it’s a tax/ debt dual weapon designed to reward those who supported the pro-intervention federal political establishment.

how it worked was, the people who bought the war bonds (ie lent money to the war effort) were “paid back” through income redistribution. so the more bonds you buy, the more money gets redistributed to you after we win.

because bonds were and are a financial instrument typically utilized by the wealthy, this was a way to “buy” support for the war among the wealthy. those who couldn’t afford to participate in this scheme were then drafted as cannon fodder.