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The Economics Of Perpetual War
Submitted by Matt McCaffrey via The Mises Economics Blog,
The 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I seems like an ideal opportunity to spread a message of peace and economic cooperation; sadly, 2014 has so far been a year of new and renewed conflict far more than one of reconciliation.
By now, talk of the horrors of war is nothing new. Everyone knows about the total destruction war brings; in fact, we’ve known for millennia. As Lew Rockwell points out, “just about everyone makes the perfunctory nod to the tragedy of war, that war is a last resort only, and that everyone sincerely regrets having to go to war”—but war continues all the same. Even classical military strategists like Sun Tzu believed war should only be used only as a last resort, and argued that military campaigns could bankrupt states and ultimately, destroy them. Art of War actually states that “no country has ever profited from protracted warfare,” and cautions generals to “fight under Heaven with the paramount aim of ‘preservation.’” Yet as far back as we have historical records, these sorts of ideas have fallen on deaf ears among governments and military organizations alike.
Economics offers many insights into war making and why it persists, but the most fundamental explanation is an institutional one. It’s tragically simple: warnings about the horrors of war go unheeded because the power to make war—as well as “justify” it in the eyes of those forced to fight and finance it—lies in the hands of the state and its business and intellectual allies. States are monopolists of organized force, and as such decide when and how to use their power on a grand scale, especially when they wish to confront other monopolists.
In fact, economic reasoning tells us that conflict is an integral part of the logic of states, which are inherently prone to warfare and imperialism. That war is an essential and practically inevitable behavior of government has been known since ancient times: for instance, Art of War begins by stating that “War is the greatest affair of state, the basis of [its] life and death, the Tao to survival or extinction.”
The central problem is that government is based on the use of the “political means” rather than the “economic means” of social organization. States are not producers of goods and services in the market; rather, they operate by forcible redistribution. They are therefore founded on a conflict of interest between the rulers and the ruled, especially between the winners and losers of the redistribution process.
Furthermore, because state decisions are not guided by entrepreneurial calculation, they result in the waste and destruction of resources, resources that must be replenished if the ruling class hopes to continue to consume. States therefore search constantly for new sources of revenue to support themselves, and to that end they use traditional methods of public finance: taxation, borrowing, and inflation. But these policies ultimately compound their difficulties, generating poverty and inequality, and intensifying social conflict.
Every way they turn, states face recurring economic problems and the need to distract or suppress the victims of exploitation; war making serves the dual purpose of (a) disguising fundamental social conflicts by refocusing attention and/or blame, and (b) providing economic gains to the state and its allies. This then is one economic explanation of how organized violence on a small scale leads to organized violence on a massive scale.
If we want to understand why war persists, we have to take account of the economic foundation of the state. We can’t reason in an institutional vacuum, like the many people throughout history who believed it was enough to simply point out the obvious calamity of war, while leaving the power to make it in the hands of a ruling class.
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The title is pure insanity.
There is no such thing as 'economics of perpetual war'.
Perpetual war to gain access to food, water, commodities and energy is simply world history irrefutably proven by 4000 years of documented history
Whenever nation A will lack food or water, it will simply attack nation B to get them. It's that simple.
Ekm1 there is this thing called trade where you can get the other guys stuff without killing them.
No you can't.
That "trade" is made possible by US military guaranteeing USD as world currency and an electronic network between banks, again defended by NSA
Errr NO... USD was not around for 4k+ years. It is more like I make something you need and you have something I need -> trade. USD is no magic piece of paper that grants you every wish. Soon it will be only good for starting a fire...
potato, potatoh
The 1815 - 1914 gold standard seem to work good for trade.
Yes, because the winners of wars prospered
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_1800%E2%80%9399
Siding with ekm1 on this one. Not sure why he is getting so many down votes for pointing out the obvious.
Folks, humans are dirty little critters who use any means necessary (trade) war, (kinetic) war, (currency) war, in addition to the threats thereof, to secure the Earths limited resources for themselves and their own.
That. Is. Nature.
Perhaps one could argue about the semantics (of war) or the principles (of war) or the righteousness (of war), but it is a flat out lie to deny this struggle exists.
The European world leaders of old ran on gold. Their empires were brutal. The gold standard just made sure they went broke when they overspent.
I do not disagree we are all better off with trade, as we have a better standard of living, better opportunity, but one would be a fool to think he shouldn't be armed and prepared to defend it. And sometimes, there just ain't enough to go around, so one has to fight for it.
Like it or not.
Regards,
Cooter
War is a Racket.
Major General Smedley Butler
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html
Own a copy.
I also recommend "On Killing" by Dave Grossman.
Regards,
Cooter
Economics of GOVERNMENT is to collect pennies from masses and stuff it into few hands and mask it all with a smile and good rhetoric.
And military is half of government, so naturally half of taxes flow to defense contractors
The economics of breaking stuff with "war" is now worse than ever. Broken infrastructure might never be fixed in an economy without surplus energy and surplus material resources.
See the Tullet Prebon "Perfect Storm" report :
http://www.tullettprebon.com/Documents/strategyinsights/TPSI_009_Perfect...
and see this too :
(http://web.archive.org/web/20111112074159/http://www.zerohedge.com/news/...)
War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Unless you own stock in Haliburton. Then it's worth a fortune.
I understand what you saying Cooter, but it isn't true that we have to fight for limited resources. Yes, there is a rich history of war, however, most resources consumed throughout history, being commoditized resources or human resources, were gained through voluntary exchange rather than cohersive exchange.
When you visit the villages in Africa and go to market, you see voluntary exchange. Same thing throughout Asia, same thing througout America.
