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Debunking The 'Gutting Of The Military' Storyline
Submitted by Jim Quinn of The Burning Platform blog,
“War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.” –
General Smedley Butler – War is a Racket
I peruse a number of websites everyday as I look for interesting articles to post or reference in one of my articles. I agree with many conservative leaning websites when it comes to economic issues, but when it comes to war mongering and wave flagging, I go my own way. Any site that supports our empire building and excessive spending on war is not a conservative website. You can’t act in a fiscally responsible sustainable manner without dismantling our war machine and taking on the military industrial complex. You’re a faux fiscal conservative if you think we can continue to spend $800 billion per year on war with no financial implications. The entire Federal budget was $800 billion in 1983.
The latest storyline being propagandized by Mad Dog McCain and his band of merry neo-cons is that Obama’s latest defense budget will gut our military and make us susceptible to attack from all of our enemies. The mainstream media mouthpieces like Fox News repeat these boldfaced lies without seeking facts or real data. The power of the military industrial complex is dangerous to our citizens. They have bought off Republicans and Democrats in Congress and they control journalists who get paid to write scary articles about the horrific budget cuts and danger to our nation. It’s all lies. Spineless corrupt politicians like Bush and Obama do and say whatever is necessary to win the most votes. Statesmen like Dwight D. Eisenhower stood up to the military industrial complex and their bought off lackeys in Congress.
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
Statesmen are like bald eagles around here – almost extinct.
The United States spends more per year on war than the next thirteen countries combined. That imminent attack by the Iranian navy may be overblown. Our generals blather about the threat from China, that spends 18% of our budget, and threat from Russia, that spends 7% of our budget. The mainstream media articles and fear mongering drivel from our corrupt bought off politicians are nothing but propaganda designed to keep the billions flowing to the arms peddlers like Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, Raytheon, Boeing, and the rest of the dealers of death. Politicians who have been bribed with decades of “political contributions” won’t even vote to get rid of weapons programs the military no longer wants.
It’s interesting how politicians are able to tell citizens they are only spending $520 billion per year on war when the true figure is $820 billion. Obama’s FY15 budget says we are going to spend $520 billion. He conveniently leaves out the cost of ongoing wars and the cost of past wars. We are still spending over $100 billion per year on our ongoing wars in Afghanistan, occupation in Iraq, and provocations in Libya and Syria. We are also providing military support of $50 billion to Egypt, Israel and dozens of other countries around the globe. Lastly, we spend over $150 billion per year on veterans of past wars. Our beloved leaders move that expense to another line item in the budget and pretend it is not a cost of war. The American people have short attention spans and once our wars of choice aren’t on the nightly news anymore they think it’s over. Tell that to the families of the 7,100 dead soldiers killed in our Middle East invasions, along with the 50,000 badly wounded servicemen, and the thousands more mentally damaged by the ordeal. The cost of war goes on forever. Government obfuscation does not fool anyone with critical thinking skills.
The dogs of war – McCain and Graham, along with hundreds of other war mongering pricks in Congress claim Obama is some pacifist attempting to dismantle our beloved military. These traitors of truth evidently can’t understand math or charts. Bush’s last war budget was $731 billion. The Iraq war has ceased and Obama is still spending $820 billion per year on war. Does it sound like the military is being gutted? Are we more in danger of being attacked by another country today than we were in 1999? That is the question that should be asked. They call it the DEFENSE budget because it is supposed to be used to defend us from attack, not to bully countries throughout the world and attack sovereign countries who are no threat to our security. Isn’t it convenient that the U.S. provoked overthrow of the democratically elected government of the Ukraine has initiated a new media created “Cold War”?
The country was sufficiently defended with a war budget of $333 billion in 1999. No one invaded us or threatened to invade. The Cold War was long over. The military industrial complex needed a 9/11 to revitalize their profits. The neo-con/military industrial complex created War on Terror has opened the door to never ending wars of choice around the world with no consent or approval from the people. War spending grew to $879 billion by 2011, a 164% increase in 13 years. Over this same time frame GDP grew by 74%. Does this sound like the military has been short changed? The fear mongering neo-cons and conservative websites are nothing but nattering nabobs of nonsense. Even the hint of slowing in spending on our empire building creates an urgency for a new evil enemy. Is it a coincidence that Vlad Putin has now emerged as an existential threat to our freedom and liberty according to the den of vipers in Congress, the military industrial complex, and the corporate media mouthpieces?
Even the dreaded sequester would have done nothing but slowed the rate of growth in war spending. You have to understand that a Federal government spending “cut” isn’t really a cut. It means the increase in spending you anticipated will be slightly lower. Of course, the one party system in Washington DC compromised and eliminated the sequester “cuts”. Those politicians need those “political contributions” to get re-elected in 2014. Defense spending will be far higher over the next decade, not including the inevitable wars of choice we are led into by our noble leaders. Putin must be stopped. Assad must be stopped. Iran must be stopped. China must be stopped. The world policeman must do his job and bankrupt the empire. War is highly profitable for peddlers of debt, corporate dealers of death, and the politicians getting bribed by Wall Street and the military industrial complex. The peasants who are sent off to die are nothing but cannon fodder for the power brokers of death, destruction and debt.
The war mongers will continue to use propaganda and misinformation to convince you we are in danger if the war budget is cut by 2%. The truth is that we need to cut the military by 50%, stop trying to operate a world empire, and withdrawal our troops from Germany, Japan, and the dozens of other countries around the globe. We need to stop handing billions of dollars we don’t have to Israel, Egypt and dozens of other countries so they can buy arms from our arms dealers. We are the cause of all the war and violence in this world. The job of our military is to protect our borders, not to police the world. Hubris, arrogance, and overreach, financed by central bank created debt, is how empires die.
