Dimensional Trader in Marvel

When Phillips saw Josh sitting across from Ross in the yard of Ross's house, he was stunned.

At the same time, he felt helpless.

But his helplessness quickly turned to determination.

There was no turning back now. Now that it had come to this, there was no way he could back down. Sticking his head out was a stab in the back, and backing down was also a stab in the back.

"It's been a long time, General Phillips!" Josh greeted him. The last time they had met was in Vienna, during their joint operation to capture the remnants of Hydra.

Of course, most of those captured were either stubborn opponents of Josh, the new Hydra leader, or scapegoats that neither Josh nor Austria cared about.

At the time, Phillips had just been promoted from colonel to brigadier general. Now he was a major general, which was a decent rate of promotion.

But that didn't mean he was more capable than William Ross.

Ross had earned his rank through real battlefield command, while Phillips' rise was largely due to the sacrifices of Captain America and the contributions of Howard Stark, the brilliant scientist.

Still, Phillips had strong connections and considerable power.

"It's been a long time, Mr. Kahn!" Phillips greeted Josh respectfully.

"Don't be so formal, General Phillips. Please, sit down. You were Steve's superior, so I guess that makes us half-friends," Josh said warmly, acting almost like the host.

Ross, who was sitting nearby, didn't mind. He just smiled and nodded, motioning for Phillips to make himself comfortable.

The three of them began to chat casually, with Josh leading the conversation, talking about anything and everything.

When Phillips was about to lose his patience, Josh suddenly brought up a topic.

"Speaking of which, you must have heard about the Department of War Assets Management being established by the Department of Defense, right?"

"I've heard a little about it," Phillips replied, nodding. He was aware of it, of course. As the head of an intelligence agency and a smart man, he looked at Ross, , who still didn't know what was going on.. Phillips couldn't help but admire Josh's influence and Ross's luck.

The Department of War Assets Management (WAA) was a specialized agency created after World War II to dispose of surplus property and materials from that war.

In any country, when producing military supplies, it is impossible to produce just enough for current troop levels, and there will always be a surplus.

During the war, the U.S. had produced massive amounts of military equipment, not only for its millions of troops, but also to support its allies. Production was so unrestrained that manufacturers were encouraged to produce as much as they could, with the government buying everything.

This led to a situation where, even after the war ended, the U.S. military not only had a large amount of unused supplies, but also a large number of orders that had not even been produced yet.

How much were these supplies worth?

Their total value exceeded $34 billion, with over 4 million types of items. The catalog alone consisted of two stacks of 28 books, each over 2 meters high. These items ranged from dog sleds for troops stationed in Greenland to mosquito nets for soldiers in the South Pacific, as well as bullets, airplanes, ships, and tanks. All of this was stored in 181 warehouses across the United States.

To put $34 billion in perspective, the total GDP of the United States in 1945 was approximately $355 billion. This amount was more than the total assets of any corporate conglomerate at the time.

Disposing of or even giving away such a massive amount of supplies would take a long time.

In the original timeline, the WAA was officially established in early 1946. Under the leadership of Major General Thor Johnson, various military materials were converted into equipment and sold throughout the United States.

For example, helmets were turned into washbasins, large training shells became lamp bases, military tracked vehicles were sold as tractors, and 320,000 small medical bottles were used as shooting targets on a firing range.

The snake-shaped hoses from gas masks were turned into snake toys that children loved.

A large number of medical bandages were repurposed by a Cincinnati clothing factory as padding for suit shoulders.

Half a million aluminum strips intended for radar jamming became fashionable Christmas decorations in Washington.

Sixty thousand rocket launchers were transformed into elegant lamp stands.

4.5 million fur-lined flight trousers were turned into gloves and slippers, and the mountain of military surplus slowly made its way to the civilian population.

But even with these efforts, only about one-seventh of the massive stockpile had been consumed.

To further reduce the surplus, the U.S. began selling the supplies internationally. Norway and the Netherlands became ideal buyers for old ships, Italy focused on military shoe production lines, and Czechoslovakia wanted a bit of everything as long as it was cheap. Meanwhile, East Asian countries struggling to feed their people prioritized surplus U.S. flour and powdered milk.

These nations often lacked cash, so the U.S. relied on loans that eventually turned into bad debts that went unpaid.

To sell the supplies quickly, the revenue often was less than one-tenth of their true value.

Still, much of the inventory remained unsold, resulting in items being discarded or burned. Some of it remained in storage even as late as 2022.

Of course, some people managed to profit from reselling these goods, but the fortunes made were relatively small.

To large corporations, these supplies were considered worthless military junk.

What a waste of resources!

In Josh's hands, however, selling these supplies to Daenerys could have increased their value tenfold.

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