The United States had entered the conflict in Vietnam as the world’s superpower following its decisive victory over the Axis powers in World War II, but left Vietnam with a humiliating defeat, shockingly high casualties, American public sharply divided and its leaders uncertain of what lay ahead in foreign policy. The nation’s longest and most debilitating war – the only war the U.S. ever lost, had far-reaching consequences and impact on most aspects of American life from the economy, culture to domestic politics and foreign policy – some of which continue to do so today.The Vietnam War damaged the U.S. economy severely. The U.S. had poured some $168 billion into the war, but the real cost of the conflict was its impact on the economy.
After a few truly good years during 1962 – 1965 when there was low inflation, almost full employment and a favorable balance of trade<span>, </span>President Lyndon B. Johnson, who succeeded President Kennedy after his assassination in 1963, declared a “War on Poverty” through his “Great Society” programs while escalating the war in Vietnam at the same time.
However, his decision to finance both “guns and butter” – a major war and the Great Society simultaneously, without a significant increase in taxes unleashed an acceleration of inflation peaking at a runaway double-digit in mid 1970s.
Not until 1969 did President Johnson decided to introduce a 10% income tax surcharge, which is considered by many economists “too little and too late” and in turn also slowed down the economy. It’s worth mentioning that Congress would not allow that “surcharge” to be implemented until President Johnson agreed to cut $6 billion from domestic spending on Great Society programs. Despite their relative success, Johnson could have undoubtedly spent more on these programs had he not had to pay for the war abroad, which Martin Luther King, Jr. had referred to as a “America’s tragic distraction” at the beginning of Johnson administration
The primary difference was
of stability, the Roman Empire was much more stable.
<span>Augusts Caesar’s crowning
as an emperor marked the beginning of the Roman Empire and it lasted in the
West until Romulus Augustulus’ deposition in 476 CE by the Germanic King
Odoacer.</span>
The Renaissance influenced so much of our world today.The Renaissance changed the world in just about every way one could think of. It had a kind of snowball effect: each new intellectual advance paved the way for further advancements. The Renaissance produced artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello, who played with new techniques such as perspective, light and shadows, realism. People began to study the human anatomy producing a better understanding of how our bodies work. Advances in chemistry led to the rise of gunpowder, while a new model of mathematics stimulated new financial trading systems and made it easier than ever to navigate across the world. Columbus discovered America, Ferdinand Magellan led an expedition to circumnavigate the globe. In 1440, Gutenberg introduced the printing press to the world – meaning that for the first time, books could be mass-produced.By 1500, printing presses in Western Europe had produced more than 20 million volumes. And by 1600, that had risen to 200 million. <span>Radical thinkers such as the Protestant Luther and the humanist Erasmus expounded a new way of looking at the world that owed less to blind subservience to the Catholic Church and more to the possibilities inherent in the human mind. </span>
