Actually, I think they prove that we (in the West) should stop considering our nations as being what they once were.
Too many people don't understand that we are in decline in several aspects even though we are in rise in others. Instead, many people seem to believe that the 'power' ratios in the Western world are just like the were decades ago (plus China's industrial rise).

How many people would believe that the South Korean shipbuilding industry has many dozen times the capacity of the U.S. one, or that Poland's and Croatia's shipbuilding industries are larger as well? It's likely easier to find people who still consider the extreme U.S. shipbuilding effort of WW2 as an indicator of national power.

Most Western nations/economies would have trouble to mobilize and equip as many soldiers as they did in WW2. The million men armies would have almost no uniforms. Most of the textile industry is gone, after all!
On the other hand: Even the present, relatively weak steel industries are still much more capable than they were in WW2 (and the steel is better).

And Ken; wasn't it you who - just a couple of days ago - wrote in the context of technological changes that you don't trust "everything changes" attitudes?