battery called the "Ever Ready Energiser" (spelled correctly) the first 9 volt battery which came free with your transistor radio "kit", but trust me you'll want to buy a 2nd battery! Which sold for: $2.50 ($25.83 today)😳 but all of that was still a full decade away. Japan was still "cleaning up" from war before they decided to clean up American pocketbooks. Consumer electronics & cars were still expensive for most Americans in 1946 when minimum wage was 40¢ an hour, equal to $5.96 today, a gallon of gas more than doubled from 9.7¢ in 1910 to 21¢ in 1946 or $3.13 today and a brand new Ford also doubled from $700 in 1910 to $1,400 in 1946 or $20,850 today. Who today can afford a Ford today even if they made a $20,850 car with minimum wage at $6/hour? Of course back then you didn't get a standard AM radio or a TV in your car or even to expect someone to fill a job at $6/hour (not to mention that wage is illegal. You'd be making far more today or...$7.50 in Texas & up to $15 in Washington state except $17.50 at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport, $16.50 in Seattle ...and that's simply to compare with minimum wages compared to the $5.96 that 1946 40¢ an hour min wage was worth, today.

[@WitchKing-Of-Angmar]

@@cme98 you worked hard to recieve quality items and purchases. I bought a 1953 Cadillac in 1953. My brother purchased a 1933 Reo in 1933. My father fished through to get a 1921 Studebaker sedan. His working pay was a dollar an hour. Approximately 16 $'s an hour in todays terms. I have nothing but up'most respect for my era...and I see to it that modern biased doesn't interrupt its natural legacy. Around 5,000,000 had a television by 1949, in 1939 a good 1,500,000. Television sold like hot cakes, the Empire state building added in a broadcasting rode in nineteen hundred and thirty five to be able to reach those with televisions and the broadcast buildings alike. You can't try to primitize a very modern era such as the 1930's and little ways into the 1940's. Its cruel and awful to speak for a time that can no longer speak for itself.

[@BillLaBrie]

@@cme98god, retirement seems like hell….

[@jeffreym.keilen1095]

Studebaker prided themselves with the slogan " First by far with a post war car". It is debated that Kieser-Frazer had their cars out a month before, but Studie had a completly new car for 1947.

[@bobjacobson858]

Thanks for this wonderful, informative video. I own a couple brochures from that period (from Cadillac)--one showing war production ("Cadillac Goes To War"), and another advising dealerships to get ready to resume civilians sales, one step being to hire (or rehire) a sales force. Then the 1946 brochure touts "Improved Even More In War Than In Peace" to describe the improvements made because of the war effort. All very fascinating!

[@fromthesidelines]

In 1947, ABC was struggling to build its television network and broadcast facilities. But they had to overcome a lack of affiliates {and there weren't that many stations on the air}, and the fact they often had to yield to DuMont, who was third behind NBC and CBS in signing up stations. In fact, ABC's flagship station in New York [WJZ-TV] wasn't completed and in operation until August 1948. Until then, they had to buy airtime on DuMont's WABD to be seen in the New York area.

[@michaelquinones-lx6ks]

In 1957 TV station WAAM-TV in Baltimore MD became ironically WJZ-TV.

[@fromthesidelines]

ABC changed the call letters of their New York TV and radio stations from WJZ to WABC in March 1953.

[@charlesgall7829]

When you could trust the explanations given for things happening in this country.

[@mrl22222]

you do understand that this was created by the automobile manufacturers association. I would say it was an "optimistic tone" The struggles immediately post war lead to a big cash crisis for the manufacturers, and many of the smaller ones died a slow death because they could never quite catch up in terms of design and engineering. This is the equivalent of Kevin Bacon saying "all is well"

[@charlesgall7829]

@@mrl22222 Agreed. But it wasn't the blatant lying that goes on today.

[@grampy2014]

Somewhat. But not nearly as bad as today.