Some do not like free exchange because they believe they aren't getting enough. So, to get what they want, they steal. This happens with the local looter and it happens at a national level in war. No one can deny this has happened for thousands of years...I agree, but looting is not the optimal way to maximize the wealth of all. The optimal way is to ask oneself, what can I do to make my exchange of commodity or labor more valuable, so I can attain what I want and need.
When we aren't willing to answer that question honestly, and commit to doing what it takes to increase our value...then, the looting commences, at all levels.
Antifaschistische,
By the way, cool name and art work.
Your question has being answered:
Inequality!
That’s why the Senate has so much more power than the House.
The representation of states at the federal level is entirely equal -- each state has exactly and only two senators, regardless of population.
bh2,
C'mon! You have to look behind the superficial appearance.
James Madison, who was the main framer of the Constitutional order, explained to the Constitutional Convention that power should remain in the hands of the Senate. The Senate was not chosen directly by voters until about a century ago. In those days the executive was pretty much an administrator, not an emperor. And the House, the third part of the system, which is closer to the public, had much more limited authority.
That's the way in fact it was set up. As Madison explained to the Constitutional Convention, “the Senate represents the wealth of the nation, the more capable set of men, men who have respect for property owners and their rights and understand that government must protect the minority of the opulent against the majority.”
Senate votes over a long period and they show that the Senate is indeed responsive to the sector of the population [that is] the top third in income. Actually a closer analysis would show that it's a very small fraction of that top third.
In contrast there's no correlation at all between Senate votes and opinions of the middle third. And for the bottom third there is a correlation. It's negative.
The financial institutions were rewarded lavishly for causing the crisis and they were forgiven for outright crimes, but the rest of the program floundered.
…. that ought to be taught in elementary school. ? Noam Chomsky
http://www.chomsky.info/talks/20110407.htm
CrazyCooter,
You wrote: “Not sure why he is getting so many down votes for pointing out the obvious.”
This might help:
In 2002 the term for schizophrenia in Japan was changed from to mind-split-disease (integration disorder) to biopsychosocial model.
It increased the percentage of patients who were informed of the diagnosis from 37 to 70% over three years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia#Society_and_culture
" .... but one would be a fool to think he shouldn't be armed and prepared to defend it. "
Apparently someone agreed with you :
" To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace. "
George Washington
That says a lot about how he viewed mankind.
" The 1815 - 1914 gold standard seem to work good for trade. "
Apparently, that didn't prevent the panic of 1873.
You are correct. The gold standard sucked. But don't blame the innocent shiney stuff. The culprit was the counterfeit paper receipts for the virtual shiney. Banking fraud was the death of theArticles of Confederation. that is why Article 1 section 8 requires taxes be paid in gold. They knew that counterfeit paper was the death of decency and freedom.
The banksters kept trying , getting the first and second national banks. Jackson heroically rid the nation of them and free market banking brought the greatest increase in wealth for the greatest number from 1837 until 1862.
Lincoln established the National Bank Oligopoly and removed the gold as money and made it green receipts thus enabling the multiplication of virtual gold by fractional reserve backed by the legal tender and tax laws.
All the subsequent boooms and bust and massive growth in inequality of the gilded age was the result.
That and fiat gold silver ratios.
Please take your stupid main stream statist economics over to Fox or Huffington.
" Jackson heroically rid the nation of them and free market banking brought the greatest increase in wealth for the greatest number from 1837 until 1862. "
And here, someone is clearly forgetting the impact of major events like the Indian removal act, the american-mexican war and the California gold rush.
" Please take your stupid main stream statist economics over to Fox or Huffington. "
I forgot that one.
What " stupid main stream statist economics " ?
> potato, potatoh
very persuasive...I'm convinced.
It is not my intention to persuade anybody
Everybody on ZH pontificates, hence I pontificate also
most folks here pontificate voluntarily...I'm sensing that you may be getting paid to do so...
Oh God, I wish that was the case.
If MIC and neocons paid me to post here, I'd be posting 10x more, all day, full job
pfxtim
that was low and uncalled for.
I don't agrre with Ekm on this one but such accusations make one suspect of being a troll themselves. Ekm is not new and has been a regular commentator.
What excatly moves you to state he might be getting paid?
“no country has ever profited from protracted warfare,”
The operative word here is "protracted".
However, the issue that we face isn't the truth of the Art of War statement. It's also true that some individuals profit even at the expense of the country. THATs the problem.
America would not benefit from $300 per/barrel oil, but there are a few million Americans who would love that scenario even if the rest of the coutry suffered. THATs the issue.
IMHO its not about "countries" but organised cabals working behind the scenes. Its not about "access" to resources, it is about control of the nation, its monetary system, resources, industries and people. As others have pointed out war benefits the few at the great expense of the many by design, protracted warfare can be even more profitable as it distorts and twists society over more than one generation - good people become "extremists" because they have grown up in extreme circumstances and life is not about generating prosperity and family but instead about surviving, fighting and an internal wrestling match with justice & retribution; a match that gets harder in the face of constant war - because the extreme voices, that would normally be ignored by a functioning society which is busy getting on with farming, business and family, gets more air play and support from those who lose everyone and everything in their lives. What does a young guy do when he cannot get busy running a business and has to bury his family???
I also believe war is used as historical vengeance against those that dared to defy the few who wanted control, some nations historically have sought independence and continue to be ground into the dirt long after resource control has been extracted forcibly.
War does not just follow oil, its also follows independent central banks and nations that have the temerity to try and preserve their sovereignty over their various resources, industry and internal political systems. Many nations without oil are royally fkd again and again. Small countries are deemed threats and demonised, year after year after year. This also serves to condition people in developed nations like USA, Canada, Australia, UK etc to support unbridled interference and disdain of other countries in South America, Africa, etc. The conditioning works two ways.
