I'd imagine this tool would be pretty handy when being deployed to a war torn country where it is hard to get supplies.

Not so sure about that. Look at how much space it'd take up in your kit. Based on its approximate size and weight, you could probably pack 100-200 extra blades, which would make-do for most deployments.

There's also the Great Depression which defined a new level of poverty in the US.

Maybe I've been tricked by the LateStageCapitalist types, but I thought the years following the 2008 recession were as bad or worse than the Great Depression years? I reckon it wasn't so much about poverty as it was the availability of goods and the convenience of getting them. That, and social values handed down to folks living in the 1920s and 30s from previous generations that discouraged waste. Look at how fashion was handled in the late 1800s vs. today, for example. Our standards for wastage are just so much lower now. We mostly assume goods should be disposable, especially anything personal hygiene-related.