[@jacksons1010]

I can only wonder who convinced you to distrust your own countrymen, but there’s no mystery why they did the work. Small victories for those who wish ill upon America. 🇺🇸

[@JackF99]

​@@mrl22222 Animal House!

[@tonycolca2241]

I got a 47 plymouth in 1948.

[@Oliverdobbins]

Makes you want to salute and buy a DeSoto.

[@talbotd27]

Dam man, 1-7 people was employed either directly or indirectly by the automobile industry. I highly doubt it’s anywhere near that today. That’s where a huge amount of those jobs went, when you drive through the rust belt; Detroit, Flint, Cleveland, Gary, Philadelphia, you see just endless crumbling infrastructure. It’s hard to imagine what could’ve caused so much detestation, but the automobile industry outsourcing jobs is probably largely to blame

[@jacksons1010]

Failure to invest in R&D and new machinery left the door open for foreign competition. Detroit was complacent when companies like VW started taking market share and had no good answer when the 1972 oil embargo caused gas prices to skyrocket. People bought Toyotas and Hondas and found them to be better built and a better value than US cars. Add in automation (robots) and there was a rapid decline in jobs making American cars. It’s going to continue, as EVs have many fewer parts and facilitate robotic assembly.

[@michaelquinones-lx6ks]

@@jacksons1010 It may come as a surprise to you, It was Studebaker that imported the Volkswagen, Which is ironic.

[@jacksons1010]

@@michaelquinones-lx6ks Studebaker only acted as an intermediary to import VW's into Canada. Studebaker had a lower import tariff, so they could bring in the cars and resell them to VW of Canada at a net savings to VW. No such arrangement was needed for the USA, where Volkswagen of America imported the cars directly.

[@michaelquinones-lx6ks]

@@jacksons1010 Thank you very much for answering my comments.

[@mrdanforth3744]

Unions and government had a lot to do with putting the auto industry on the bum.

[@Go4Corvette]

Thank you for the history.

[@nlpnt]

When it talks on a couple of occasions of “…substantial automobiles”, that's presumably a backhanded reference to things like Crosleys and the few small imports starting to come in (mainly at that point from “export-or-die” Britain).

[@58fins]

There are a lot of 1946 Fords in this video! Most of the featured products were Ford. Interesting, eh?

[@raybin6873]

All companies were pretty much the same back then...I'm a Chevy guy myself but prefer 1960's - 1970's cars as I feel those were my favorite years. 🇺🇸👍

[@graham2631]

Not surprising Ford had his own supply line

[@8176morgan]

Perhaps that was to compensate for the fact Ford was the only automobile company where clips of their chief executive were not shown in the video.

[@peterparker9286]

VERY GOOD. Yup the Old B4 and after war video 4 me about vehicles. But switch R Rouge in 24 hrs for Aluminum

[@abevigoda3149]

@17:40 Segregatonist Carleton Putnam's airline was still going on strong!

[@jacksons1010]

Delta is still doing fine, and lots less segregated now. 😈

[@clydemorgan1439]

I have known about the shortages after WWII, I didn't realize it was this severe. If you are concerned about our supply chain today then watch this video, they had it worse and this only shows one industry. They got through it, why can't we and why are we so afraid that we won't be able to over come it? Are people mentally and emotionally weaker these days?

[@moboutmen]

People today are spoiled rotten.

[@pedroalvarado9511]

Not only are people way more emotionally weaker, there Also way more physically and spiritually weaker. Back in those days people were way more self reliant they had way more useful skills and knowledge, that enabled them to get by. I would also say that back them people lived in actual communities where neighbors actually knew and helped each other out if they could. But besides these things I would say that the supply chain issue now is significantly worse as not only can we not get the natural resources required to manufacture we CANT manufacture hardly anything!!! Which we can thank our good ol fraud ass politicians for making it possible for those companies to move their production plants to China and anywhere else with cheaper labor costs. Just think about how many millions of people currently depend on welfare to survive ….. the majority of people have lost the American spirit smh it’s a sad situation!

