Industrial potential still requires long-term investment

The United States had enormous untapped industrial potential, but building additional carriers required shipyard infrastructure first. Expanding that infrastructure would divert construction capacity from other projects while the larger industrial base grew. In this interpretation, short investment horizons in government and business help explain why so much potential remained unused. The comparison with Britain's dependence on Victorian infrastructure makes a similar criticism of later investment choices. Victorian planners need not have looked indefinitely into the future for their work to outlast that of successors with shorter horizons. Industrial potential becomes wartime output only when resources are committed early enough to build the required capacity.