Its a profitable self serving prophecy, for example decades ago it was cool to back pack in many ME nations now after decades of bombing and fomenting extremism we resent the refugees reaching our shores and spreading Islam in our neighborhoods. Take out the word Islam and you have the same situation from those who were trying to leave Rhodesia or Vietnam... or....many other little places. Its almost like following this seasons fashion items on a catwalk... who do we like this year because some ass tells us we like it better than what whatever it was we liked last year - we're conditioned to switch our allegiences and perceptions like fashion items.
This is perhaps possible because of inter-generational fatigue with war; it made many of us in the west lazy. e.g. Our Dad fought a war to protect our rights from foreign threats overseas.... we now have won and are safe and can trust our leaders and get on with the good life. We became extremists in our own way - we sought self over constantly guarding our Constitutions.
Extremism can be found in our laziness. For every Aussie, American, Brit, etc that bitches about Islamic extremism and take over in their town I am bitterly disappointed at the that persons extremism in sitting on their ass and allowing our governments destroy our ability to correctly create money, preserve property rights and grow a nation without reverting to the absurd patent system that locks non-oil and non-pharma monopolies of energy and health and just about every other technology.
Peaceful trade -
You cited 4,000 years…. Taking into consideration the 4,000 years, no ‘peaceful trade’ has ever lasted.
Anarchy on a global scale.
"You Will Be Assimilated!",Obama of Borg.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmSphzG9LE4
ekm1,
Countries and nations were trading long before the US became hegemonic.
In an emotionally mature society it would be possible. Unfortunately because human psychology incorporates the extremes (such as psychopathy) it isn't possible in the real world without one country eventually wanting war with another. That's history.
DavidC
potato, potatoh
Wars don't kill people, people kill people..........
"Wars don't kill people, people kill people.........."
Actually, in war sociopaths use people to kill people for profit.
An American, not US subject/.
I remember a Marxist professor arguing that the cause of war is overpopulation. Since you could make the argument that many of the Worlds basic resources are strained by our current population growth. It's not a stretch to think that the idea of War could be spun as necessary to save the Planet.
"There's too many people on the planet. Let's get rid of some."
"Uhuh. Let's start with you then."
"I don't need to be get rid of"
"Says who?"
"gawd"
"I didn't hear him say that"
"Cuz you're not one of the chosen few, motherfucker. DIE!"
It's actually the Atheists who believe this and have for a long time., But what would we know, we don't read history, we've been dumbed down to emotional retards.
Manuel Devaldes 1925
The Biological Cause and Prevention of WarEssay in Scientific Pacifism
https://www.marxists.org/archive/devaldes/1925/prevention-war.htm
economics9698
The question that needs to be asked is: Which institutions know that it is over. And economic and energy collapse are coming?
My bet is on few institutions. The Pentagon and Israeli Army are on that list.
Then, the next question is: What are their ‘survivable’ options, under a coming collapse?
Pentagon has (6 air bases in) Saudi Arabia = Saudi’s oil income. It wouldn’t matter who the buyer, and the currency, is.
Pentagon has Iraq oil stored underground, while their domestic population, brainwashed by fanaticism (ISIS) and patriotism (tribes), kill each other while ignorant of geopolitics and geography.
So, now the Pentagon has the stupid patriotic ISIS in IRAQ, which will give cover for US and NATO operations into Syria, through Iraq. As they kill each other, and be killed by west forces.
Syria should not be a failure this time, because Russia will be ‘trapped’ in Ukraine.
However, if US and its puppet (NATO) fail in Syria, Iran is a no no. And Iran is the biggest prize.
Wonder why?
Oil, oil income, and Israel’s next neighbor.
Does anyone of you think Israel is gonna stop at Gaza when TSHTF?
Slave Isaura:
Hi, okay?
Take a look at the Post on "Schools". There is a believe my testimony, interesting.
Good thing to relax her head on - and how - to run things wholeheartedly.
Kind regards.
Alexandre.
Karaio,
I just checked it. Great stuff.
Keeping the Brazilian Cocotas ‘Hip Crowd’ real.
I remember my science professor in Vitória being the coolest.
EI
in what way does activity in Ukraine (if there really is any...have not seen convincing videos yet and god knows every idiot between here and Bejing has a camera) limit Russia's ability to act in defence of it's Syrian bases?
Ukraine is a border country. Russia can just park troops on their own soil as a reminder of the limitations of what can be done in the Ukraine. I'm not sure of what assets Russia has in Syria, I think it is naval stuff, but they would really not have to 'fight on 2 fronts.'
LV,
This is a repost from another thread:
We know that Syria, Iran, and Russia don’t want wars, especially against US.
The problem US has against Syria and Iran is containment. They can never defeat the US. But, can they stop US invasion long enough for diplomacy to work? That means: US loses.
Near Syria, we have Iran, the second largest natural gas reserve, followed by Qatar (#3), Turkmenistan (#4), Saudi Arabia (#6), and Iraq (#11).
If the pipeline from these nations goes through Turkey, these nations will have the same problem Russia is having in Ukraine: The gas is stolen because the local population cannot afford it.
Ukraine Population: 45 million. Turkey: 73 million. Syria: 22 million
Europe needs the gas from these nations. So does China.
Ukraine, and very soon most of Europe, are pay back from US defeat in Syria and because Russia is selling US treasuries… Dumping the dollar.
If Russia succeeds, the dominos “contagion’ affects take place. Other nations will do the same, by dumping the dollar.