[@murkypuddle33]

look up "the marshall plan" From July 1945 through June 1946, the United States shipped 16.5 million tons of food, primarily wheat, to Europe and Japan.then from '47-'52 we spent over 200billion in aid on everyone

[@mrdanforth3744]

They didn't have DEI, diversity hires, affirmative action and "Human Resources" in those days. They could hire the best people for every job and if they couldn't hack it, get somebody else. Also government regulations were a lot less onerous in those days.

[@jamesbosworth4191]

World War II, not I. The first World War was 1914 - 1918.

[@BELCAN57]

Many of these automobile companies are no longer with us. Hudson, Nash-Kelvinator, Studebaker and Packard. All gone.

[@BobBish-m9x]

Chrysler and GM of this era are also gone. Chrysler Corporation went out of business in 1998. The French own the name now. General Motors Corporation went out of business in 2009. The Feds own the name now. Only Ford has managed to survive.

[@jamesbosworth4191]

Sadly

[@jamesbosworth4191]

The new GM has repaid the loans. Our auto industry was destroyed mostly by the Japanese and CAFE, signed into law by Gerald R. Ford, the same Gerald R. Ford who pardoned Tricky Dick.

[@neilpiper9889]

They should nurse their present cars as long as possible... Good advice for 2022 with the climate change.

[@turbo8454]

It is far more difficult (and expensive) to nurse older cars along as most have to hire the work done. The complication of newer vehicles takes many if not most owners out of the game.

[@65gtotrips]

That’s so interesting that customers were accepting delivery without back seats and or bumpers.

[@mrdanforth3744]

Many cars were delivered with black painted wooden 2X6 bumpers and a spare wheel with no spare tire. There were coupons in the glove compartment, and the dealer notified the owner as soon as his bumpers and tire came in. Customers were happy to get a car of any kind. Think of it, if there was a shortage of tires they could turn out 20% more cars if they left off the spare tire and the steel and chrome for bumpers could be used elsewhere.

[@jamesbosworth4191]

If you refused it, you went to the bottom of the waiting list.

[@RivetGardener]

@ 30:27 : well this car is cream colored, but we wanted white. Oh honey, but it is new! OK, well it has four doors, I thought we wanted a coupe with two? Oh honey but it's new! Okay, well it....it is new and all.... Oh honey, but it's new! It rides so nice and we need it for our coming baby! OK, well, after so many years as an infantryman in Europe, yes let's get a family going...and with a new car. We'll take it! Oh Honey! Just sign here, sir.

[@turbo8454]

Kinda like today. Everything looks the same and comes in the same three colors. Except that instead of $1500, they're now $40K plus.

[@elliottcarson1248]

Its interesting how they were having the same supply chain problems that we're having today.

[@turbo8454]

Back then for good reason........ WW2 stopped evil. Today, it's be cause of evil.........buried in government.

[@jamesbosworth4191]

Not really. We didn't get our supplies from Asia, we made our own. The problem was that the industry had retooled to produce war materials. That meant sheet aluminum for planes and boiler plate for ships, not sheet steel for cars.

[@LewdCustomer]

The soundtrack makes me want to enlist.

[@bigchevs1]

Its too bad that pre-war auto manufactures, like Preston Tucker, did not survive to the end of the war to take advantage of the demand for new cars at the end of the war. Some of us might be driving Tuckers today if so. People were looking for fresh new car designs were mostly met with 1941 models. Great video, interesting data, thank you for posting!

[@curtislowe4577]

Eh? All Tuckers were 1948 models. What I find sad is that Hudson, Nash and Studebaker did not have the volume to amortize annual style change overhead costs. Only Chrysler could compete with GM and Ford.

[@-oiiio-3993]

@@curtislowe4577 Bingo.

[@WAL_DC-6B]

@@curtislowe4577 Don't forget American Motors Corp. which came about in 1954 as a result of a merger between Nash and Hudson. They managed to survive into the late 1980s until taken over by Chrysler.

