Today, the United States wakes up at 2, smokes a joint, goes shopping for designer clothes (made in Italy), and yells at the cashier when he or she finds out the card's limit has been exceeded. In the 1940s, the Internet didn't exist, which made it a whole lot easier to keep people from knowing that 10-year Treasuries were overvalued. In the 1940s -- even adjusted for inflation, GDP, and population growth, the U.S. wasn't printing money anywhere near current levels.