Then, the US neoliberal framework, since the 1980’s, collapses, because US won’t be able to undermine their economies, attack their currencies, and stronghold their countries, like in Argentina, now, and Asia and Russia, in 1990s.
ekm, I'll pull a Segal and redirect your thrust...
War is not only "Diplomacy by other means", but a huge client for National Debt. Especially if said Debt is conjured from "money (currency) out of thin air".
IOW... "All wars (since the 1800s) are Banksters' wars".
"Whenever nation A will lack food or water, it will simply attack nation B to get them. It's that simple." -ekm1
No ekm1, you are that simple.
There are alternatives called "trade" or "domestic investment".
There is a possibility of nation B attacking nation A for reasons other than food or water (Somalia?)
There is a possibility of nation A acquiescing to takeover by nation B.
"There is no such thing as 'economics of perpetual war'.
Perpetual war to gain access to food, water, commodities and energy is simply world history..." -ekm1
"Simply" does ekm1 falsely contend that
"food, water, commodities, and energy" have nothing to do with economics.
So much for the "pure insanity" believed real by ekm1.
Nirvana seeking does not bring food on the table
Hey, mammal with a thinking brain:
Stop your peurile masurtabory potificating here now, and
Go attack your neighors and take their food/wealth/fuckable progeny now, and
Report your experience here.
I have to agree with what most of ekm1 is saying. Being a peacenik solves nothing. At the end of the day, "good" people with guns is the only thing that keeps "bad" people with guns from killing you and taking all your stuff. Unfortunately most of the peaceniks are not clear thinkers and will vote for the warmonger Hillary Clinton who has criticized Obama for not already bombing ISIS. I myself am a self proclaimed peace activist who also supports raining down fire and metal on those who harm the innocent and weak. War is not the ultimate or first solution to the world's problems, but sometimes a just war is how you get the right thing done in the shortest amount of time. The government supports war, the people are the government, the people wage war. The day that war goes away will either be ultimate freedom and peace, or it will be the day that powerful evil interests have completely enslaved humanity.
until now you didnt get my favor but this...this sentence.... ffs thanx i am no alone.
fuck god. god ain't food.
I must disagree with EKM1. All human activity is part of the economic system.
Actually you will find that nations which possess abundance then have the means to supply troops for invasions abroad.
The mongol invasions and viking raids/settlements (for examples) occurred during one of the warmest and wettest periods since the last ice age, not due to drought or cold.
What about 'wars of choice' that are fought simply to control domestic dissent and enrich the elite? Are those wars good for the economy and society?
$7.5 Million per day in Iraq air operations, $500 Million since June.
Raytheon and the rest of the M.I.C. is popping champagne corks.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pentagon-u-s-operations-in-iraq-cost-7-5-million-a-day/
Peanuts for MIC
Bank lobby just got $4 trillion and still flowing
I don't necessarily disagree with your first post, I just don't think it's inevitable. It happens not because it has to, free trade works better. It happens because we as humans keep allowing ourselves to be under the thumb of small numbers of greedy men who work the masses into a hysterical fervor for bullshit wars.
4 trillion of worthless "out of thin air" currency. Not a single penny in real money...
As with the Roman Empire will be Americas destiny all one has to do is look to british empire for recent history
How about the Ottoman Empire, what happened to them?
It's a long list
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_empires
The rich assholes who profit from wars and use those profits to support the Mises Institute won't get killed. ?
I don't think the "the rich assholes who profit from wars" were underwriting this piece:
http://archive.mises.org/16005/practicing-the-principles-of-non-interven...
The picture of a bunch of clowns in suits will be meeting in Wales to talk war this makes me sick. The catalyst for war has not been diminished as many people have hoped it would once the world matured. National pride, political agendas, religious and ethnic hatreds are some of the biggest roadblocks to world peace.
Often we seem to forget as we look back to World War II and at dozens of "lesser Conflicts" peace has been the exception rather then the rule for hundreds and thousands of years. The true reality is that across the world few mothers want to see their children killed and most farmers want to be left along to raise their crops and earn a living. More on the subject of war as a solution to conflict in the article below.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2014/05/war-and-what-is-it-good-for.html
AdvancingTime
However, this is not how this nation was built... And not that you should not know that, by now.
But, it feels great romanticize something else, while collecting rent.
Go Figure!
The mather of all wars is upon us. An those who survive will beg someone to kil them.
weakness remain weakness, whenever understood
Searchable database of military equipment to local "law enforcement" by state.
Team AMeriKa! Never forget!
http://bridge.caspio.net/dp.asp?AppKey=36701000b255adcfe6ca4b13a8a4
"Art of War actually states that “no country has ever profited from protracted warfare,
Correct, but the nation controlling the country does. The nation runs the racket, the country pays.
Good examples of this fact are the "wars" in Vietnam and Iraq. The American people, country, paid in blood and treasure, and the pols, crats, funcs (generals, etc.), and banksters got rich and richer.
An American, not US subject.
“War is a racket.” Smedley Butler
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/03/26/empires-then-and-now/
Empires Then And Now
By Paul Craig Roberts, April 3, 2012.
"... Washington’s empire extracts resources from the American people for the benefit of the few powerful interest groups that rule America. The military-security complex, Wall Street, agribusiness and the Israel lobby use the government to extract resources from Americans to serve their profits and power. The U.S. Constitution has been extracted in the interests of the security state, and Americans’ incomes have been redirected to the pockets of the 1 percent. That is how the American empire functions. ... In this new empire, success at war no longer matters. The extraction takes place by being at war. Huge sums of American taxpayers’ money have flowed into the American armaments industries and huge amounts of power into the Department of Homeland Security. The American empire works by stripping Americans of wealth and liberty."
