[mgiampapa]

It's also discounting workplace efficiency gains. Both white and blue collar jobs are far more efficient than ever before.

[maratc]

OTOH, an interesting point is that the Manhattan project cost 0.4% of GDP in 1940, and Apple buyback ($110B) is 0.4% of 2023 GDP ($27T).

[pmontra]

Apple gets its money from all around the world, so every country pays a part of those buybacks.

The USA in 1940 were a smaller empire than they are now so, I might be wrong, but the Manhattan project money came mostly from inside the country.

This means that it's easier for Apple to find and spend those money than it was for the USA in 1940.

[ralfd]

Population of US was also only 132 million in 1940. Today it is 333 million.