War of Convenience

"How long is America going to pretend that the world is not at war?"
--President Franklin D Roosevelt (Pearl Harbor)

I increasingly suspect that Statists who are desperate to demonstrate economic progress to their people see war as a convenient alternative right about here. Massive monetary and fiscal interventions have not produced much. In fact, marginal returns of successive program are diminishing.

So if you're a Statist connecting these dots, the FDR playbook might look pretty attractive. Identify some enemies. Provoke them. Rally the masses around an external conflict. Put all non-military personnel to work in arms production to provide the illusion of full employment.

And hope you win.

If you believe in Big Government, is this not the ultimate lesson to be learned from the Great Depression? When all else fails, W-A-R.