“As many frustrated Americans who have joined the Tea Party realize, we cannot stand against big government at home while supporting it abroad. We cannot talk about fiscal responsibility while spending trillions on occupying and bullying the rest of the world. We cannot talk about the budget deficit and spiraling domestic spending without looking at the costs of maintaining an American empire of more than 700 military bases in more than 120 foreign countries. We cannot pat ourselves on the back for cutting a few thousand dollars from a nature preserve or an inner-city swimming pool at home while turning a blind eye to a Pentagon budget that nearly equals those of the rest of the world combined.” – Ron Paul
Understand where they are spending your money:
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_20XXUSbn_XXbs2n_3031_051
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Let's cut all government spending, by 10% each year, every year, until we have a free country.
Why wait 10 years ?? Let's just start at Freedom this year.
With family in the military, I can tell you none of them stand in opposition to cutting the military's budget.
Their concern is much more along the lines of gutting the INTEGRITY of the military, most notably those in high command positions. They're throwing out those that honestly want to protect and defend while using some kind of common sense. They filling the positions with political hacks and cronies who are far less concerned about threats without than perceived threats within.
Bring everyone home. Tell the world to fuck off.
Just tell them to stop all the wave flagging.
William S. Lind's take on it:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/reshaping-the-pentagon-for-an-age...
Something to consider:
If the US pulls back to a defensive (lower-cost) posture, we will have little or no influence over international situations. While that might sound good to a lot of people here, remember: that was America's position prior to WWI and WWII. We thought that neither of these wars was "our business," until they exploded and the shit hit the fan.
Then, we had to clean up the mess.
A permanent interventionist military may indeed lead to adventurism, but let's not fool ourselves that reducing the military will be a net benefit.
We will simply trade one set of problems for another.
youre misreading USA involvementyprior to each war and especially the financing of WWII and actions to limit access to energy for the japanese by FDR
Some are not doing their homework. The US government could cut 100% of all discretionary spending and still not balance the budget. The 800 lb gorilla in the room are Social Security and Medicare. Until those two programs are addressed, the future is not only bleak, but disastrous.
Change is not easy especially when 330 million people have no idea what 1st and 2nd amendment means.
>> Social Security
And how much is social security adding to the budget deficit again?
">> Social Security
And how much is social security adding to the budget deficit again?"
--
The answer to that question is whether you reclassify the liabilities to an "unfunded liabilities" category or not. We do that and Social Security has just started barely moving into the red. But they would throw business owners, CEOs and their accountants in prison if they ran their corporate accounting that way.
The "unfunded liabilities" for Social Security $16.9 Trillion + and Prescription Drug Liability $22.4 Trillion + and Medicare Liability at $89 Trillion + come to more than $128 Trillion already and it's climbing rapidly. Those "unfunded liabilities" come to more than $1.1 million per taxpayer so far. If you add in the official public debt, state and municipal debt, corporate debt, student debt, credit card debt, mortgage debt and other assorted debt we're getting into some pretty serious debt problems. We're already beyond bankruptcy status it would seem to me, though the Ponzi schemes continue on unabated... for now.
quote : The 800 lb gorilla in the room are Social Security and Medicare.
Possibly the stupidest comment on here. The SS trustfund may or may not run out in 20 years. Let's worry about it then. In the meantime we will have racked up 20 trillion in defense/security spending, all on borrowed money. That's your 800 lb gorilla.
W. M. Worry....you're the fucking problem. There is no fucking trust fund. The Constitution says PROVIDE a national defense. YOU FUCKING FUCKIDY FUCK. I do say bring the troops home though. No more America military bases overseas. We're not welcomed and it's too fucking expensive. We're broke and can't afford that shit.
Furthermore W. M. Worry, there is NOTHING in the Constitution that allows Social Security. It should IMMEDIATELY be dropped. If you sad sacks of shit didn't save enough for retirement then you're fucked. Go live off family. Get you're fucking hand out of my pocket. NO MORE SS and Medicare/Medicaid. We're broke and can't afford that shit either.
BEST. COMMENT. PERIOD.
To all the down voters: Go fuck yourselves and I hope you choke on every last fucking dollar you steal from the rest of us in the form of SS, Medicaid, & Medicare. You are no different than a TBTF banker on the dole. A thief.
There is no "trust fund". There is no money to pay all the current retirees much less the ones poised to start living off the backs of the rest of us who have never taken a dine and will never receive a penny from the greatest ponzi scheme ever created.
That 20 Trillion of which you speak is NOT predominently a product of war or military spending but rather a result of the nearly SIX trillion directly resulting from "Great Society" boondoggles (otherwise known as transfer payments to those of us with barins) , the ever growing, eponentially expanding interest payments on said debt, and yes, the very SS, Medicare which draws hundreds of billions of dollars out of the general fund EVERY FUCKING YEAR to pay the bills. We could spend ZERO on "defense" next year and STILL be in deficit.
DO the math assholes. Arithmetic is a bitch.
And then when you are doen go re-read The Constitution. SS, Medi-ANYTHING, and about 60% of The Federal Government is UNCONSTITUTIONAL. I really don't give a shit what 9 senial assholr lawyers in black robes say.
That said the "defense" budget could be cut to leave a Navy of few dozen ships, 20 nuclear subs, and a standing army that is ENTIRELY within at least just our fucking hemisphere, and we'll be just fine. We've not been invaded (mainland guys), never will be invaded, and have no business fomenting wars around the globe-okay now this where it's gonna hurt-
LIKE WE DID IN WWI and WWII. We financed Nazi Germany. We financed the growth of the Soviets. We (Wilson) was desparate to get into WWI and FDR did the same with Japan WWII. War is good for business and it's the business of American government. If we don't actually have an enemy we create one. Perhaps you and your ilk missed the semester on geography. We are surrounded by the two largest Oceans on the planet. We have the worlds largest Navy. Nothing in the the last century or this century was ever or will ever come to our shores in the form of an invasion the likes of D-Day or some such. It's juys fucking delusion to even think it.
