Rationing in the United States "even if Japan does not fold now, the war will certainly be over before the books can be used." On August 15, 1945, World War II gas rationing was ended on the West Coast of the United States. Most other rationing restrictions also ended in August of 1945 except for sugar rationing, which lasted until 1947 in some parts of the country. Rationing in the United States Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, or services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allotted portion of the resources being
Rationing in the United Kingdom continued. Some aspects of rationing became stricter for some years after the war. At the time this was presented as needed to feed people in European areas under British control, whose economies had been devastated by the fighting. This was partly true, but with many British men still mobilised in the armed forces, an austere economic climate, and a centrally-planned economy under the post-war Labour government, resources were not available to expand food production and food imports. Frequent strikes by some workers (most critically dock workers) made things worse. A common ration book fraud was the ration books of the