Pynchon and the current situation

[Dan Jizzenberry]

From: Doug Millison <nopynching at yahoo.com>
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: Pynchon and the current situation
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 08:57:32 -0700 (PDT)

..."Recall how the military-industrial machine that developed as the U.S. 
prepared for and entered WWII continued to expand and drive the economic 
boom of the 50s, and when that began to flag, another war (in Vietnam) kept 
the gears turning and the money flowing and the oil pumping for another 
decade or so."...

Many historians claim that the Vietnamese 'conflict' (if that was a 
conflict, what is this?) actually contributed to the economic crisis of the 
early 70s. Although the war initially proved beneficial to American business 
interests (which is why you're point is still in as sense a valid one) it 
soon had an inflationary effect on the economy (a predictable result in boom 
times--hence Greenspan's fetish for containing inflation during the most 
recent boom). See, for instance, Allen Matusow's "The Unravelling of 
America"-- ch.6 in particular. It was for this reason that many business 
leaders--both publically and privately--urged Nixon to end the war. A cynic 
would argue that the government ended the war only when it became an 
economic liability.




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