Exactly right. SS and overseas interventions are both ways to make some people rich while impoverishing others with government coesrsion behind them. With one the displacement is geopgraphical, with the other it is temporal but they are heads of the same beast.
Not even close, Junior. We PAID into the ss system, we didn't have a choice.
"We will simply trade one set of problems for another."...Sounds good. Less lives lost for protecting the interest of bankers and the power elite and the new problem of a decrease in the income inequality brought about by protecting the interest of the bankers and power elite. Sounds like a win-win from where I sit. Now I will wait for those of you incabable (or unwilling) of grasping this to reject and convolute this thinking....
What?
Don't you feel more secure when we start wars instead of someone else?
You want Somalian pirates off the coast of New Jersey?
They are pirates for the currency.
The exact reason we have military pirates worldwide- DEFEND the petrodollar currency.
It is all about currency.
Crimea/Ukraine currency. SSDC Same S&%T Different Currency.
Oligarchs wish to not lose a dime. Fuuuk the commoners.
A kingdome without a King.
Just a school of sharks.
With so many countries nuclear capable, it would be all but impossible to have war like WWI or WWII again. It's not like China could just march 3 million troops into Russia, or Russia could march three million troops into Western Europe. Too many countries have "the nuclear option" for wars to truly escalate between major world powers.
I guess that depends on what you mean by "escalate".
I agree that we're not likely to have wars like WWI or WWII again any time soon, but I could see some idiot somewhere resorting to the nuclear option, or someone deciding to "preemptively" prevent someone else from making that first nuclear strike.
It may not be just like WWI or WWII, but I would consider any such nuclear exchange be a war that "truly escalated between major world powers".
I hope it never happens, but I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility by any stretch of the imagination.
We need a strong military to protect our homeland and its borders not to intervene in the affairs of Countries in the Eastern Hemisphere. Let the big boys of Europe protect their own turf for a change. And WTF do we have soldiers doing in the no man's land between North and South Korea for the last 60 years. Haven't we bought enough cars from Korea in the last 30 years that they can invest in a fucking army? We should have NO military assets in the eastern hemisphere except very infrequently for humanitarian purposes.
Why? The borders are an open door that people flow through every day.
There are no protectionist business or emigration policies that are enforced to protect US sovereignty.
What are you trying to protect?
Maybe the borders are an open door but they shouldn't be.
Should our borders be an open door to terrorists?
" Should our borders be an open door to terrorists? "
If you take into consideration the possibility that the US foreign policy is the main producer of terrorists, you can wonder if stopping said policy won't be all that is needed to guarantee your borders against terrorists.
I want to respond to the idiocy in your comment, but where do I start? Where have you been the last 15 years?
Well we sure the fuck ain't been in Saudi Arabia where all of the terrorist came from 14 years afuckinggo have we now...hmmmmmmm??
We are so deep in debt now that murdering Gadahfi(or Saddam), for his oil, doesn't even faze Americans. He might have deserved it when he was sponsoring murder, but our so-called leaders looked the other way back then, for his oil contracts. The west (GB and US) has lost the moral high ground now.
Nothing in politics or war happens accidentally. It is ALL PLANNED for the profits of a few.
http://www.threeworldwars.com/albert-pike2.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MQlIpJ2lmM
No longer are the Major Generalissimo Keystones going to take the shirt that rolls down the sides of the pyramid. Brick by brick, every man-Jack will regroup on the level ground which it was meant to prosper on, leaving the storks at the top that have mislead and co-opted that which was meant for ALL men suspended in nothingness with no moar "useless idiots" support at all.
http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/przion1.htm
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/reshaping-the-pentagon-for-an-age...
Wowie!
Now there is some real science. There is a real valid profitable answer to the world's economic problems and it does not take a flabberghasted PhD to comprehend that. Any third grader gets it. EVERYBODY GETS IT! Warmongering is not the new world. It is the old one and it still does not work for the world's people. This is an all or nothing game and those who care better get off their duffs and get jiggity in saving this nation, and then the world by simple leaving it alone except for fair and free trading.
Thank you for posting this article.
It's the central bankers promoting the wars that need th Eff Off. Libya is a perfect example. They weren't provoking war. They were daring to trade oil outside of the Petro-Dollar, the foundation for CB's and the wars they promote.
If we bring 'em home, then the entire world will be able to say "fuck off" with having to worry about a Hellfire being sent through the stovepipe. Freedom of speech...
What do you call a landmass in which the bipedal inhabitants of militaristic nature are allowed to keep their jobs if they are in agreement with the gunning down of their own people?
Take a moment, concentrate. Think back to the days of camp.
p.s. National Security is an anagram for Routinely Satanic.
anyone else getting the never ending trade station ad at the bottom of their screen.....talk about over kill......makes me never want to use that company...ever
I keep getting Holden ads. Go figure.
No ZH ads. AdBlock.
It would be an interesting experiment to remove the profit motive from national defense. What if companies were compelled by patriotism to contribute to defense at cost rather than exorbitant profits? We'd see just who cares about America versus those that are in it to make a buck. And what of the people who sign up to 'serve' but expect all kinds of benefits such as a free education? If all the perks were removed it would be really interesting to see just how many people enlisted. You know, on the basis of patriotism rather than enlistment bonuses. War is a racket - for corporations and individuals alike.
I have read similar accounts, but yours, NoDebt, is the first personal story I have seen. Thank you for your perspective, my hunch was always along similar lines.
DoChen, NoDebt... I read recently that the commander in chief has fired ~ 165 high ranking officers/admirals... don't know over what period of time.