Like many comments above, I also regard The Art of War as one of the most important books to understand the nature of the problems. That book starts by stating that "success in war is based on deceits" and ends by saying that "spies are the most important soldiers." Many comments above correctly pointed out that there are chronic political problems inherent in the nature of life! The history of human warfare was one of the most obvious ways that those problems ended up manifesting. BUT, APES WITH ATOMIC BOMBS APPROACHES PEAK INSANITY.
The war on terror that was started by the inside job, false flag attacks on 9/11/2001 is orders of magnitude worse than the war on drugs, that was the previous set of lies used to justify building a fascist police state, while destroying constitutional rights. However, it is clear that the basic history has always been systems of social slavery, "do what I say, or I will kill you," which are now primarily debt slavery backed by wars based on deceits, BOTH OF WHICH ARE APPROACHING PEAK INSANITY POINTS!
It appears to me that ALL of America's wars were started with some kind of false flag attack, or deceptions regarding how and why those were actually started. The war on drugs was mostly the war on marijuana, and was totally unnecessary, but rather, an obvious example of wars based on deceits, that become self-fulfilling prophesies. When thinking about any other social issue, it helps to provide perspective that the single best planet on the planet for people, for food, fiber, fun and medicine was ABLE to be rebranded as "marijuana which is almost as bad as murder," in order to have that become the majority of the war on drugs, and thus, become the backbone to the funding of organized crime, and those paid to resist that organized crime. After one recognizes that the ruling classes were able to change hemp into marijuana, it is clear that there are almost no limits of the degree to which the ruling classes are able to successfully control society through huge lies, backed up with lots of violence.
While it is obvious to anyone who bothers to investigate that these "wars" are rackets set up to benefit the banksters, there is no way to get any more public agreement regarding how to resolve the deeper problems any better. The grand paradox has been that, since success in war was based on deceits, and civilization was based on the history of warfare, civilization has become a system of enforced frauds, wherein almost all the "opposition" is controlled.
In my view, appreciating the degree to which we live in a Bizarro Mirror World requires that we go through the looking glass, to embrace the ways that militarism is the supreme ideology, and therefore, human beings operating their murder systems to back up their money systems are the most important things that they do. The DEEP DILEMMAS that we face are that there MUST be some death controls, but the systems that we operate now are based on the maximum possible deceits, while the controlled opposition groups stay within the same frame of reference of those deceits.
The chronic political problems in the nature of life demand that there must be natural selection, and human beings must develop systems of artificial selection, in which the death controls are necessarily central to that process. However, the history of the actual death controls being done through the maximum possible deceits (while the controlled opposition groups to the established systems operated within the same frame of reference as those doing those death controls most successful through the maximum possible deceits), has trapped us all into a runaway vicious spiral, heading towards Peak Insanities.
Given that we DO have weapons of mass destruction, we SHOULD be thinking differently about war. However, that is barely done, because the basic ways that we all think have been produced by thousands of years of adapting to the social facts that DISHONESTY WAS THE BEST POLICY! The deliberately ignorance and denial of the basic facts of life runs throughout all the controlled opposition groups to the established systems of warfare and enforced frauds.
HUMAN BEINGS THINK AND USE LANGUAGE IN WAYS WHICH ARE ALMOST TOTALLY BACKWARDS, DUE TO THE HISTORY OF SUCCESS IN WARFARE BEING BASED ON DECEITS! That is not merely present in the political economy being based on enforced frauds, etc., but rather goes deep into the heart of the philosophy of science, because the biggest bullies' bullshit social stories dominated the philosophy of science in the same ways as that bullshit dominated every other social enterprise!
I make the THEORETICALLY VALID, BUT PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION that we should be going through a series of intellectual scientific revolutions, so that the ways that there were paradigm shifts regarding the modes of thinking in basic sciences are followed through to be applied to politics. After the development of weapons of mass destruction, it is imperative that we radically transform our understanding of militarism, or the death controlling murder systems which are central to the human artificial selection systems. However, obviously, there are no good reasons to believe that is going to happen, since we are rushing in the opposite direction, towards Peak Insanities, where various old-fashioned religions and ideologies, combined with technologies that are trillions of times more powerful, will result in civilization destroying itself.
War is the ultimate wealth transfer vehicle in any fascist political economy.
If you produce bombs, eat their bombs.
Smell the cordite away, felt like lead in the mouth when I got shot in the stomach and was hospitalized 11 days.
Saw what white phosphorous does know very well what hexachlorobenzene and pentachlorophenol (components of Agent Orange) are able to make a person.
Peaceful uranium projectiles I've never seen and do not intend to find but, I know the damage they do.
Smell of rotting flesh mixed with diesel or heat and noise turbine oil is not a healthy environment, can believe.
Romans, go home - while there is fuel to return.
The world is fed up with war and so, the change will come.
Will not raid as Alex Jones touts will implosion.
Much uglier thing to see.
Actually the world has had perpetual war because the international bankster society profits by lending to both sides of every conflict. This has been going on since the Bank of Amsterdam lent money to both England and Holland (in the early 1600's), when William of Orange (who was Dutch) went to war against Holland. The banksters got paid from England (the winner) and Holland was forced to pay the loser's "fee" for losing. Read "The Lost Science Of Money" and it explains how the whole process has worked for the last 400 years. It is not going to change until the international bankster society is ousted from controlling the world's monetary system.
Quite correct, JimS!
However, it would take some better organized gang of criminals to be able take over control from the international banksters. The ruling classes have provided expedient sets of solutions to the chronic political problems inherent in the nature of life, which benefit those ruling classes. Any superior sets of solutions have to resolve those chronic political problems in better ways. At the present time, that appears practically impossible, not only because the ruling classes continue to be the relatively best at dishonesty and violence, but also the controlled opposition groups tend to promote bullshit "solutions" which do NOT address the chronic political problems in better ways.
