the u.s. government rationed goods during world war II:?

Question

a. to give producers the power to find out exactly what to produce

b. because the british government did so

c. to keep sellers from raising prices on necessary goods

d. to guarantee each civilian a minimum standard of living

Answer 1

d. ... there just wasn't enough of everything to go around.

But honestly, none of the above. Most of the rationing was because those products were needed for the war effort. General Patton couldn't fuel his tanks and put tires on his trucks if people at home were out cruising all day and wasting gas.

And, many pre-war producers of consumer goods had to be converted to war industry. That meant that where we had a plant making sheets before the war, they might be making parachutes during the war and nobody was making sheets. It happened in almost every industry.

We kept producers from raising prices not by rations but by creating and enforcing laws about "price gouging" that are still enforced in times of national emergency.

Answer 2

You forget - many products were produced overseas & could NOT be easily imported, when ships were being sunk.

Also, fuel was being redirected to the war effort - so fuel used in food produciton went to the war effort & farmers had to use horses instead. Across the US, people had to find ways to do without their "addiction to oil" (ring any bells, people?).

There was also a change in many industries being redirected for the war effort (building tanks & planes instead of cars).

I grew up in England - I was born in 1962 & there was Still an effect, even then. You have no idea how close the UK was to running out of resources - all metal railings were melted down for everything from bullets to bombs. So were bells - church bells made before the Liberty Bell, were lost to the war effort.

Even though we can grow things in the USA today, we may import, because of cost or other financial reasons - imagine if a war started tomorrow - we would have no opportunity to change over to the home grown equivelent (e.g. coffee).

There were also the lessons learned from WWI - where there was panic buying of gasoline towards the end of the war, leading to a shortage.

There were also the after effects of the Great Depression 25% unemployment.

1930's America was not in good shape going to war & WWII was not the sideshow & prime-time TV show that Iraq is.

Answer 3

c. War is alway profitable.