Interestingly, I recently read another article that China's army is afflicted with similar cronyism/nepotisim problems... which surprised me more than what Obummer has done to our military. It shouldn't have surprised me.
Any country goes to war with the military it has and then is either defeated or hardened during actual combat. After combat ceases militaries seem to lose their edge quickly.
Look what happened to US in Korea only 5-6 yrs after WW2 ended. US Army was hapless in Korea for a time till they got combat experience and reorganized... then they fought well enough to win a partition at the 38th parallel even when 250K Chinese joined the fight.
Everyone in the military I know does not stand in opposition to it either. It's no coincidence Ron Paul collected more contributions from active duty military than the rest of those stooges combined. I have seen the waste first hand for many years. Trust me, it can more than adequately defend this country on half the budget it has now. The problem is the MIC just owns too many politicians. And the govt has succeeded in convincing most in this country that the terrorist bogeyman is a big threat thy must be countered by having us troops in every part of the world 'to defend our freedoms'
There's going to have to be a top-to-bottom counter-purge after Obama's gone. Get rid of the greens, gays and gals.
Bullshit. .I spent 7 years in the US Army. I worked with excellent female soldiers and gay soldiers. Some of the female NCO were the very best instructors and leaders I have ever had the priviledge of knowing. At that time being gay was a problem so the homosexual soldiers kept their sexual activities and desire at home so it did not impact performance. Which is what all professionals do by the way. Being female or gay does not mean you can not be a great soldier.
If you place your sexual preference or desire, or you gender, or if you are heterosexual who happens to enjoy peanut butter, midgets, oranges, and small furry animals, above your allegiance to your troops then you lack the character to be a leader and are a piece of shit and should not serve in the military.
Being a professional soldier is about having the character to seperate those kind of things. And there are females and gays who do that every single day in the Armed Forces. There are some who do not and should be removed.
Dollarmedes, you do realize that the ancient Spartan soldiers each had a little boy that they both mentored and had sex with? It is assumed that that was one of the reaons that Spartan warriors were so dedicated to one another and willing to fight to the death.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_the_militaries_of_ancient_Greece
Another round of officers getting shitcanned under questionable circumstances should do wonders for the integrity...
http://thefederalist-gary.blogspot.com/2013/11/obamas-purge-200-military...
You do realize blogs have all the credibility of the funny papers? Anyone can say anything on a blog? Blogs are cool and all, but let's not make them somthing they are not, a credible source of unbiased information.
Fringe blog = crazy drunk guy on the street telling you the world is gonna end.
Sure as shit, he's gonna be right at some point.
So by your definition what you stated is bullshit,
Now I wonder why that is?
Let's just start at Freedom this year.
Just stop obeying them.
"Just stop obeying them" But that would mean thinking for yourself , now we cannot the that now can we.
Except by government math they would cut 10% of next year's budget from the 12% they have already promised to increase spending by, meaning 2% more is actually spent than the previous year. Then if some unforseen circumstances come up, they have to spend even more "for the good of the country."
Having an honest discussion with those people is impossible and your show of interest is irrelevant so stop wasting your time. Words dont' mean diddly because we are past the point of no return. If asset prices implode or bond yields rise, the US goes bankrupt and the central planners lose most of their power because they will have much fewer resources to redistribute. All the central planners care about is keeping the ponzi going which means a quickening of the deterioration of living standards until the inevitable default of the ponzi comes and there's a mass explosion of pain for all those who were unprepared for the end of an unsound system. The ponzi will implode sooner or later and the longer ponzies go and the bigger they get before implosion, the more pain there is.
If you want to spend your time in a meaningful manner, prepare yourself and those your care about for the end of the world fiat monetary ponzi.
Bingo.
Nothing worse than a life wasted waiting for someone else's idea of bliss or perfection and all that dogmatic baggage that comes with subscribing to someone else's nonsense. Seek contentment where you find it without stepping on toes and don't forget to offer a mulligan once in a while. Might be your turn eventually to ask for a do-over and that's completely dependent on avoiding stepping on toes.
Don't have to fight about it either. Just make a bucket list and then just do it. It's amazing how the mind prioritizes what a person needs in terms of personal requirements. It's almost like everyone is biologically hard wired to do that...lol...like they were built to be happy.
"Why wait 10 years ?? Let's just start at Freedom this year."
For freakin reals!
Imagine if only one million people of the 360 million people of the USA called, faxed, wrote, and personally delivered their requests for the FULL IMPLEMENTATION of a redraw and downsizing from the present world woarmongering situation until it was done. Begin the IMMEDIATE calling back of ALL OUR TROOPS HOME NOW for a start. They are desperately needed to protect us from the enemies within as they swore to do. The plan to kill them all off and get them all out of the country is old and worn out. The UN/IMF wares no cloths. Defend your country, and your families, not he banksters in foreign lands. How much does it take to understand that?
Bring back ALL OF THE materials and war monger machinery to melt down into plowshares. Plant gardens, not people! It is that darn easy.
Love or war. Which is easier?
Be like the Swiss, armed to the teeth, everyone in militia, no operations abroad.
But 110% able to defend the US.
Huge savings!
The founding fathers were extremely suspicious of standing armies, and made no provision for one-- only a navy.
But who cares what they think?
Exactly both of you!
Why nobody invades Switzerland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ufkwTM82e4
Well, that plus they have everybody's money, the best chocolate, and those not so small hills called the Alps!
Bonus video for all you Glock-A-Holics:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQYep23-onw
But wait! There's moar!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTEswkc4lPs
And! If you call now. you'll get this second bonus video FREEEE!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA8hK32JRRw
Anything with a topographic map can find the real reason for Swiss independence, though it might take some intelligence to to be able to disentangle cause from effect.
The Swiss cantons are mountainous, protected by the Alps on all sides...
