Money – The neoconservatives in the White House and Pentagon failed to address the problem of how to finance their schemes of imperialist wars and global domination. As a result, the United States finds itself in the anomalous position of being unable to pay for its own elevated living standards or its wasteful, overly large military establishment.
In 2003, bush called for sweeping changes in the Pentagons accountability. Of course, that included less oversight. Does this mean that didn't work out too well? In 2003 nearly one trillion dollars couldn't be accounted for, 56 planes, 32 tanks, and 36 Javelin missiles were lost. Gee, did anyone start investigating the billions in cash sent to Iraq that went missing?
I wonder what the MSM will be talking about today? Some starlet with a tummy pooch?
Eisenhower said, "Beware the military-industrial complex." We are now suffering because we weren't on our toes.
We are now suffering because we weren't on our toes.>>>>
Millions of us WERE "on our toes." Millions have spent countless of their hours trying to get through to the rest of America, & all we got for it was name calling, people unwilling to look further than a corrupt media, & people abdicating their responsibility to pay attention or even vote! I don't know who I'm angrier at. The thieves, or the knuckleheads whose votes or not voting at all put us in this mess!
Who can argue that The Dumbing of America isn't at least halfway complete! Those same impressionable couch potatoes could swing this thing the other way if the media would do its job.
Knuckleheads have a hard time admitting they're wrong, and would rather see this nation go to hell than get a dent in their ego's. And the media hasn't done its job in years, & is hardly likely to. If this election goes the way of CONS, they'll all be crying in their beer. Maybe they can find a way to blame Clinton, lol.
It's a self correcting problem. If you dumb a nation down enough, it falls to third world status or is occupied by some more powerful state.
Of course, those who have profited from this dumbing down will simply move on. They are fantastically wealthy multinationals and will simply find come other "donor" state.
Jordan11 if it were as simple as trying to find fault with the "thieves" or "knuckleheads" than the fix would be just as simple. The plan matter of fact is that we all have a hand in the demise of America. I'm sure you have credit cards, how much do you owe? Do you have a savings account or other investments to which you contribute more than 10 percent of your take home? What kind of car do you drive? What kind of home do you live in? Do your "must haves" enrich your life or merely make you richer? It's come down to us to quit pointing fingers and finding fault and blame. Who the hell cares if this person or that company do this or that. What's done is done. Now we need to fix it and until we quit blaming we'll never know what to fix. The way I see it is we can either ride it out to the end hoping it'll go away or we can accept our new fate as a second rate country and try to get things right. Mark my words, if we don't we die.
This is an argument to emotion specifically for those on the Left. It will not influence those on the Right.
I agree that the defense spending of the United States is indefensible, but we have to understand that the problem is far deeper than that. The author touches on it briefly, but does not continue his analysis in that vein, but rather concentrates on hammering away at the military, which will convince no-one.
The problem is not defense spending. The problem is a cultural failure to understand that education and other social infrastructures allow for a growing economy which can then support a larger (if necessary) defense industry. That's what Eisenhower was talking about. It also relates to the fact that major corporations are not being held accountable to the social costs of the economy.
So much more to say on this subject than I can write here.
You shure got that right.
This issue represents one of the biggest rifts between the left and right.
To us on the right ... a nation is represented by the strength of its military ... by how threatenin we can be to nations we dont liek. And believe me, this presdient dont liek a LOT of nations!
To you libbies ... a nations strength seems to be represented by how a nation works WITHIN its borders. You libbies think that effectively managin all the daily issues that affect Americans EVERY DAY should be important.
Well, as far as we Conservatives are concerned, the military is the ESSENCE of who we are.
We can watch bridges fall, roads deteriorate, food become poisoned, families go bankrupt cause someone in their family got sick, college become so expensive kids caint no longer go.
But NONE of that interests us ... we who are REAL patriots. REAL patriots are happy to exchange a vital home life for the struggle of maintainin vast military expenses.
I know what yall are thinkin ... "I bet hes gointa go on bout Christian Conservatives again."
But I cant help it. I just cant seem to get my arms wrapped around this 'disconnect'.
If someone could help me understand, I would be so grateful ... and I wouldnt ever bother yall with my 'Christian Conservative' deal every ding dang day.
We Christian Conservatives are a POWERFUL votin block. We vote as a unit. We single handedly elected Goerge W. Bush ... TWICE!
But by every measure, if you look at what we believe to our very SOUL, the politicians on the right are complete and POLAR OPPOSITES to our 'stated' moral beliefes.
And I gotta say ... it STARTS with the Neo-Cons LOVE of Military Suppliers. We Christian Conservatives support ANY military request.
At the same tiem, we REJECT any help for families ... the very families that raise our children.
See? Thats why Ive had to come to the conclusion that Christian Conservatism is a POLITICAL notion.
Of course it is a terrible mistake to equate military strength in shallow to economic strength in depth. And an even worse mistake (if possible) to equate military strength with patriotism. An example perhaps is necessary.
