>>The US won in every conceivable aspect- not just by scooping the best German rocket scientists, but because the war had little destructive effect on the mainland: industrial capacity and big cities untouched, 6 deaths in the mainland attributed to the war. The Japanese, desperate to strike the US mainland, began floating across bombs attached to balloons. A few made it, and the 6 who died were messing with a balloon bomb in a field when an unexpected (to them) thing happened. Compare to the Blitz of London, Coventry, the fire bombing of Hamburg and the pulverization of Axis cities and industrial capability by various means.
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>Isn't that a bit meaningless. Germany and Japan went on to become the economic powerhouses post war despite the devestation. Some in the UK say that our lack of industrial growth post war was caused by a lack of devestation (and hence the required rebuilding and new investment).

They didn't have to rebuild their armies at all, and also didn't have to return the loans they made to build them in the first place (and other places), whereas the UK just repaid the last bit a few years ago.