THEREFORE
... It is really hard to invade and conquer these hardy mountain peasants and always has been
THEREFORE
They have been able to resist external control and foreign domination
THEREFORE
A cultural tradition of independence evolved, surrounded as they have always been by warring European fiefdoms.
In the age of ICBMs, long-range strategic bombers, and chemical/nuclear/biological weapons, this means nothing.
If you want the world to leave you alone, if you want isolationism, you build a breeder reactor and stockpile nukes, like Israel has been doing for decades.
Not sure how that squares with issuing the world reserve currency though. Good luck convincing the average voter they'd be better off without the petrodollar (because it might take 2 generations to recover from the initial shock, THE HORROR! THE HUMANITY!!) and these greedy pigs can't delay gratification for 5 minutes let alone 5 years.
There is a lot more to Swiss independence than that.
Inter marriage with the dominant world power has always been a dominant
factor.The power of the blanket, beats the gun.
If you want the world to leave you alone, if you want isolationism, you build a breeder reactor and stockpile nukes, like Israel has been doing for decades.
And then steal land in occupied territory, so that your neighbors will never leave you alone.
Bad analogy.
a lot of myths around those founding fathers...
Let's hear them.
you hear what you want to hear, no matter what i will say.
do some research into the topic and draw the conclusions.
start here: https://archive.org/details/thomashutchinson00hutc
consider: major milestones in the evolution of human history are marked by the layering of myths upon other myths ad infinitum.
after all, what is truth actually?
In all fairness the closest thing they had to an air force was Franklin's kite but your point isvalid.
lakecity55
And THAT is something each of us can do right now, arm up. And it doesn't cost much to get started.
I am not sure about making it compulsory to be armed and HAVE to serve in a militia. The Swiss can get away with that because they have strong neighbors whom they would not invade. If EVERYONE had to be in a militia or reserves, someone we all know (but most here so NOT love) might get ideas about USING all that firepower....
Yeah... But it costs a LOT if you're buying Glocks!
Does it show t I'm not a Glock fan??
The USA already has a mandatory list of possible soldiers. It is called Selective Service and every male citizen is required to register. If or when the shit hit fans the PTB will turn to the register.
Everyone worrries about how they will implement martial law. When they start to call up all the men on list we will know it has begun.
Pretty sure America has already been invaded, subverted, and taken over, much like that funky parasite that infects a worm's brain then causes said worm to climb to the top of a tree and wave back and forth frantically until it is eaten by a bird.
And until we rid ourselves of the root problem, ie Rothschild banking cartel, there will be no meaningful policy changes.
A precise metaphor - the bug burrows in through the sole of the shoe, into the foot and works its way up the spinal column before nesting itself in the brain. The body wanders aimlessly, slobber dripping from its mouth, flesh rotting, its eyes rolled back in its head
Military budget needs to be cut by 70%, not 50%. Most of it is graft and bribes and subsidies any way (Halliburton, Blackwater, Lockheed,Raytheon... you know what I'm talkin' about).
In other news, any one see the news about 'two individuals who tried to deposit fake bonds at the Vatican Bank'?
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26811528
Military procurement: white man's welfare!
I've certainly railed at you in the past but you make heap big sense. Not that you do, or should, give a flying fuck what I think, but I think I was wrong.
Municipal civil service.
With Government set-asides it is now minority welfare too. Trust me I know.
I don't think this article's writer understands the link he provided.
Total DoD is $820B
But of that is $151B for VA programs, mostly hospitals for medical treatment of wounds, elderly veterans and even veteran indigent.
That leaves $669B. $50B of that is foreign aid. DoD bloat isn't responsible for that, State Dept policy is. So that leaves $619B
$619 is roughly 4% of GDP.
Russia spends 4.4% of GDP. Saudi Arabia 8.5% of GDP. And GDP is the right measure. You have to defend not just people, but wealth. If that wasn't true you would not be justfied in shooting someone who broke into your house to rob it.
$130B of the $619B is salaries.
DoD burns about 380K barrels/day at $100 that's $13B.
$50B on R&D. $50B on outright procurement.
$30B on nuclear weapons and radiation exposure treatment.
The O&M budgets are the rest (plus assorted environmental cleanup stuff). O&M is what you pay the salaries for, preparing for war. Training, fixing stuff, exercises.
So you 80% cut guys . . . specify from above. And keep in mind every guy you throw out and put on the street is going to cost you unemployment checks and VA benefits for medical.
Over 800,000 "civil servants" in the DoD (GS and GG types, not too mention SES "civilian generals"). Most earn a good chunk more than their military co-workers (even officers). Funny how those numbers aren't going down as the active duty and reserve numbers are set to drop by at least 140,000 between the Armed Services.
two oceans are worth more in protection than a $1 trilllion DoD budget
corporations need to protect their own overseas assets not the taxpayer
Well, the numbers we get for the DoD budget are what they want you to think of as the only money they get. What about the central bank gold the DoD or its contractors steal from the countries we invade? Does that get added to the DoD budget, stay off the books or go straight to the puppet masters themselves?
Where do the profits from the heroin trade out of Afghanistan show up in the budget? CIA? DoD? NSA? Some to all? Or does most of that beyond expenses they can't shove off on taxpayers go to the Bush family coffers?
Also, it's really interesting that several of the locations in the US West that had long standing legends of lost gold mines and other treasures ended up being taken over as military bases no longer allowing public access. Take a place like that and the resources of the US military and it's near slave labor force and you might find something to fund a few adventures with none of it showing up on the "official" budget.
