Alternatively they could just grow a brain. The US had ten times the industrial output of Japan; going to war was an act of exceptional stupidity.
Let's break that down, with data from
here. During the Depression America had:
- Nearly twice the population of Japan.
- Seventeen time's Japan's national income.
- Five times more steel production.
- Seven times more coal production.
- Eighty (80) times the automobile production.
In terms of warship production, the United States built eight times as many carriers as Japan.
In terms of merchant ship production, in 1942, '43, '44, and '45 we built more tonnage in each of those years than Japan built total in WW2. In 1943 and 1944 we more than doubled Japan's total production.
In terms of air power, in 1943 and 1944 we built more airplanes in each of those years than Japan built it total in WW2. In 1943 the Zero ws no longer the top fighter plane, so the new construction was not just higher in volume, but also higher in capability. This is ignoring bomber production, where we built ~6 times as many bombers.
For Midway, assuming worst case scenario (we lose all the carriers, Japan loses none), we would have achieved parity with Japanese carriers by the end of 1943, and by 1945 we would have had almost twice as many.
To show the overall economy, look at the Manhattan Project. We did not even know if it would work, but $2B was still spent on it. The United States had such an economic advantage that it could waste money on superweapons that required compiling and developing theoretical ideas into practical items.