Rather, it all comes down to how much money is allocated to the military - right now, we expect miracles by giving them only 3% of the GDP.
During WWII, the military got 40% for reference.
The number of defense contractors and shipyards have shrunk by a similar percentage.
Skills, like making hardened steel for Navy ships’ hulls and ice breakers, are long forgotten - lost as part of various ‘peace dividends’ and de-milling efforts.
As skills and money was lost, so the quality of the military personnel shrunk.
and sold a ton of bonds to fund the war effort also
I have read that from the early 2000's until the late 2010's over 50,000 factories were moved from the USA to China. The American elite has simply decided to import such items from China./s