World War and the Growth of Global Power 263from $81 billion to $180 billion, over a 200 percent increase. Since millions
of women entered the workforce [see section below], family incomes rose
even more as many families had more than one breadwinner. With this major
infusion of money into the economy all of a sudden, inflation became a prob-
lem, with prices rising nearly 20 percent in the first year of the war, and some
items were unavailable as the military had priority on all goods. Congress
thus gave the Office of Price Administration the power to regulate costs and
regulate and ration goods. Americans received a book of ration coupons, one
for canned foods and another for meat, fish, and dairy goods, to limit what
they could purchase. Soon, the government rationed gasoline, tires, and even
clothing. Because production in steel, rubber, and glass was so essential to the
wars in Europe and Asia, the government made auto manufacturers stop mak-
ing cars for civilian use and stopped the production of radios, refrigerators,
and some other small appliances. By 1945, the government had either stopped
manufacturing or limited production on about 300 different goods. As noted
above, many Americans had more money than they could spend due to war-
time shortages and rationing, and this led to a huge rise in consumption
immediately after the war. All of these changes—in government economic
FIGuRE 5-7 Cartoon by Charles Shows poking fun at wartime conservation