Human evolution has been the internalization of the forces of natural selection to become intelligence, which could operate systems of artificial selection. However, the actual history of that development was based on success through deceits, to the degree to which everything is now based on enforced frauds, such as "The Lost Science Of Money" correctly outlined regarding how for several Centuries war has been a racket run by the banksters for their benefit. So far, in my view, those who learn how the banksters have been funding all sides of various wars and civil wars for a few Centuries, then still do not propose sufficiently better death control systems to displace the banksters' systems, because they do not provide a better overall theory of human artificial selection, which especially requires recognizing the deeper ways in which the triumph of warfare based on deceits has made almost everyone think in ways which are backwards about almost everything!
As my previous reply above already outlined, there can be no better solutions which do not provide better death controls at their core. There is no way to end war, because there is no way to stop natural selection from existing. However, it is possible for human artificial selection systems to be improved, which would take a series of intellectual scientific revolutions, or profound paradigm shifts in the ways that we perceive politics, in order to make that possible.
I like to day dream about a transnational scientific community arising to become a more significant political force in the future, whereby revolutions in the philosophy of science then enable better political revolutions ... except, these days, I mostly presume that civilization is going to destroy itself so totally that there will be no such possible future in which civilization was revolutionized enough to save itself from the mad destruction that the banksters are driving it towards at the present time.
Busy giddy minds.
Yup.
With the advent of nuclear weapons, WAR is something mankind MUST outgrow....
Someone argued once that the first country with an accurate laser missile defense system can neutralize all the nukes.
He was wrong.
the amount of energy needed to make such high power laser shoot to destroy a missile nuke equiped is almost equal to zero because of the efficiency range of laser : less than nuke damage radius ....
First Zero Hedge post. Just want to introduce myself before making a comment.
Long time reader and a huge fan! Most of you are much smarter than I, but the racist stuff, not so much. At last check, we all bleed red.
The last few months I have been stocking up on 2014 Silver Eagles, . 308 battle rifle, .45 pistol and a 12 gauge pump shotgun, and lots of ammo. All in a gun safe of course. Except the silver, can't seem to recall where it is, maybe in the cloud. Yeah, that's it, I lost it in the cloud.
Ok, now my post:
As false flags abound, one thing for sure. I'm to old to be drafted and already served eight years in the military.
That doesn't mean I'm not ready for any conflict on American soil, unless I get nuked. Then I'll just say "Nice to meet you, didn't catch your name". I hope I go out in a blaze of glory rather than Ebola or Cancer, Dementia or worse.
Bighorn_100b:
Welcome on my part.
I live in Brazil and I'm also new here.
I feel that most discrimination is not to be American and post texts translated by Google, no matter that I am caucasian with Polish and Austrian descent, what sticks is that I am not made ??in USA. kkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
If you're like me who just wants to defend his country as Novorrusiam are defending, think alike.
Boring and methodical guys who do not accept viadagem who know how to shoot with guns, women eat decently and be sincere politically incorrect are dying breed, believe me.
hehe.
Alexandre.
Bighorn_100b,
Welcome.
You sound like a killing machine... You will fit right in.
Can't say the same about me!
My user name should be "I'm a trouble maker" or a bad influence.LOL! Seriously though, buy something that will protect you. I always get my buddy in trouble with his wife. When I get him to drunk, or when I went to pick up my M1A Scout squad, he bought a Arsenal AK-47. The wife said "you can't play with him anymore". LOL! Of course we still go to the shooting range together. Still buying goodies such as more magazines and auto loaders. And still getting drunk! :)
Slave Isaura:
The keyboard is as eyes, a window to the soul (this is my phrase, you can use).
Bighorn_100b Solomon seems that if I have a website that I respect a lot.
If he is, I think it stopped being stubborn as I called a while ago.
:-)
Sorry, no website, no other motive than just to be part of the Zero Hedge gang.
I do have a joke though: How do you learn to speak English?......... Press one.:)
Just spoke to my buddy, he's climbing Mt Whitney right now. So no shooting range today.
shut up, faggot.
Welcome, Bighorn and +1 on the racist thing. As my wife told a friend of mine after his absurdly racist comment, "We're all pink on the inside." She'd know, being a surgical nurse and all.
Minge:
Rose and horns, interesting combination.
You shoot rabid dogs, and you nurture babies. A rose to your wife, a knife to an intruder.
3 or 4 years ago when I joined this site, it was meant to be a "fight club." Within the club I feel comfortable complementing well-reasoned comments and equally comfortable eviscerating pedantic, racist, ideologs seeking nothing more from this site than a place to bathe in confirmation bias.
The contrast should not really be that confusing. Rose, horns... Both come in handy.
I gave you a greenie because you seem to be a thoughtful chap. And I have a soft spot for geography teachers. I'll never forget Mr. Whitacre. A fine Brit who knew what was where.
Getting downvoted for not being a racist speaks volumes about some of the ZH members! ;)
Bighorn, welcome to fight club.
except William Jennings Bryan objected to the constraints imposed by The Gold Standard..........
The Ruling Class? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMtkNvDGjV0
UNDESERVED LEVERAGE FOR PUTIN?
These histories are rarely seen (severely fooling the USA people)
http://patrick.net/forum/?p=1223928
but Putin could undo that.
I see sizable leverage for Putin ...
Might you agree? If so, would you reckon net benefit for USA by ending "rarely seen" and such leverage?
Gentle Giant Mike Brown was charged with 2nd degree murder as a juvenile.