[@borandolph1267]

AMC was always the poor relation to the big 3. They absorbed what was left of Kaiser Frazer Jeep, and Studebaker Packard as those respective companies went under. They themselves were basically owned by Renault for their last few years of existence before Chrysler took them over.

[@-oiiio-3993]

@@borandolph1267 AMC did not 'absorb' Studebaker Packard and did not acquire Kaiser/Jeep until 1970. The Studebaker-Packard merger was originally intended to meld with AMC but the deal was siderailed in 1954. The merger did kill Packard entirely in 1958 which was followed by Studebaker's decline and demise by 1967. Stude's assets were liquidated but the only part AMC wound up with was the General Products Division (military contracts) which had been acquired by Kaiser and thus passed to AMC with Kaiser/Jeep. AMC rebranded the division as AM General. Had the original plan succeeded with Studebaker and Packard being added to AMC in 1954, things may have turned out rather differently. www.spokesman.com/blogs/autos/2015/aug/09/collector-car-corner-demise-studebaker-packard-corporation/

[@JohnSmith-cf4gn]

Looked like my dad's new 48 Ford he bought after coming back from WW2.

[@cme98]

When you think about the raw materials used back then compared to today cars were more “green” back then than they are today! Where today is a car made from lumber, sugar cane, rubber, wheat & other grains?

[@jamesbosworth4191]

40s cars were made of steel Teens cars are the ones made with much wood.

[@nickjervis8123]

It has been alluded to but the US was owed millions by European allies such as the UK. Remember the Marshall Aid Plan? Interestingly they included A E Barritt of Hudson and G Christopher of Packard. I wonder what G Mason would have made of this?

[@Mercmad]

As an aside, The UK didn't pay off her lendlease bill until December 29, 2006, such was the enormous cost to Britain and why it remained in the doldrums,especially during the 1950's. New Zealand's on the other hand was being governed by men of vision who had the lead lease bill paid before VJ day. Such a difference to today where socialism has reduced the nations of England New Zealand to debt ridden husks of their former selves.

[@58fins]

@@Mercmad Remember Margaret Thatcher's famous words: "spending other people's money is great, until you run out of it".

[@theboyisnotright6312]

@@Mercmad and yet the people living there love it, and are happier then the US where it's socialism for the wealthy and dog eat dog capitalism for the rest

[@mrdanforth3744]

George Mason was the first CEO they showed. He was a very smart executive who did a great job of making Nash competitive with the big 3. One reason AMC (successor to Nash) lasted the longest of the independent car companies.

[@jamesbosworth4191]

England is not and has never been Socialist. They are a shell because they gave away their industry to the Japanese.

[@aaronwilliams6989]

Notice. No robots.

[@tomweickmann6414]

Opening scene..... "American Broadcasting Company" ABC, CBS, NBC had the trust and respect of the world back then. Today......no way.

[@JoeBob1955]

Arrgh! It's AFFECTING, not EFFECTING!

[@TheManLab7]

18:33 Were they "gamet" bearing's from the UK by any chance? As they were the world best bearings.

[@OsbornTramain]

It's funny, not all the car companies participated in helping ABC make this film, Crosley, Kaiser-Frazer and Checker were not in the credits.

[@mrdanforth3744]

I did see the name "Frazer" on a big sign in the airplane scene. Coincidence or did it have a connection to the Frazer company? They didn't really get going producing cars until 1947, they may not even have been in business when this film was made.

[@65gtotrips]

@6:44 Well that’s because in WWI, America wasn’t the ‘arsenal of democracy’ for the entire world as it was in WWII. Plus WW2 was way bigger, over the entire world Vs. WWI being in Europe. Thus materials and manufacturing was way greater.

[@plunkervillerr1529]

Supply and demand, the lifes bleed of industry then and now .

[@Ricken2022]

The furniture company I worked for stopped production, and had all women making shell boxes for the war .

[@rogerlayne8623]

Don't expect that again

[@johnchildress6717]

Can,t even look at something like this without the jab coming up in the comments.Weirdos.

