The more I think of it, the more I think that WWII comparisons *understate* the gravity of the current crisis. The economic challenge then was figuring out how 85% of the labour force could keep the other 15% in the military fed and supplied. We are facing much, MUCH worse. 1/
The people fighting the war on covid-19 are those removed from the labour force and forced to stay home. Our challenge is to sustain them, just as we had to keep soldiers sustained during WWII. But instead of 15% of the labour force then, it will be at least 30% or more now. 2/
The only saving grace is that we're pretty sure that the current war won't take 6 years to fight. But we're looking at a scale of economic disruption that is several multiples of what we experienced during the Second World War. 3/
We didn't immediately go to a flat-out war effort in 1939; we hoped that the war would be short, and that our main contribution would be form of foodstuffs. Those hopes died when France fell in May 1940, making Canada the most important ally Britain still had. 4/
France fell on March 13, 2020. But we instead of having years to develop the war economy of 1943-45, we have weeks. 5/5
