Unlike the end of the great depression, we had/have stockpiles of ordnance. This war, if you really want to call it that, has done nothing for the US economy. It actually has not even helped the arms industry. Bell Helicopter and Northrup are both laying off people, and instituting hiring freezes.. . In the case of the Great Depression, we had no real stock piles, and we had manufacturing capabilities laying dormant. The war kick the economy up and kept it going. That, by the way, is an anomaly, it did not occur in the Revolution, or in the Civil war. Vietnam did not help our economy much either. The 60s were still booming because we were left standing and still building the rest of the world back to production.