[@jagboy69]

I was born 60years too late. 🤣

[@MrMenefrego1]

An entire generation of Americans were born six decades too late, myself included. Thanks, in large part, to the ever so brilliant plans of U.S. manufacturers to send production to other nations like China. They actually reasoned that by sending manufacturing jobs overseas their products would be cheaper for American citizens to purchase, okay that much is true. The only problem with that plan is that when you send the ''cost saving'' jobs overseas you also remove the ability for Americans to buy those very same cheaper goods because they no longer have those jobs which they sent overseas which they needed to buy those products! Oops! I do believe there was a flaw in those plans. 👀

[@GenerallyGeneralLee]

Sounds like 2022.

[@LeoAlmeidaBRASIL]

tecnologia

[@toddsmith1617]

Did they charge way over MSRP?

[@mrdanforth3744]

Yes many dealers did charge a premium over list price. It's hard to blame them when they had been starving for 4 years. It took until early 1949 before the shortage was finally over.

[@jamesbosworth4191]

Often yes.

[@65gtotrips]

Imagine getting your car in a crate to be put together like a barbecue grill !

[@mrdanforth3744]

That is a CKD or completely knocked down unit. They were shipped to foreign distributors who had their own mini factory where they assembled the cars then sent them off to their dealers.

[@anthonybelyea1964]

Almost sounds like today people want cars and there's nothing at the dealer place an order and wait a year or two

[@texaswunderkind]

My employer needed to replace part of their fleet last year, and the buyers couldn't find trucks in stock anywhere. There was a huge backlog of orders. It was rough. I don't know what they did, because they had to book the orders in that budget year. I guess they just ordered and waited.

[@jeffreysheridan5205]

That 46 Packard was a dog.

[@raybin6873]

Bet dollars to donuts those truckers blocking traffic on Canadian border bridge would've never happened in this time period. Americans wouldn't have tolerated that kind of crap. And - if the covid pandemic occurred then you know damn well every citizen would've stepped up to get vaccinated. America had a soul back then...sad we live in such crappy times today. 🇺🇸

[@booklover6753]

So true my friend. Illiteracy combined with a lack of a sense of civic duty have brought us to this point. Maybe illiteracy isn't only responsible. Gullibility plays a role also, thus the rise of Fox news.

[@sheehy933]

You leave a lot of history out in your comment. Mainly the history of government breaking its contract with its citizens on many issues over the decades. Back then it went without saying that those in powerful positions worked to keep the U.S. strong, and for the most part you could trust them at their word. Can you say the same about the last 3, 4, or 5 decades ? The destruction of a manufacturing economy with good middle class jobs and the implementation of a service economy, the weakening of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, the power of the military industrial complex which Eisenhower warned about, the outright lying to the American people, and over the last 10 years or so the absolutely absurd, vulgar, immoral push of their "woke" agenda. No, I won't be lining up for any vaccines just because the government says so. They long ago lost their right to govern, to be trusted. So don't push anti Americanism on the people when it is the government itself that is anti American.

[@braniganblue3460]

@@booklover6753 Leave it to a couple of liberals to somehow work covid, politics, and their hatred of Fox news into an automotive video.

[@new2000car]

@@booklover6753you voted for biden, didn’t you?

[@STho205]

Did you catch Covid?

[@CrownOfGoldCompleatSacrifice_2]

Until they left for a cheaper option leaving Detroit a waist land and rinse and in every country we’re cheep labor was the only thing they cared about

[@ralphcorsi741]

He keeps talking about shortages but he doesn’t say why there are shortages. The war is over there should be plenty of steel and everything else available. I think the cause lies in the government. War materiel restrictions have not been removed. Why not?

[@backblaise1255]

The USA suffered less from shortages than any other major combatant, and indeed supplied and helped feed its Allies during, and ex-enemies after, the war; but it still had to restrict civilian manufacture of almost everything. Afterwards it had to decide what the priorities were and organise allocations, and that's a big job. I'd also suggest tools, nails and screws, pots and pans and many other things were more important than automobiles.

