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Title: A Quick Thought On America’s Useless Trillion Dollar Military Industrial Complex
Source:
Investment Watch Blog
URL Source: http://www.investmentwatchblog.com/ ... r-military-industrial-complex/
Published: May 2, 2018
Author: Chris Black
Post Date: 2018-05-04 20:34:13 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 4107
Comments: 21
America is a country drowning in debt, slowly but surely, and the United States’ trillion dollar (annually) military-industrial complex, as Eisenhower put it more than half a century ago, is part of our national disaster. Before going all MAGA on me, just answer this question: when was the last time the US military defended the homeland? The answer is pretty simple if you know your history: in 1945. The sad truth is that the United States has world’s largest (and best funded) army, yet realistically speaking, it has no (military) enemies. No nation on Earth even comes close to having the capabilities of invading the US, and no desire to do so, or at least that’s how I view the world in 2018. Again, realistically speaking, the US military would do just fine with 20% of its actual budget. Here cometh another red-pill for my regular readers, if I have one: our soldiers are not noble chevaliers protecting freedom and democracy world-wide. Just like all soldiers throughout history, GI Joes are immoral and obedient killers. Seriously, just think about it: our drone operators, special ops ubermensch and jet fighter pilots, which are currently bombing and killing in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and wherever, know they are murdering civilians in the process, yet they don’t actually care, because mercenaries are paid to do just that. And this is the real nature of any army, not just ours. Glamorizing the military is just another way of feeding people’s pack instinct, also known as patriotism. The truth is, the military industrial complex is our worst enemy, as it provides almost zero benefits to the American people, while doing great damage to the country. Remember the recent wars: Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria: all cost hugely both in terms of lives and taxpayers money, yet provided no benefit for the American people. And just think about the enormous cost of our military paraphernalia, which doesn’t do squat for Americans nor for America. Do you feel safer on the street because we have the F-35 stealth jet-fighter? The fact that we have the most (and best) aircraft carriers in the world makes your children’s lives better? Did you even know about our latest and immensely expensive B-21 thermonuclear bomber? Is your life better just because we have all that arsenal, which actually sucks dry America’s competitiveness via bleeding our money, together with the best brains and talent from the ‘real economy’ to the US military? The US has huge problems, and we’re starting to fall behind China, yet we obsess over having the meanest and baddest military in the world. The military industrial complex morphed and embedded itself so deeply into the US that they’ve almost become America. Basically, the US taxpayer is part of a giant tax-farm which funds the military-security-industrial-intelligence-media complex. Huge private companies are totally dependent upon the US military, like Lockheed Martin, other entities depend on the US military, like the NSA, while others (read Israel) use this Behemoth to advance their own agenda. The US Congress is basically an annex of the Knesset, while entire towns are completely dependent on military spending (contracts, jobs, you name it). California would crash and burn sans military spending, and you can take that to the bank. Since Vietnam, the military learned to fly under the radar with regard to the American’s public perception of our wars. There’s no more free press to show the American public the horrors committed by “our boys” bombing civilians abroad, (like it was the case with the Vietnam war), as everything mass-media is now firmly controlled by a few huge corporations. I already told you about the B-21 bomber, a phenomenally expensive weapons platform you probably never heard about it until now. Do you know why? Because the military-industrial complex learned from the F-35 fiasco/debacle, that’s why, and now they keep it as quiet as possible. The US Congress is also bought and paid for by the military industrial complex, and they allow zero opposition to anything military, because of the jobs in their districts brought by military contractors. Military expenditure basically controls and dominates the US economy, and it sucks dry necessary resources (read taxpayers money) from civilian needs. Wars are very profitable businesses for a selected few rich-cats (banks,corporations, contractors, Pentagon bureaucrats and generals, basically all of those who make a living from war and war mongering), and they must keep on going (see the endless wars in Afghanistan, Iraq etc), because either winning or losing would put an end to the gravy train. What purpose the war in Afghanistan has, other than funneling trillions of dollars of taxpayers money over almost two decades for the military industrial complex, accomplishing zilch for America, while killing tens of thousands of civilians in the process? The same goes for Syria, Iraq, Libya et al. Since the US army is now a volunteer/mercenary based army, and the casualties are very few due to our technological prowess, the American public became acquiescent, as it’s basically uninvolved and ignorant of what are we doing abroad. The truth is, America’s military-industrial complex is completely autonomous (read out of control), and if it wants war (with Iran, Russia, China, you name it), we will have a war, whether you like it or not. Just ask yourself: what would you like to have, decent health care of a military base in Qatar?
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#1. To: Deckard (#0)
So does the welfare-dole complex.
That is a somewhat anti-semetic comment, what is suggested is that the Jews control America and are therefore what is wrong with America. Such thoughts have Nazi overtones. Face it, without the military-industrial complex, there would be massive unemployment.
