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Gotta thank our friend dwsmith for promptly proving why so many people think Americans are ignorant rednecks. It's blanket statements like that. (Not to say that all Americans really are like that, but we all tend to remember the rednecks better than the intelligent people. It's only human nature.)
The Marshall plan has nothing to do with some very simple facts. Like that Japan continues to be an amazing economy, in spite of having no natural resources. Divide Japan's industrial exports by its population, and do the same for the US's. Now also factor in how much of the materials used are imported. If the US was so bloody amazing at building that good an economy, why couldn't they build THEIR OWN economy to be as efficient as the Japanese one? I do believe that the US was first to jack up the import taxes to keep their economy from being taken over by the Japanses, not the other way around.
That's also ignoring that the Japanese industry really kicked off in the sixties, when they were faced with either upping their quality or going bankrupt. The new element was: integrated circuits. And that was the Japanese culture that got their act together, not the "american dollar". (The American idea of quality is that if an OS still needs patching even after five years, it's OK. Point in case: Windows NT 4.0.)
That's also ignoring that the Marshall plan, while indeed it helped, didn't even cover a fraction the losses those countries had in WW2. If those countries had gotten to keep their economy intact over the war, like the USA did, I do believe they'd be WAY ahead now. Check your numbers before making such silly statements that a whole world's economy was built with US dollars, while everyone just sat on their butts.
The Marshall plan also did NOT cover stuff that happened BEFORE WW2. The fact that Germany went from total famine and economic collapse, to being able to support so many panzer divisions, was NOT done with US dollars. (Or are you trying to tell me that you actually sponsored THAT too, just to get Europe into war?
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Also, the German Autobahns (highways) are far superior quality than anything built anywhere in America or Canada. Regardless of whose money it was built with, the point remains that someone was able to design and build a better infrastructure. And that they can maintain and build them even many decades after the Marshall plan. If you're so industrious, why don't you build them too? In game terms, that's what industrious means.
That said, I never said I wouldn't give the Americans any advantages in the game. But I would probably give them Commercial (more money, less corruption) instead of Industrious.
The Marshall plan has nothing to do with some very simple facts. Like that Japan continues to be an amazing economy, in spite of having no natural resources. Divide Japan's industrial exports by its population, and do the same for the US's. Now also factor in how much of the materials used are imported. If the US was so bloody amazing at building that good an economy, why couldn't they build THEIR OWN economy to be as efficient as the Japanese one? I do believe that the US was first to jack up the import taxes to keep their economy from being taken over by the Japanses, not the other way around.
That's also ignoring that the Japanese industry really kicked off in the sixties, when they were faced with either upping their quality or going bankrupt. The new element was: integrated circuits. And that was the Japanese culture that got their act together, not the "american dollar". (The American idea of quality is that if an OS still needs patching even after five years, it's OK. Point in case: Windows NT 4.0.)
That's also ignoring that the Marshall plan, while indeed it helped, didn't even cover a fraction the losses those countries had in WW2. If those countries had gotten to keep their economy intact over the war, like the USA did, I do believe they'd be WAY ahead now. Check your numbers before making such silly statements that a whole world's economy was built with US dollars, while everyone just sat on their butts.
The Marshall plan also did NOT cover stuff that happened BEFORE WW2. The fact that Germany went from total famine and economic collapse, to being able to support so many panzer divisions, was NOT done with US dollars. (Or are you trying to tell me that you actually sponsored THAT too, just to get Europe into war?
)Also, the German Autobahns (highways) are far superior quality than anything built anywhere in America or Canada. Regardless of whose money it was built with, the point remains that someone was able to design and build a better infrastructure. And that they can maintain and build them even many decades after the Marshall plan. If you're so industrious, why don't you build them too? In game terms, that's what industrious means.
That said, I never said I wouldn't give the Americans any advantages in the game. But I would probably give them Commercial (more money, less corruption) instead of Industrious.
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