Jim says, """All of whom were too busy fighting Commies and going to
the moon to
notice that the Japanese and Europeans were quietly but steadily
getting ahead in their industrial capabilities."""

Jimmy wasn't fighting commies.

Jimmy wasn't going to the moon.

Maybe Jimmy served his country by quietly rebuilding Europe and Japan
after WWII, with American tax money, so that they had more modern
manufacturing methods than did the USA. Or maybe he worked for a
no-bid contractor?

No, I don't think that was it, either.

How is it that Jimmy has so many opinions about things that he was
never involved in?