That's what people in government pay are supposed to do; work to make stupid policies work.

It's not a "reality" outsiders need to face. To them, stupid policy is just that and may deserve to be fought against.
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The Western economies have some issues, but even in "old" industries such as steel production we have usually multiple times the output of the 30's.
I suppose a mobilised Western country will rather have training issues and worries about protecting its economy against warfare than actual output issues.
That is, unless you're in the U.S., want to repeat the naval bvuildup of 1942-1945 and face the fact that your shipbuilding industry ranks behind Poland's.