[@ralphcorsi741]

@@backblaise1255 It is not the job of the US Government to decide what priorities and allocations should be made in a peace time economy. Unless, they were the Soviet Union. Then the governments job would be to decide what would be produced and the amount that would be produced. That is because the Soviets had a central planning economy, with a five year plan, that would dictate the number of cars, toasters and refrigerators that would be produced. Demand in that kind of economy is guesswork. In an open economy, which the US economy mostly is in peace time, the customers create the demand and the manufacturers respond to that demand. The wartime restrictions should have ended immediately and should not have been dragged on waiting for a technocrat to make the decision. A good example of continuing wartime restraints would be the UK. They continued rationing until 1954. While Germany was recovering and developing into a productive nation again, England was still rationing bacon. Until the Conservative party took over in 1954, England was still in the throes of a wartime economy. People are better at determining what they want then any Central Planning Committee.

[@backblaise1255]

@@ralphcorsi741 It was not a peacetime economy! The US Government had more 'socialist like' control over it's economy during WWII than any other Government apart from the USSR and the UK. Moving from wartime socialist control to peacetime capitalist laissez-faire had to be done with care to avoid massive inflation, stagnation and possible collapse.

[@ralphcorsi741]

@@backblaise1255 When you want and need a car and there are only two available, that is inflationary. What solves it is higher production, i.e. more products. The govt was preventing more products being produced by holding back materiel. There was four years of pent up demand for just about everything and that does not lead to stagnation, it leads to growth. The war is over, soldiers are coming back and getting married at the highest rate in history. Have you heard of the Baby Boom? These married couples needed toasters, cars, beds, clothing, furniture, and appliances. I see no collapse there. Where are you getting your economic understanding? You need to read Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt.

[@mikebeard8505]

The first 4 replies are right on target.....no instant gratification .....the mass of a war time economy was slow to change directions....it would seem slow to those of us that expect and get everything we want instantly. No conspiracies .... Just reality.

[@juaneduardobravosunega3026]

La biblia dise todo hombre que nase es industria

[@LucasChoate]

7:15 This dude looks like the stereotypical "fatcat".

[@donkeyboy585]

People had to “nurse” their 5 year old cars 😂

[@STho205]

Most people had endured a 12 year global Great Depression prior to the war consumer car shutdown. Average automobile in 1946 was a mid 30s with a lot of Model As and some Ts and Pierce Arrows still on the road from the 20s. But as milling was rather large tolerances in that era, most cars had about a 10 year good service life...and often that was only putting 5000 miles a year on the car and only one car a family.

[@jamesbosworth4191]

Even cars from that era were capable of lasting far longer than five years/25,000 miles. The problem was so many men were off to war, and most women, then as now, don't know how to fix cars.

[@daver9024]

Was biden in office when this was shot?

[@rongreen8962]

This film depicts a huge bubble of production and consumption, filled by cheap credit and environmental damage, that has now burst. No politician of any party is gonna get elected talking about that.

[@STho205]

Consumerism is much higher today than in 1946...and until this administration credit interest was very low. It is still lower than it was in the late 70s through the 90s. Query: in a family of 4, how many telephones ate there then and now? How many automobiles? How many appliances? How many personal entertainment devices like radio/TV or record player/streaming device? How many people go to tuition schools and colleges today vs 1946...or 1956? How many people own two suits or sets of office or dress clothes that last several years.....vs new clothes much more often and much more redundant.

[@rongreen8962]

@@STho205 I’m not denying that consumption is higher now than in past decades, but my point is that the extreme post-WW2 growth in American consumerism not only offloaded its costs onto poor people around the world and onto the environment, but also created momentum for the “American Dream” that continues today in the promises of politicians and the profits of corporations and banks. Anyone who is thoughtful and pays attention to this stuff realizes the dream is dead, and keeping 8 billion humans in comfort and convenience is just insanity.