There is something innately wrong with this statement, and that's ignoring the implication that making weapons is a moral imperative because it creates jobs. What helps an economy is production. The building of capital projects such as factories that make things like cars and hardware goods that are, in turn, used to increase the wealth of a country or society. Weapons do not do this. Unlike cars and other goods, if weapons are used as designed, they do not create wealth. The instead destroy it. If they are not used, then they sit dormant and yield nothing. At least not directly. Yes it's true that by simply having them on hand, they can yield some benefit by deterring subjugation by some foreign power. But in the case of the US, what the author points out early in his work is quite true: Things like the F-35 are not required to deter invasion by some foreign power. So, if instead of buying the F-35, all that money was instead poured into the civilian sector, then we would generally still have the same level of employment. It's just that instead of paying people to make the F-35, we would instead be paying people to rebuild civilian infrastructure. But maybe we wouldn't be channeling money into the civilian sector. Maybe instead we'd simply have less spending. That would mean less employment. But it would also mean less national debt, which means less tax money being wasted on interest payments, and interest payments are a complete waste of taxpayer money. It basically translates to wealth redistribution, taking money from productive sector of society and giving to the non-productive sector of society (Those loaning money to the US gov). So by stating that there would be massive unemployment without the MIC, you seem to be advocating this as a truism: Do you think that's true? You further, interestingly, call Deckard's comment into question as being "anti-semitic" and having Nazi overtones, and yet without Germany turning on a massive military production, they would not have been able to impose Nazi control over so much of Europe during WWII. I remember there was a Jewish advocate on 4um a number of years back. Always defending Israel no matter what. This guy at one point posted (reposted from some other site, as he usually did with all his advocacy) a list of all the benefits the US enjoyed because we were allied with Israel. And what this guy apparently was oblivious to was that **Every single "benefit" was military related**. Every last one. So I find it ironic anytime someone would, on one hand, criticize someone for supposedly making a Nazi-esk or anti-semetic type statement, and on the other hand, promote massive nationalistic military development as a beneficial thing, especially as, in the case of the USA, the military is used to subjugate others throughout the world just as we have been taught the Nazi's dreamed of doing under Hitler. It's quite clear to me that your statement is patently false. At best, it's only true in nearsighted, short term fashion. No, it is not necessary for a thriving country to spend massive amounts of money on defense any more than it's necessary for a thriving country to have massive welfare paid to a non-productive / unemployed sector of society. Because that is exactly what needless military spending amounts to.
Sometimes weapons create wealth. For example if one of Deckards anarchist friends or one of Vic's welfare leeches broke into your house to rob you. You kill the bums defending your life. They were worthless slugs. You however are not a worthless slugs. Now you can go to work and earn more money. If not for the gun you would have been dead and Vic and Deckards friends would have been living high on the hog for a few days.
... and getting HIGH, without working. Typical criminal shitbird lifestyles.
I'm the infidel... Allah warned you about. كافر المسلح
Just recently when Trump threated North Korea with annihilation if they did not discontine their nuclear program. Would they have taken Trump seriously if he were, say, President of France? Italy? Canada? It looks as though North Korea may comply. How much would war have cost us? Possibly nuclear war? Next on the list, Iran.
I did point out that there is real value in this deterrent effect. However, I don't any military weapons made in the last 20-30 years was made with any concern about protecting the USA from foreign invaders. The closest thing to it was when the USSR loomed. The US "defense" is now about controlling the world, and Russia, Iran and Syria are on the forefront of this ambition.
Iran is not a threat to the USA and never has been. The US loaths this country of 80 million people because it's an innate enemy of both Israel and Sunni dominated Saudi Arabia. Russia wouldn't stick up for NK, but they will stick up for Iran.
So those 52 Americans were partying in Iran for 444 days, not held hostage? "IRAN’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei threatened the US and its allies with retaliation during a speech on Monday following an airstrike on a military base in Syria on Sunday"
I'll meet your 52 hostages, and raise you one Iranian airliner shot down by the USS Vincennes, 1988, with 290 dead. What else you got? Anything? Yes, but Israel has a right to defend itself. Excuse me, I meant that Iran has a right to defend itself. Sorry.
What is innately wrong is the idea that you need to spend twice as much as the rest of the world on unsuccessful military systems. How many aircraft carriers do you need when they are rare anywhere else in the world? How many cruise missiles do you need? How many aircraft do you need? Just like the rest of the arms manufacturing industries these are all unnecessary, but take heart the Chinese have copied the F35 and no doubt will suffer the same problems. I finally get it the F35 is a disinformation program
Accidentally shot down 9 years after Iran intentionally took hostages. Shit happens when you don't identify yourself to a U.S. Navy cruiser armed with surface-to-air missiles.
I'm sure the Iranians understand completely, just as most Americans understand the motive behind the hostage taking. Perhaps if the Vincennes was monitoring commercial frequencies they would have known about it. That the airline was in Iranian airspace should have been a big clue. But okay, the only thing you can apparently argue about Iranian aggression is the hostage taking 39 years ago in which they didn't even kill anyone. You have nothing else. No invasions of other countries, no undermining of foreign democracies, both of which the US is guilty of. misterwhite, you are a flaming hypocrite.