A British blogger sued to get his juvenile criminal record.
Police record showed that Michael Brown was a gang member
Not CNN
http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2014/08/report-gentle-giant-michaelbrow...
luckystars:
Send the guy to Saudi Arabia, China, or even Donbass ISIS, anyone will fix this guy.
Can send to Brazil too, people like that do not think Urubú in the woods, or the body smells.
The solution I gave but I would like to ask you:
You are a Troll?
This comment your add anything to our discussion of how the world is going to fuck - and how will it fuck?
Sorry, it was just a mental reverie on my part.
hehe.
Uh the truth has no agenda.
MSM was trying to make this out to be something that it wasn't.
Anyone who does not chorus your narrative is a troll, got it.
Who cares about Brown's record and your slandering of him?
Here's what matters:
1. People took to the streets peacefully to protest the shooting and got met by snipers and provocateurs.
2. What are the facts surrounding the shooting? Was the officer justified?
That's it.
The cop is being slandered. Media and race hustlers had the whole story put out about "Gentle Giant being executed before they even knew the story"
Peaceful? Have you forgotten about the looting, firing shots at police and burning down businesses?
As a business owner myself I would be happy to see a police response to that bullshit.
It's Trayvon 2.o
Can't condone the race hustlers, either.
Re: 'peaceful': I did mention provocateurs. Did you get that? Who are they? They are not citizens of Ferguson, I'll wager. The police spent their time hassling peaceful protesters and the media, while the looting went unchecked. What's up with that?
IMO the press started the slander of the cop.
Old thinking. There is no a-prior reason to use USD as a trade currency. The routers/switches and software aka the electronic clearing sytem will transmit 01010101 whatever pretty name you want to call it. With modern software its easy to trade multilaterly in numerous currencies, there is no reason for a trade or clearing currency.
USD is a parasite system that is economically inefficient; the World is trading in USD which comes with a great sucking force back to US banks. Even the Romans ran this crap system...until they could not. Caeser forces the known world to use its debased currency, the Praetorian Guard protect Caeser as long as he pays them in said currency. The jig is up, get over it.
"War good for jews, bad for most."
Well its not like the filthy whitey goyim have made robbing them hard! TRillions Trillions TRillions! in wars in the Middle East most of it in useless spending all your tax dollars! If gas were 50 cent a gallon or less maybe that could be a considred a resonable trade off but nope dog whitey goyim love the Talmudic Master too much to challenge the system!
Very Very sad, filthy gentile whitey goyim dont even get the benefit of the free heroin from the increased production in Afghanistan! nope no sir still gotta pay for it still gotta go to jail if they catch you wit it! "idiots"
Hey! You can't beat down our citizens like that! Only we can fuck the shit out of our citizens like that! We don't fuck your citizens like you do, lets leave it at that. Thats what international law is for.
EZ with filfthy witheys.. they are letting you alone . when you will be 1 againt 10 arabs with falshion blades around the throat, i swear u never ask witheys to help you again, you are in the full center of the nuke target , son.
Tony? Is that you?
Life is perpetual war. Since the first cell division 3.6 billion years ago, Earth has never been big enough for all the organisms that wish to inhabit it. Plants must fight for sunlight, and animals must fight for food, and to not become food.
Trade can increase the Earth's total biomass by alleviating local shortages of vital resources, but once all markets are globalized, no further increase is possible. War tends to reverse these gains by disrupting trade, but that doesn't deter fecund barbarian tribes with nothing to trade and nothing to lose.
Wow that's the sort of kooky social darwinism that the Nazis used to justify their wars. Maybe you should keep it to yourself so as not to let others know that you're a whack job.
maybe you should get your sorry arse over to Ukraine or any other conflict area and have a couple of tours. Then come back and re-post. You paragraphs are but a child's verse. You've been watching the NG channel too much. The animal kingdom does not create synthetic material, its does not invent abstract constructs, its does not engineer generational leap tech etc etc. Man has demonstrated that it is far and above the animal kingdom in its purest form. What you are suggesting is that we remain stagnant through continuous wars that do not serve anything (except the elite). With regards to progress, I can tell you unequivocally that if great minds like Tesla's free energy were allowed, I believe the world today would indeed be very different. The pure greed and ignorance of JP Morgan and the energy industry has not provided us progress but micro steps of evolution instead of leaps.
Nice, insightful post!
Those who can need to work together to colonize space. We are immersed in virtually infinite energy. There is no upper limit, just unlimited stupidity.
fukidontknow, to oppose "social darwinism" is to believe that Homo Sapiens are somehow exempt from the immutable laws that govern all other life on Earth. "The Nazis agreed with you" is not a argument.
vyeung, try eating only synthetic materials for a week and let us know how it turns out. Land that used to grow cotton or horse-fodder can now feed humans, but that's a one-time gain (and we're throwing it away by promoting biofuels!)
Otto, you might as well jump off a cruise ship and swim away into the ocean because your fellow passengers are jerks. There's so much we take for granted on Earth -- water, air, soil, gravity, protection from cosmic rays, etc.
Social Darwinism is pure bullshit. A cheap rationalization by Adolph Hitler and the other psychopaths who want to rule the world and dominate everyone else. Most people know how to live and get along with others. Look around. In our highly complex world, comprised of billions of people and billions of transactions daily, most people are working and pulling together, and all of it functions like a well-oiled machine only because people trust each other, ccoperate with each other, and help one another. It's the greedy insatiable psychopaths that claw their way to the top, and then start grabbing everything in sight, that destroys it up for everyone else.
