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CHAPTER 9Disbanding Troops and Bureaucrats1When, after every great war, it is proposed to demobilize thearmed forces, there is always a great fear that there will not beenough jobs for these forces and that in consequence they will beunemployed. It is true that, when millions of men are suddenlyreleased, it may require time for private industry to reabsorb them—though what has been chiefly remarkable in the past has been thespeed, rather than the slowness, with which this was accomplished.The fears of unemployment arise because people look at only one sideof the process.They see soldiers being turned loose on the labor market. Whereis the “purchasing power” going to come from to employ them? Ifwe assume that the public budget is being balanced, the answer issimple. The government will cease to support the soldiers. But thetaxpayers will be allowed to retain the funds that were previouslytaken from them in order to support the soldiers. And the taxpayerswill then have additional funds to buy additional goods. Civiliandemand, in other words, will be increased, and will give employmentto the added labor force represented by the soldiers.If the soldiers have been supported by an unbalanced budget—thatis, by government borrowing and other forms of deficit financing—51