I have an old US Govt. War Bond, dating from 1942. It was due to mature in 1962, but my grandfather kept it as a momento. I happened to see it, and the thought crossed my mind-when were the last bonds, loans, etc. (floated to pay for the war) finally paid off? I recall seeing something that said that WWII cost the equivilent of one trillion dollars (!000 billion) 1962 dollars.
So, is WWII paid for , or are we taxpayers still footing the bill for an aircraft carrier long since scrapped, or for ammunition that is rusting away on some remote pacific island?
As far as I know, and it isn’t all that far, the longest lived bonds issued by the government are 30 years. So, at first blush, it would have WWII paid for in 1975.
Bonds that have not been redeemed, such as your grandfather’s, would still be a debt. Though I think that interest stops accruing at some point so that in the example of a bond coming due in 1975 it would be worth no more today than in 1975.
But since the bond debt incurred by the US was largly paid by issuing more bonds you could say we’re still paying it and will do so until the US ceases to exist, or quits paying its bills.
All the above is based on the firmest of WAGs.
I believe the US has been paying bonds by issuing more bonds for a long time now so, in a sense, WWII has not been paid for yet.
The bonds issued to pay the then-current costs of WWII, WWI, Korea, Vietnam, the Civil War, etc. were paid off by issuing other bonds. In other words, the debt isn’t paid in full, it is refinanced.
It looks like the original question has been answered with ‘it depends on how you call a bond paid off’. I’d like to point out, however, that there are ongoing costs from WW2. Throughout Europe, unexploded ordance from WW2 is still found occasionally and requires crews to clean it up (and sometimes kills and injures people). Even though the US doesn’t get involved in that cleanup all that much, there’s still plenty to go around - in 1991, a fishing trawler was scuttled due to damage from accidentally taking a WW2 torpedo on board. Also, veterans’ benefits continue to cost the US, there were still close to 2 million WW2 veterans recieving benefits in the mid-nineties, and the last payments of those (pensions for dependants of WW2 soldiers) will probably not be made until the 2050s. By 1990 the cost of vererans’ benefits had already exceeded the cost of the war (to the US), hitting roughly $290 billion in 1940s dollars, so the part of the war with the biggest financial cost to the US still requires payments.