the American Juggernaut
The figures concerning American rearmament effort which have been published in the United States during the past week are of Such a magnitude that they must give pause even to such Russian authorities as are allowed to see them and have the imagination to translate them into terms of tanks, guns, ships and aeroplanes. The United States arms budget for the fiscal year ending June 30th. 1952, is $57,604 million. A few comparisons may help to make this vast figure comprehensible. It is more than four times the total British Government expenditure for all purposes (not for defence alone) as given in the Budget. It is nearly twice the British national income, which includes all private as well as public income, for the year 1950. That is to say, the Americans are preparing to spend on defence alone two pounds for every one included in the British national income from all sources. This programme has incidental results such as the expansion of American steel-making capacity . by 17,000,000 tons in less than three years—an addition which is in itself greater than the total capacity of the British steel indus- try. It involves the increase in American electricity capacity by at least 22,000,000 kilowatts in three years. Total British capacity at present is a little over 15,000,000 kilowatts. Roughly speaking, the Americans propose to create in three years a pro- ductive machine equal in capacity to the basic British industrial equipment and to devote the resulting output to defence. The problems of raw materials supply and inflation which this effort involves are formidable. But there is no final reason why the effort should not succeed.
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