ABSTRACT
The American assumption of a dominant position in the global political economy after World War II resulted from the incredible destructiveness of the war over vast stretches of Europe and Asia and the economic growth experienced by the United States as a result of the enormous demand for war material. The destructiveness was manifested in numerous ways. The economic condition of the United States was diametrically opposed to that of Europe. One estimate of comparative US strength just after the war suggested that the United States had three quarters of the world’s invested capital and two-thirds of its industrial capacity. A dramatic manifestation of capital mobility is the escalating volume of plant closings across the United States. They began their analysis of unemployment and plant closings by indicating that: In the past few years, millions of American workers have lost their jobs because of structural changes in the US and world economies.