A healthy society rewards good behavior and punishes bad behavior. Japan has very little crime today because of their longstanding tradition of beheading criminals before they could reproduce. When good behavior is punished (e.g. hard-working husbands raped in divorce court) and bad behavior is rewarded (e.g. free food, housing, and medical for unwed mothers), that well-oiled machine starts to tear itself apart.
Healthy societies also have power-hungry psychopaths, but they're kept in check by centuries of history, tradition, and common sense. Bored by this, intellectuals complain that those traditions are outdated, and ought to change with the times. The psychopaths are happy to oblige.
The author just hasn't got the foggiest idea of what a healthy state is. To him, free trade = good, state = bad, and that's where his thinking stops.
Unfortunately, as humans are social animals, some sort of organization is necessary to their survival. No society has ever done without one. Hence the state, which can either be healthy (reflecting the will and true needs of the people/taxpayers), or corrupted by... private interests.
There's a very nice scam an unhealthy state (as in "bribed by private corporations") can pull: use the taxpayer's money to buy weapons from huge weapon private corporations, launch wars (big benefits for the industrial-military complex), go back to taxing people, buy more weapons, launch more wars, the private sector makes more money, carry on like that by relying on a huge propaganda apparatus created to instill fear in the audience, so they'll agree with every new war that makes more money FOR PRIVATE investors, manufacturers, shareholders, etc...
Everything in America works like that. EVERYTHING.
That's what happens when the state serves a free-market economy instead of the people's interests. But that's a inverted, sick state.
Problem is wars are not fought by themselves. You need meat in the grinder or, to use a classic expression, "boots on the ground". Who's boots are going to stomp in Syria ? Or Irak ?
Also, and the weapons "made in America" are pretty lousy at their job...
Perpetual war developed with agriculture .
From Leader to Predator .
For more horrible details , see
http://andreswhy.blogspot.com/2013/01/prehistoric-flix-with-sound.html
Will 3D food Printers free humanity from their own tyrannical nature ?
and what the fuck you use as ink to print fucking food, you fucking idiot.....
+.... do you fucking plg in the ground when you grow potatoes...
ppl like you are the reel problem, those who eat ANY FUCKING BS elite says as evengile.
i bet my dick on the guillotine you beleive in god.
Governments, markets, religions, ideologies etc. are all systems created by human societies to satisfy their desires more efficiently. Paradoxically, they all share the characteristic of being inhibitory on human instinct. Think of them as extensions of the cerebral cortex, outside the skull. War and other nasty things occur when these systems perceive an existential threat, just the same as with individuals. To fully inhibit the war reflex, the competing governments, markets, religions, ideologies etc. must be merged into one. Don't like the sound of that? The only alternative is for all 8 billion of us to meditate until we disappear up our own kundalini channels in a blaze of nirvanic glory. That's not too likely to occur, so instead we infantile humans are going to get the New World Order by any means necessary. That future will be just as messy as our present seems to us now, but at least we'll all be fed the same flavor of bullshit, and you have no idea what a boon that will be for the species.
"I am part of that power which eternally wills evil and eternally works good." Goethe, Faust.
Totally misguided pseudointellectual pussy drivel. The only problems with modern wars are
1. Not enough of the grossly excess and useless human population are killed off.
2. Territory is not being acquired and repopulated.
3. The enmies are not being eradicated, just beaten in battles.
War is extremely valuable to technological progress, the continuous revitalization of the human spirit, and the continuous culling of the accumulated human garbage. We need a lot more war, in accordance with my 3 core principles above, as was done in ancient times, and which created the great empires of antiquity.
And you're gonna be the grunt thrown into battle first.
No, I am the strategist who sends the grunts, fodder in war is their destiny if they cannot or will not rise above it.
This is an Austrian site - war is good for progress is a keynesian idea.
You were tutored by Hitler, right? Why don't you do humanity a favor and go shoot yourself.
I call bullshit on resource and over-population driven wars as well. Food and Water has never been scarce another to warrant all the wars throughout history. Another important point is despite the vast growth in population parts of the world has managed to become more peacful. Does Germany need Lebensbraum? Is Britain impoverished due to the loss of its colonies.
War will always be a political phenomenon, a concious decision on the part of those who organize society to embark upon violence.
The only link I see between resources is when a small group seek to assert control over a resource to increase their power. The only link between over population and war is when the sentiment that there are "too many" of the "wrong kind". Again in World War II would Germany have been so much better off minues millions of Jews and Roma who regardless of what was said about them had not devestated Germany anywhere near as much as the punitive Treaty of Versaille
"the punitive Treaty of Versaille" was an Ashkenazi Jooish plan.
"If the natural utilization of productive forces is impeded by the property system, the increase in technical devices, in speed, and in the sources of energy will press for an unnatural utilization, and this is found in war. The destructiveness of war furnishes proof that society has not been mature enough to incorporate technology as its organ, that technology has not been sufficiently developed to cope with the elemental forces of society. The horrible features of imperialistic warfare are attributable to the discrepancy between the tremendous means of production and their inadequate utilization in the process of production – in other words, to unemployment and the lack of markets. Imperialistic war is a rebellion of technology which collects, in the form of “human material,” the claims to which society has denied its natural materrial. Instead of draining rivers, society directs a human stream into a bed of trenches; instead of dropping seeds from airplanes, it drops incendiary bombs over cities; and through gas warfare the aura is abolished in a new way."
- Walter Benjamin (1936),
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
To paraphrase Eisenhower (cuz i can't find the excact)
War is man's greatest folly and those who promote it, or fail to prevent it when possible, are a black mark on humanity.
Perpetual war.
We have to wait until "1984" for it.
Until then we have to make do with the age old "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" or "Your god is a hideous asshole and offends us so we must kill you for worshiping him."