Re: Invasion of Okinawa, Iwo Jima instead of Philipines

<mtfester@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote

Much of which went to purchase of heavy equipment in order to rebuild
the infrastruture destroyed by the war.

That was certainly necessary. But it was *not* necessary for the US to
stipulate that all replacement machinery and plant was US-manufactured,
carried in US shipping from the US, serviced by a US subsidiary and insured
with a US company. If the Marshall plan had been simple humanitarian or
economic aid, the US government would have simply handed over the cash to
European governments to buy **locally made** machinery and services, or at
the very least, supplied US-made machine tools and production machinery,
rather than the finished goods. This would have established the basis for
local prosperity rather than establishing a long-term commercial dependence
on the US. The latter was the clear primary aim of the Marshall Plan.

They also were required to
draw up reasonable plans for the use of the funds

One might imagine that the western European nations knew how to recover from
wars without tutelage from the US. After all, they managed it after WW1. The
actual purpose of this 'planning stipulation' was to maintain US control
over how the money was spent and allow a degree of economic planning within
the US so that demand could be managed against supply, just as it had been
during WW2.

, and to cooperate
to a degree that they failed to do post-WWI.

Actually, the Marshall Plan did little to encourage post-war European
economic co-operation. The US did not particularly want to reinstate the
giant European combines which had competed successfully with the US in the
inter-war years. The US was much more interested in European military and
political co-operation through US-led alliances.

Perhaps you can name another economy putting out decent heavy equipment
at the time?

The British, for one. Canada had a fair amount of industry too. These
economies were the first-tier targets to be undermined by the Marshall Plan.

And while France, Belgium and Germany had been hit hard by war damage, there
was the potential to quickly rebuild it if markets were available for the
finished goods. These economies were the second-tier targets to be
undermined by the Marshall Plan.

.

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