Consider the 1950s. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the general in charge of winning WWII in Europe, a Republican, and very much into heavy defense spending. That administration developed, mass-produced and deployed nuclear submarines, B-52 bombers, ICBMs, aircraft carriers, A-bombs, and H-bombs. Bases were maintained all over the world, with large numbers of troops. Plus, the US paid some of the costs of putting Europe and Japan back together, and the interest on the national debt from WWII.
Financial regulation was tight. There were commercial banks, which could take deposits and make loans, but couldn't trade in the stock market. There were savings and loans, which could make loans on houses and take deposits but not much else. There were stockbrokers, which could deal in stocks but not trade for their own account. Most stockbrokers were partnerships, such as Merril Lynch, Pierce, Fenner, and Beane, with the partners personally liable for losses. There were a few investment banks trading for their own account, such as J.P. Morgan. They were using their own money, and if they went under, that was their problem. Finance was very clearly subordinate to doing real stuff.
The CEO of United States Steel made about $42,000 a year. The first billionaire had not yet appeared; John Paul Getty, a Texas oilman, broke through that barrier in the 1960s.
Yet this locked-down economy produced the greatest economic boom in American history.