Replies

USA-FRANCE said:
“America is Europe’s child.
Historically speaking, Europe’s investments in America is so massive, it’s beyond biblical!”

SmokingJoe answers:
“Now why don’t we talk about the hundreds of Billions probably Trillions of dollars (in today’s money) that America has poured into Euro after WW II, starting with Marhsal Aid and then the hundreds of billions of US dollars spent by America in NATO to defend the hapless Europeans since WWII?”

USA-FRANCE:
You are shockingly unaware about basic historical facts.
Let me explain:

After WWII, Europe wasn’t sitting around waiting for charity. The Marshall Plan wasn’t some magical, one-way money fountain. It was, among other things, a mechanism that pushed Europe to buy American manufactured goods, American machinery, American grain, American everything. The dollars America sent over were tethered to American production. That means the money boomeranged straight back into the U.S. industrial base. Factories ran around the clock. Corporate profits ballooned. The American middle class exploded. Washington didn’t just “give”; it sold, and Europe paid. Very rich of you to omit this… or you simply are not aware about history.

Then add NATO: Europe didn’t get “free protection.” Europeans bought American weapons, American tech, American logistics, American contracts. Decade after decade. You don’t get an economy the size of a small sun by handing out freebies. You get it by having an entire continent as your customer base! Right? Europe is behind America’s wealth which started right after WWII.

And WHO were the first courageous settlers and pioneers who started America?
All Europeans! (Even though the Indians were there first… they didn’t build America as we know it today).

So when you throw around those “hundreds of billions” like a bored accountant, you skip the part where Europe’s purchases turned American industry into a monster. Europe rebuilt itself while funding the greatest manufacturing boom in U.S. (and possibly the world’s) history.

Reality:

Effects and Achievements
The Marshall Plan proved highly successful:
European industrial production surged, exceeding pre-war levels by 35–50% in many sectors (e.g., steel, chemicals, engineering) by the early 1950s.
Gross national products in recipient countries rose 15–25% during the plan's timeframe.
It sparked the “Wirtschaftswunder” (economic miracle) in West Germany and similar booms elsewhere, laying the foundation for the European Economic Community ( precursor to the EU).
Politically, it strengthened democratic institutions, reduced communist influence (e.g., in France and Italy), and solidified the division of Europe during the Cold War.

Historians widely regard it as one of the most effective foreign aid programs in history, demonstrating that targeted economic support could achieve both humanitarian and strategic goals.

SmokingJoe: “Now why don’t we talk about the hundreds of Billions probably Trillions of dollars (in today’s money) that America has poured into Euro after WW II,"

Marshall Plan per country, 1948 - 1952:

In 1948 dollars, the total Marshall Plan came to about $13.3 billion, which you might argue is only $173 billion in today's inflated money.
However, in terms of the relative national efforts required for the US to provide $13.3 billion in 1948-1952, compared to our GDP, in today's values, it's over $1.4 trillion.

And in terms of its value to war-broken European economies, it was vastly more important than even $1.4 trillion suggests.

And yes, about 2/3 of that money was spent purchasing American products like wheat, flour, meat, and other food staples, coal, oil, cotton, steel, farm tractors, industrial machinery and infrastructure equipment to rebuild railroads, bridges, ports and electric power grids, etc.
The other 1/3 of Marshall Plan funding was used to purchase European made goods for European customers.

About 90% of the Marshall Plan was grants, not loans.

So, it was a big deal, and I've never seen anybody try to argue that the US would be better off today if we had NOT done the Marshall Plan.

On the other hand, the precedent it set, of the US willing to shell out untold billions, even trillions of dollars without demanding reasonable returns on our investments was not good for our own long term financial health, and so contributed to today's financial mess wherein the US national debt is larger than our inflated GDP, and annual deficits are running around 7% of GDP.

That situation is not sustainable, and the mindset which created it needs to finally change.