I know it's a lot of tin hat speculation and I would have cast it all out as BS in the past myself. But anymore as I have come to realize how much they lie to us and how addicted to wealth and power some of these folks have become, I am open to about anything corrupt you can dream up. Anymore if it has any aspect about it that makes you go hmmmm, it's a possibility.
quote: I don't think this article's writer understands the link he provided. Total DoD is $820B
That budget is understated, you should consider the entire military/security complex. Many of their expenditures are hidden in other department budgets; NASA, DOE, etc. The true cost of mil/sec is about 1.2T per year about equal to our true budget deficit. An unsustainable and ultimately ruinous situation. Historically war has always been a speculative venture with plundered resources as it's goal. Apart from a handful of oligarchs the USA has gotten no return on these investments.
It is indeed a load of crap that defense spending is being reduced. Click here to see the facts. McCain, Graham and others of their ilk keep spouting that nonsense. Lying thieves is what they are. If I were king for a day I'd cut military spending by 80% and be a little less arrogant to other countries thereby reducing the need for a huge military-industrial complex.
We have always been at war with Eastasia!
All empires have been defined by their military presence. It looks as though the sun never sets on the American Empire.
(Although, it gets very low on the horizon in central Asia.)
Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires.
That may be prophetic once again in the near future.
All foreign aid is corporate welfare for the MIC. And politician who says otherwise, well, now you know who funds them. And you know who they care about. And it damn sure isn't the American taxpayer.
Except for the foreign aid sent to Israel. Those are actually grants, not loans! Poor Israel.
Thousand or so just laid off near me from a base. Maybe they do layoffs to scare everyone.
It is what the money is spent on, and there is huge waste!
Holy shit! Thousands laid off? You're almost defenseless now, right? Better lock and load in case the Hun or some Arab climbs over your privacy fence and tries to occupy your gazebo.
"Honey? Who are those people watering their camels in our pool?"
Beware of Foreign Entanglements. George Washington
Fore! - Barack Obama
arms are big business, what you expect us to make world class trains? power generation? biotech? generic drugs? roads mass transit? clean plentiful water supplies, no no no, too many elite benefit from world class weapons.. instead we have 100's of bases across the globe..seems some at the very top, are not secure with private armies of body guards, they need millions in uniform to keep them from the oft posted ZH light post hanging ropes. think of the hit our GDP would take..war is a racket.
GDP would take no hit at all, if those factories were re-purposed (for what, well, that is a question for efficient capital allocation to decide).
Military tech is one industry where being a world leader does not lead to exports (generally). And where it does lead to exports, its generally not a great idea...
The protection of our country (Military) is one thing that the Constitution requires our gov't to do. Our taxes are not meant to go to the welfare addicted, nor are they meant to support drug lords in Afghanistan... our problem isn't the military budget.. it's the people in charge of our country these past couple decades.... we've been asleep at the voting booth, and now wonder what has happened...if you want to save money in the gov't, then get unions out of gov't jobs.
montana, have you read "war is a racket"? I wish I had before I shipped out with 101st long ago. Gen Butler speaks of what type military we need to protect conus..and with a few updates from 1938 he is still dead on.
Isn't it fascinating, that the same people who will tell you there is no difference between the parties, always want to cut defense, and can't seem to find any other part of the gubbermint they really want to cut?
Urban lefty hypocrisy knows no bounds.
What? No. 'Defense'/Empire budget is just the most glaring and obvious example of corporate welfare.
Not 'the only'!
Basically, almost everyone works for the gubbamin directly or indirectly.
I work for the gubbermint from 1 Jan to sometime in May...
As to the differences between the parties, the blue team mostly sees the government as doing no wrong except for MIC. The red team tends rhetorically towards the government does no right except for MIC. Of course both teams are closer to each other than they are to say Charlie Manson, but there are differences.
Back when the TV election coverage alternated the red/blue colors between elections, there was always some snickering when the loved Dems were the reds. They stopped alternating "to avoid confusion".
It's always best to go one's own way when it comes to flagging waves.
“War is a racket...easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.”
The world fiat monetary ponzi puts the war racket to shame. - Stealing resources and ruining lives for 100+ years, and the ultra devastating pain en masse upon the ponzi's implosion has yet to occur. The racket of printing money is the most profitable, the most vicious, it's international in scope, and the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. It's also the most hidden and dishonest racket as few even understand the mechanism, whereas the direct consequences of war are very apparent.
The racket of war supports the racket of the debt money Ponzi scheme. Turning off the war machine is just like turning off the printing press... it would represent the end of the system.
Yes, just as the following also support the fiat monetary ponzi racket: petrodollars (specific reason to get rid of Hussein and Gadafi was because they wanted to sell oil for gold instead of oil for FRNs), international settlements in dollars, medicare, medicaid, social security, student loans, government backed housing loans, government backed car loans, farm subsidies, burning our food for fuel, US bans on exporting oil and natural gas, Obamacare, gold lending, gold rehypothecation, the Chinese buying out the largest gold vault in the world which is conveniently across the street and attached with a tunnell to the gold held at the Fed...and I'm sure I missed a lot but the list goes on and on and on....
Yup. The military is what keeps the world from saying "fuck this, time for something new". Great post.
" and we've got the debt to show for it."
You don't start wars to lose them and we have now lost not one but two. We had this cool toy called "the internet" but now that we've let go of he names and address list monopoly...well, you can see the result with KING's IPO.
My view is that plan "nuke the dollar" remains in full force...that's what passes for capitalism these days...didn't work so good last year but Putin might put the dagger through the heart of the Western Banking cartel .
We'll see."two men in...only one can leave." Putin versus Obama. Two Presidencies on the line.
Now sell that to the MIC and its NSA world spyglass meme.
DHS has a budget over $100 Billion for ' intra border defenses '. The DOD should really be called the Department of Offense. When you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
I call the Defense Budget, the Empire Budget. It helps me keep from losing my mind, how 'defense' could cost so much, and result in so much force projection!
I cannot see why the DHS doesn't begin construction of concrete pillboxes at all strategic intersections, mountain passes, beaches, etc.