The strength of the US military in 1938 was as follows:
US Navy: 380 (all types, 5 fleet carriers)
US Army: 227,000 (Regular Army only)
US Marines: ? (no more than 15,000)
US Army Air Corps: 20,196 (aircraft all types)
Strength in 1945
US Navy: 6768 (all types, 28 fleet carriers)
US Army: 8 million
US Marines: 485,000
US Army Air Corps: 79,908 (all types)
I point these numbers out, because without a strong basis for the economy this massive, quick growth would not have been possible. When we fail to strengthen our economy by building up infrastructure (both social and real) we would find it difficult if not impossible to provide this kind of growth again.
Ha! We have already off-shored our steel industry. Unlike the outset of WWII, if we enter a major conflict today we wouldn't just need to ramp steel production up to 3 shifts, we would need to totally reinvent a vital industry. Want to put Americans back to work? How about having them make steel?
Even the manufacturing of guidance devices for smart bombs and missiles has been shut down here. Our skilled workers are being retrained to make latte for Starbucks while we ship of vital defense technology to the Communist Chinese. Who do they think we might have to fight?
Need good jobs? Bring the defense industry back on-shore.
All information from the following:
http://www.history.army.mil/books/amh-v2/amh v2/chapter7.htm
http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org9-4.htm...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Uni...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army...
It should also perhaps be noted that in addition to supplying our own troops with weapons, supplies and other support, the United States supplied the Allies with vast amounts of material. Is that same sort of thing possible today or are we already operating in a "war economy"?
If so, we are in worse trouble than the author of the article thinks. Much, much worse trouble.
Nice tongue in cheek Goppy. But you misspelled twice. Should have been twicst. All us knuckel draggers know that this aint no imperialist nation. I gots me a 3rd grade education, so I know.
Taxation without representation! When was the last time anyone voted on foreign policy or expenditures related to it?
My god goppy, I keep reading your stuff and wonder if you're pulling our legs or if you're really that far out in space. (By the way learn to spell, you make all neo cons look stupid) Fifty years from now people will look back and shake their heads in disbelief at the Right, particularly the neo-cons. A real patriot loves their country but recognizes the need to question and correct its stupidity. An ignorant patriot loves his country but never questions his reason. Every great empire from the Greeks to the Romans was buried by neglect of the needs of its citizens in favor of military strength. The failure being a strong military will protect the empire. You Christian Conservatives - if you're serious - are as close to the reason this country is dying than any one political, social, or other religious entity. If you were to think for yourself, you'd see a strong country is measured by a strong citizenry and not a strong military. Good night Jesus.
Goopy,
Your little cult & it's leader,(Bush) has cost a lot of young people their lives! This make-up-a-reason-war makes me ashamed of our Government. Bush throws a god bless America's around, and people like you run to vote for him faster than a stripper spreading her legs! The problem is war doesn't even save us form a recession or depression anymore. We buy too much, pay too much and a lot of our military supplies are not made in our country anymore. Not to mention we haven't been in a moral war since WWII.
Bible thumping slack-jaws that believe "God" is on their side. If there is a God, he AIN'T on your side! Your "good book" says murder is a sin. Hell we don't even murder for a profit! The Mafia is smarter than this countries leaders. Trust me, hire a hit-man Osama would have be dead with in 2 weeks..without a war! But hey Democrats are not ANY better how many Dems voted for the war in Congress??
The morally bankrupt people that have been running this country have brought about a financial bankruptcy upon the entire country.
But those in power do NOT care about that. They don't have to worry about it because they have become more rich NOW and they can wallow in their money and in their power-trip while the rest of the country falls deeper into poverty.
What Bush and his cronies and his supporters have done is not just unlawful and immoral, it is evil.
They don`t care about this new economic disaster they have consciously brought upon our nation because they know there are just as many opportunities to make money when things are going down as when they are going up. As long as you are either the one pulling the levers of at least know ahead of time before the levers are pulled.
The fascists bought the Congress people necessary to pass the archaic 2003 Bankruptcy Law. They knew full well the subprime collapse and economic disaster were coming.
When Bush took office it became a feding frenzy by the military industrial complex. The sad sad fact thos is that rmoney wasnt spent on equipping the troops for the type of fighting they would be doing. FOr the trillions being spent we still have a lack of armored vehicles for the troops, ammunition, food, etc etc etc. But we dont need no accountability.
I've noticed that the right 'playaz' aren't in on this post. Haven't much defence towards the gluttony of wealth accumulated on the backs of the poor and middle class and paving the way to America's ruin. Hell, they'll always be able to move somewhere else with their money or build a "Green Zone" to keep themselves safe from the rest of us.
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It is virtually impossible to overstate the profligacy of what our government spends on the military. The Department of Defense's planned expenditures for the fiscal year 2008 are larger than all other nations' military budgets combined. The supplementary budget to pay for the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not part of the official defense budget, is itself larger than the combined military budgets of Russia and China. Defense-related spending for fiscal 2008 will exceed $1 trillion for the first time in history. The U.S. has become the largest single seller of arms and munitions to other nations on Earth. Leaving out President Bush's two on-going wars, defense spending has doubled since the mid-1990s.
