"You mean back when the United State still had a manufacturing base and made and sold things that people wanted to buy?"
Lots of folks we already buying Japanese cars, Sony tvs, Japanese stereos, etc. They were already making better stuff than the U.S.
I don't recall ammo going up as a result of the war, but ammo was still expensive back then. By 1974 I had an M.S. and I got a good job paying $9168/yr.
John
P.S. - This is all I've found so far with a quick search.
By Massad Ayoob
December 2007
"Explaining Today’s Ammo
Prices To Customers"
http://illinoiscarry.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=7519&pid=63392&st=0&
"In 1986, a box of mainstream, big-brand 9mm 115-grain full-metal-jacket training ammunition carried a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $22.50 per 50 rounds. I bet you’re selling, right now, some generic 9mm ball that is identical in performance for around half as much. A reduction of 50 percent!
Conventional copper-jacketed, hollow-point self-defense ammo in the same caliber and bullet weight, such as the Federal brand with product code 9BP, listed in ’86 for the same $22.50 per 50-round box. I just stocked up on some Federal 115-grain 9BP at Riley’s Sport Shop in Hooksett, N.H. (August ’07). The price was $12.50 for the same size box. That’s a 45-percent reduction, 21 years later!
In 1986, a 50-round box of 185-grain jacketed hollowpoint .45 ACP, such as those from Federal and Remington, carried the MSRP of $26.05. I see Winchester “white box” 230-grain .45 in the same conventional JHP selling for about that in the same quantity in gun shops these days. That’s zero cost increase in 21 years!
The hot rifle caliber today, particularly among your defense-oriented customers, is, of course, the .223 Remington/5.56mm NATO. The 55-grain full-metal-jacket round from mainstream makers carried the MSRP of $11.95 per 20-round box, as listed in the ’86 Gun Digest. That works out to 59 cents per cartridge, or $597 per thousand rounds. Today, I hear people screaming in outrage that .223 ball ammunition has gone up to $300 per thousand."