Changing the subject already? Your claim was that Iran never posed a threat to the U.S. Which is a lie.
Got Velocity of Money? Must really dampen the mood around the L.I.F.E.R. swampwater cooler that NK has discovered it probably likes surfing better than rocketeering. Boohoo for them.
Do most Americans understand how Jimmuh and Zbig instigated and funded the Islamic revolution of 1979 ala Operation Cyclone?
Did you know Ho Chi Minh was fond of quoting from the American Declaration of Independence... and was an ally of the USA during WWII? For the people of Vietnam, who were just beginning to recover from five years of ruthless economic exploitation by the Japanese, the end of World War II promised to bring eighty years of French control to a close. As the League for the Independence of Vietnam (Vietnam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi), better known as the Viet Minh, Vietnamese nationalists had fought against the Japanese invaders as well as the defeated French colonial authorities. With the support of rich and poor peasants, workers, businessmen, landlords, students, and intellectuals, the Viet Minh (led by Ho Chi Minh) had expanded throughout northern Vietnam where it established new local governments, redistributed some lands, and opened granaries to alleviate the famine. On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi’s Ba Dinh square. The first lines of his speech repeated verbatim the famous second paragraph of America’s 1776 Declaration of Independence. http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d /5139/
Rom 1:25-26 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator — who is forever praised. Amen. 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. NIV https://duckduckgo.com/? q=USAFA+Lesbian+Commandant "Army punishes officer who halted lesbians' public 'make-out'" “• LGBTQ and the deep need to be heard;” Etc Etc
When technology makes human labor obsolete, what then? The MIC just going to keep arming people with one hand so they can blow stuff up and then rebuild the stuff with the other Halliburto-hand? Bidness as usual - or NOT? I vote for NOT.
Has that happened yet? When it does happen let me know.
"Satisfying the growing need for autonomous farm machinery Japanese agriculture is seeing increases in retirement and agricultural outsourcing due to the ageing of the farming population. In turn, this trend is accelerating land consolidation among large-scale farmers, who are generating higher demand for personnel as they expand their operational scales. However, recruitment of seasoned, highly skilled farmers is becoming more difficult because of the decrease in the number of farming households and the ageing of farmers themselves." https://www.kubota.com/news/2017/20170125.html
Military expenditure basically controls and dominates the US economy
#2. To: Deckard (#0)
The US Congress is basically an annex of the Knesset
#3. To: paraclete, Deckard (#2)
Face it, without the military-industrial complex, there would be massive unemployment.
Any country that does not spend a huge amount of money on a MIC will consequently, and necessarily, have massive unemployment.
#4. To: Pinguinite (#3)
#5. To: A K A Stone (#4)
and Vic and Deckards friends would have been living high on the hog for a few days...
#6. To: Deckard (#0)
when was the last time the US military defended the homeland?
#7. To: A K A Stone (#4)
Now you can go to work and earn more money. If not for the gun you would have been dead
#8. To: misterwhite (#6)
Next on the list, Iran.
#9. To: Pinguinite (#8)
Iran is not a threat to the USA and never has been.
#10. To: misterwhite (#9)
So those 52 Americans were partying in Iran for 444 days, not held hostage?
"IRAN’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei threatened the US and its allies with retaliation during a speech on Monday following an airstrike on a military base in Syria on Sunday"
#11. To: Pinguinite (#3)
There is something innately wrong with this statement,
#12. To: Pinguinite (#10)
I'll meet your 52 hostages, and raise you one Iranian airliner shot down by the USS Vincennes, 1988, with 290 dead.
#13. To: misterwhite (#12)
Accidentally shot down 9 years after Iran intentionally took hostages.
Shit happens when you don't identify yourself to a U.S. Navy cruiser armed with surface-to-air missiles.
#14. To: Pinguinite (#13)
No invasions of other countries, no undermining of foreign democracies, both of which the US is guilty of.
#15. To: rlk (#1)
#16. To: Pinguinite (#13)
just as most Americans understand the motive behind the hostage taking.
#17. To: Pinguinite (#13)
no undermining of foreign democracies,
Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
#18. To: Deckard (#0)
psy·cho·sis
https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/3586304/posts?page=19
"Kindergarten celebrates 5-year-old transgender ‘transition;’ kids traumatized"
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3585968/posts
https://storage.googleapis.com/pt04- 2/messages/attachments/5514a97318fc929613271b63a22c8cafc4bf317f/Mental_Healt h_Community_Forums-9-12-17.pdf
How's that workin'?
#19. To: rlk (#1)
(Edited)
So does the welfare-dole complex.
#20. To: VxH (#19)
When technology makes human labor obsolete, what then?
#21. To: rlk (#20)
(Edited)
Has that happened yet?
First display of autonomous farm machinery
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