A decent way of looking at it, was that after ww2, the US intentionally instituted an international division of labor: they’d pump tons of money to create thriving consumer products industries and welfare states in germany and japan, while the US would focus more on the war industry, acting as capitalism’s international cop.
Especially w/ regards to west germany, it’s healthier economy signified to eastern europe the benefits of what capitalism can bring (not US imperialism, which was the real source of value), which had a big ideological impact.
To expand on that, once it was clear that Japan would overtake the US economically, the Japanese economy was gutted.
Now an economically united Germany and Russia would be too powerful, so that relationship must be gutted. Germany pays a heavier price for this than Russia does, as raw materials can generally be sold to other buyers, whereas finished goods cannot be produced without inputs.
A decent way of looking at it, was that after ww2, the US intentionally instituted an international division of labor: they’d pump tons of money to create thriving consumer products industries and welfare states in germany and japan, while the US would focus more on the war industry, acting as capitalism’s international cop.
Especially w/ regards to west germany, it’s healthier economy signified to eastern europe the benefits of what capitalism can bring (not US imperialism, which was the real source of value), which had a big ideological impact.
To expand on that, once it was clear that Japan would overtake the US economically, the Japanese economy was gutted.
Now an economically united Germany and Russia would be too powerful, so that relationship must be gutted. Germany pays a heavier price for this than Russia does, as raw materials can generally be sold to other buyers, whereas finished goods cannot be produced without inputs.