These would be a boost to the economy and make any invader think twice about taking away our freedom.
Don't give 'em any ideas.
The military capability is there to support the Dollar, nothing more. More military means more ability to generate debt which means more military. And the beat goes on.
blah blah blah Fox News blah blah blah neocons....
I stopped reading before the obligatory "Busch's fault"
How fucking lame.
Don't take this the wrong way, but fuck you.
If every able bodied citizen in this country owned a rifle and trained with that rifle, defense of the homeland would be a given, and it would be supported by the people. This is what militia means. Citizen soldiers in defense of home, family, country.
Conscription needs to come back into vogue. So that the snotty entitlted little brats at Ivy leagues are not simply graduating into neo con positions of influence, or the manufacture of money to support those positions of influence, with zero skin in the game. You want a war? Your kid goes. Everyone's kid goes. Hmm. So really don't want that war then, do you?
This does not preclude the end of a professional army. It just makes it smaller more affordable, and scalable.
I agree but some of the more, ah, urban conscripts would have to drill religiously on marksmanship.
We are also providing military support of $50 billion to Egypt, Israel and dozens of other countries around the globe. -- Jim Quinn
Want to know what a US/Israeli world empire will look like? Like Egypt 2014.
When the world government has the sole military power, no single individual can speak, can gather with associates, can protest, can live without permission. And there will be no court of appeal.
Here’s Alexandria today.
Two Morsi supporters sentenced to death by Egypt court
A court in Alexandria has sentenced two Egyptian pro-Morsi supporters to death for throwing two people off the roof of a building during last summer protests. Both men were found guilty of murdering a child and a young man during mass clashes between pro-Morsi supporters and their opponents. Sixty more people are awaiting a verdict for their participation in clashes, after Mohamed Morsi was ousted in a coup in July. Last week, a court sentenced 529 Islamists to death for killing a policeman in the province of Minya, south of Cairo.
http://rt.com/news/line/2014-03-30/#57945
What exactly is your argument? Are you claiming the Morsi supporters did not kill those two people? Or are you claiming they shouldn't be sentenced to death for murder?
I am claiming that the conduct of the police and the courts in present-day Egypt is identical to the procedure one would likely see in a world government with no freedom, i.e., a Stalinist State. In short, Egypt is now controlled by a military government which took power by a coup, overturning an elected government. Once in power, it began arresting, imprisoning and persecuting all supporters of the previously elected government – including Morsi himself.
Once more, the political party and its followers that had elected Morsi is now being outlawed.
Your question seems to imply that these people who are accused are getting some sort of justice; explain to me then how a “court” can sentence 529 Islamists to death for killing 1 policeman?
On just what philosophy do you operate?
Does your philosophy in fact parallel Machiavelli: “There are two ways of contending—by law and by force: the first is proper to men; the second to beasts; but because many times the first is insufficient, recourse must be had to the second”?
It is not to hard to cut the military budger, with garbage programs suchs as the F-35, LCS, and GCV are all big waste of tax dollars money.
On top of it we have to many useless bases, way to many Generals and Adminrals for what we need and a Pentagon complex that is itself the cause of gutting our defenses. To many desk jobs is what we have in our Defense Establishment that do nothing.
Heck Army has 10,000 soldiers working for NSA, one way to start with the cuts and improve freedom.
http://www.g2mil.com
For a sane person it would not be difficult to cut, but for the whacked out sociopaths-in-charge there are no cuts to be found. "Not in my state/district, you don't." Even the ones that pretend they like peace find a way to keep the military machine going -- it is a gargantuan corporate-bureaucratic vote-grabbing welfare project. "It provides jobs for my community." "It stimulates the economy."
The American War Wagon rolls forward cheered by the ultra-nationalists, the globalists, many conservatives, many liberals, neo-cons, progressives, Bush lovers/haters, Obama lovers/haters, Clinton lovers/haters, many sports fans and even the politically indifferent. United they stand for the preservation of that local military base, half-time B2-bomber flyovers, the perpetual War on Terror and whatever else the glorious War Commander says when he moves ships and troops and planes around pivoting and pirouetting from here to there....
It's sad how far our country has fallen.
I am now faced with the reality that lavrov is a more accurate pervayor of truth than jay carney is.
How sad is that?!
Jim, there is a shitload of "we" in your article.
Just whom exactly are these "we's" you referring to? If you are referring primarly to the government, well, it doesn't speak for me and I don't speak for it. If you are suggesting the inhabitants (I hesitate to call most of them citizens) of these balkanized United States speak with a common voice, I believe you are cracked. This whole "we" vs "them" thing is right up there with "dems" vs "repubes".
To suggest that significant, genuine change (oh, like slashing the military budget 50%) can come from within an utterly corrput system such as the one "we" currently have is ridiculous. Nothing will change until the system is burned to the ground and it's roots blowtorched, lest it grow back.
AMEN! Somehow our national defense has turned into a global offense. The suicide rate of our soldiers tells all. The conscious of the soldier is killing more of our men and women than the 'enemy'.
And these are only the official costs -- part of the spending is classified, so not on the books as such. Part of the spending is clandestine, cost-run overruns that are not budgetted or accounted in any way. Part of the spending is hidden in the budgets of other government agencies (energy, environment, etc.). And then there is the spending on all the spy agencies etc. Many commentators tally about Tr$ 1 / year.
Exactly.
While everyone knows that the defense budget is large -- even in the numbers that the public sees as the formally admitted figures by the Department of Defense -- the truth is that when one scratches beneath the bureaucratic veneer, national security spending is much larger, nearly double the amount US citizens are told.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/02/the-real-defense-bud...
It's a good thing that the CIA has clear routes to run their record crops of Afderkastan smack across the world.
Think of all the money they're saving us!