The story is not just about the hole that is being dug but also about the impossibility of escaping from it. The figures are so huge and the madness of it so morbid that's it seems impossible to envision a solution for or even avoidance of this looming catastrophe.
Gama, its very possible to get out of. Firstly the United States is spending about twice the world average as a percent of wealth on the military, which isn't intelligent and should be ceased. Its extremely obscene considering this is probably about 4 times what is spent by similarly developed nations. Maybe even more. However, its not inescapable. Also, I did spot some inaccuracies in the article. China's GDP is currently nowhere near the US GDP as of 2006, especially considering the population of China:
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTI...
As these numbers show Japan as a nation is actually the second wealthiest, not fourth, as well. Are the numbers obscene? Yes, but I have to question the articles facts when it states easily checkable things like this:
"China's 2006 GDP was only slightly smaller than that of the U.S., and Japan was the world's fourth richest nation."
Essentially the article points out a very valid problem that needs to be addressed. But it stated some inaccuracies that should be corrected, probably the usual hyperbole to help make the point. The point is a good one... something I think needs to be fixed. Now I need to go for the night and I hope I don't get a hail of negs for pointing out a few inaccuracies in an article about a very real problem...
Ultimatly, the story exposes one large fact - our tax money is being wasted. Republicans b!tch and moan about taxes, but never demand that the taxes they pay be spent soundly.
We could be the best educated, have the best infrastrucuture, have the best parks system and the best healthcare and social security systems if our country didn't demand that we have the most expensive military (I won't say the best since Bush seems to have destroyed the military with this war)
The data that you cited is old (China has overtaken Japan) and doesn't lump the EU together as the author did. The author is correct. Japan is 4th if the EU is taken as a single unit.
Old? The author quoted the GDP of 2006 and this is GDP info from 2006 that seems to have been compiled on the 11th of April in 2008. Go to the bottom and that was when it was posted. What happened to change the information now? Also, yeah, the EU overtakes it but I don't count the EU as a nation. I can show you the information from 2007 if you like. Now, my above link is documented evidence. Where is your documented evidence that my date stemming from 17 days ago is old?
The link for the International Monetary Fund GDP listings is to long to post in propeller, so I'll just post a wiki that has them and you can go to the bottom of the page and click on the little number that is the source link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_...
My data is up to date. The author is incorrect, though 2008 could change things. The author did clearly state 2006 and not 2008 however.
Essentially the author considers the EU a nation and China to be wealthier then Japan. I don't believe the EU is a nation at this date and Japan is still wealthier then China, which is still nowhere near our GDP. Its growing quickly and I think it will pass our GDP fairly soon. But its not really close to it yet.
(in the above post the word date is meant to be data)
Anyway wildman, you look at that data and see if you can find more recent date from a fairly reputable source. World Bank would be preferred and as recent as possible. Now I really must fly, I'm just trying to clarify numbers, nobody hate me for it please! To clarify once more I agree with the article. I just think that its being a little overly pessimistic in places.
Our planet can't support a middle class in China (and India), just too many people and not enough resources. From food and water to fuel, their middle class will take from wealthier nations.
isn't it great that we funded our own demise. Our middle class is shrinking while theirs is growing. Ulitmatly the only people who benefit from sending jobs to China are wealthy americans.
So what you are sayin, gama, is that our nations spendin on military has doubled SINCE the fall of our Cold War enemy ... the Commies of the Soviet Union?
Well, how did THAT happen?
What about the PEACE DIVIDEND that Republicans hailed would result from our oft stated Saint Ronnie Reagans single handed victory over them Commies?
We were gointa use all that money to solve all our nations ills.
But instead, it seems as though the Republicans used the fear card to justify throwin ever more money at the military suppliers ... even as they worked overtime cuttin soldiers and veterans benefits.
I sure dont get why soldiers and veterans dont see Republicans for what they are ... bein in the pocket of Military Supplier Companys.
If by hand outs you mean government aid to business and industry who continue to lose millions or to farmers not to grow certain crops, than yes we do hand out money like candy but only to the rich and famous. Hand outs to the poor account for very little of government subsidies. The economic quicksand we find ourselves in today will not go away anytime soon. The cost of living our lives in this country will continue to get more expensive as we get less and less in return for our investments. This "recession" we are about to or have entered is our fate. This recession spells not a year or two of economic hardship but the end of a country who thought it would live forever. Last one out has to turn out the lights.
gamahuche wrote: "It is virtually impossible to overstate the profligacy of what our government spends on the military."
We can go on spending like this for ever. All we need to do to accomplish that is make our economy 200% more efficient while paying off $10 trillion in debt and bringing all the off-shored jobs back to the USA yet maintaining all of our globalization trade deals.
Piece of cake.
Simple solution but I think I like mine better. Cut military spending to 1% of GDP.
Yeah, that might be a bit more realistic to implement. Oh, I forgot to add that to be sustainable, my solution above also has to include drastically reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and becoming fully energy independent.