At that time the simplest solution was to sell war bonds, which are essentially loans from the public. In the years following the war people cashed in their bonds and earned interest. To pay that, the government used new tax revenue people paid on their salaries, which were higher because business was booming with everybody buying more stuff. The economy spiraled up until the late 1950s when wartime savings finally ran out. At that point the boom should have ended, but the business world didn’t want that so they started handing out consumer credit like candy. The public, also not wanting to end their spending spree, happily took them up on it. Credit spending became an ingrained habit, and now the average American family maintains several monthly salaries worth of credit card debt.
At that time the simplest solution was to sell war bonds, which are essentially loans from the public. In the years following the war people cashed in their bonds and earned interest. To pay that, the government used new tax revenue people paid on their salaries, which were higher because business was booming with everybody buying more stuff. The economy spiraled up until the late 1950s when wartime savings finally ran out. At that point the boom should have ended, but the business world didn’t want that so they started handing out consumer credit like candy. The public, also not wanting to end their spending spree, happily took them up on it. Credit spending became an ingrained habit, and now the average American family maintains several monthly salaries worth of credit card debt.