Let's not forget the DEA's agreement with the Sinaloa cartel. Full access to the US drug market with guaranteed safe money laundering.
I want this shit to burn just to fuck the Statists. I hate them worse than the fucking Commies.
Our government has been hijacked. Nothing is going to change. Our people are too busy watching honey boo boo and NFL than to restore the republic
“Economic interests almost always are major reasons for wars being fought. Noble and patriotic causes are easier to sell to a public who must pay and provide cannon fodder to defend the financial interests of a privileged class.” – Ron Paul, Iran: The Next Neocon Target
And, so, under the pretense of making peace, a Washington cabal made up of mob-elected ne’er-do-wells, brigands and thieves rob and pillage the treasury in order to live lives of pampered lords, and send their police around the world so a few global elites can hold all the land and the serfs can work for them.
The gun of destruction is their business and they have no other.
>> and NFL
You know, I live out in the stix, alone, far away from my old social contacts. I haven't had a tv, or followed football in quite some time. This year I decided to buy a tv, almost exclusively for watching movies (netflix), but also following the old nfl team I used to follow years ago. They just finally got a coach I've always liked and I'll be interesting to watch their progress, maybe. I'll admit, I've tried watching a game or two over the years and can never get past about five minutes before I'm infurated by the commercials/lose interest in the product.
Now, to the point. I'm a chronic mute button person. Commercial means mute, period. No forgetting, no bs, mute the fuckers. In mixed company, with a wife around, that's very difficult. Alone, I'm my own Brittiania, I rule the (air)waves. I think one can, if careful, enjoy what is there to enjoy, without being brain washed, if one is fastidious in excluding the Madison Ave tripe. It will be interesting to see what my results are.
If you really wanted to be a rebel , you would have used that computer you're typing on with a good torrent app to download your movies and TV shows for free and screw it to netfilx and the media cartel. Hollywood does not look like its suffering any, you see any of them filing for bankruptcy?
>> If you really wanted to be a rebel ,
No doubt one can always do more to fight the borg. Honestly Netflix is one of the few corporate entities I think gives a very fair product for the money. $8 a month for commercial free entertainment? Who provides anything like that?
Call me a consumerist whore if you like (I'm not saying you are), but out here, alone, in the stix, growing a good bit of my own food, rarely going into town or seeing other humans, yeah, I can justify that connection to society.
"we are the cause of all war and conflict in the world" Why say something so stupid that undercuts your arguments?
Changing the western world from statist to market economies is way, way, way, more difficult than the commentators seem to think.
hmmm, the World 'community' considers good ole USofA the greatest threat to world peace
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-25496299
Wake up America. A Neocon-MIC has taken over our country. I gave O'bama two chances; looks
like Mr. Paul gets the next one
Nobody loves the police/military/surveillance state as much as a Neo-Con -- except for a Modern Progressive.
This MAP is WRONG!!
THERE IS NOT USA MILITAR BASE IN BRAZIL!!!
WHO DID THIS MAP?
Maybe it's an NSA spy center.
Marines in SaoPaulo......
i think that the spot we find ourselves in is not as black and white as the author would make it appear.
i do believe we have a moral obligation to in some few cases intervene, but it should only be done at the behest of congress and should be abrupt and decisive.
i offer only an analogy: You are the biggest, baddest boy in school ... the second biggest, baddest boy in school likes to give little girls black eyes. What do you do?
I am not defending Obama, or the amount that we spend on the military ... but our role in the world is not as simple as many ZH'ers apparently believe.
edit: if the only rebuttal you have is a "junk" then go away ... you have nothing to add to the conversation
Well, in the real world, the US is the bad boy giving little girls black eyes.
Why do you think the founding fathers didn't want a standing army? Was it because it would eventually be used offensively?
>> not as black and white
Isn't that always the case? With the MIC, we've got an 800# tumor growing on a 90# middle class. If litlte foreign girls are gettingl black eyes by foreign bullies, they will just have to deal with it. First we need to gut the tumor to see if we can save the middle class. If the middle class dies and everything crashes and burns, little foreign girl is going to be on her own anyway. If 90# middle class happens to recover from the tumor (doubtful), then, wonce healthy again, we can debate being the world good samaritan. Right now saving our own asses is more important than saving anything else.
Right now saving our own asses is more important than saving anything else.
Which is why the real money being wasted, mandatory redistributive programs, will never be cut. Cut over there but do not cut my benefit. Clearly there are cuts to made in defense but they should be matched by the same critiea, waste-fraud-abuse in the social programs.
preach it
And the other countries that hate freedom and have huge armed forces will overrun and take your freedoms as well as your life . The government is required by the contitution to have armed force to protect the populace.
And yet, America has been spared from war on her shores since 1865. Meanwhile, the populace the government pretends to protect has died all over the globe for economic and political hegemony. Does anyone really believe that Americans would be speaking German or Japanese if they had not fought and died overseas?
And while Americans continue to die in places the undereducated populace can not identify on a map, Spanish has become the second language. So much for protecting the populace from foreign invasion.
Have you forgotten the Indian Wars? Or did you not learn about them in school?
http://www.authentichistory.com/diversity/native/hb3-plainstimeline/
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-PlainsIndianWars.html
Spanish has been a language of white settlers in North America longer than english has.
Didn't forget about it at all. Nor have I forgotten about the treatment of the Chinese, Irish, and Japanese immigrants during the same time period, all of which, to one degree or another, accepted the English language as a requirement for living here (or didn't you learn about them in school?).
Otherwise, what's your point in a thread about the overseas expansionist nature of the US military and its designed role of protecting the nation?
You appear to have forgotten. The Native Americans, aka Indians, were the locals. They were not immigrants.
What freedoms ?
Seems like Uncle Scam already solved that problem.
So what would they invade for ? Share our debts, health problems, worn out infrastructure.
I think thats a pass.