The religion of Death
In his interview on Working For Change website, "Chalmers Johnson on our military empire (Part I) Cold warrior in a strange land"
Mr Johnson points out that our military, the most obvious face the United States shows to the world, is propping up our economy, in a Depression style make-work program.
Militarily, we've got an incoherent, not very intelligent budget. It becomes less incoherent only when you realize the ways it's being used to fund our industries or that one of the few things we still manufacture reasonably effectively is weapons. It's a huge export business, run not by the companies but by foreign military sales within the Pentagon.
This is not, of course, free enterprise. Four huge manufacturers with only one major customer. This is state socialism and it's keeping the economy running not in the way it's taught in any economics course in any American university. It's closer to what John Maynard Keynes advocated for getting out of the Great Depression -- counter-cyclical governmental expenditures to keep people employed.
The country suffers from a collective anxiety neurosis every time we talk about closing bases and it has nothing to do with politics. New England goes just as mad over shutting down the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard as people here in San Diego would if you suggested shutting the Marine Corps Air Station. It's always seen as our base. How dare you take away our base! Our congressmen must get it back!
How true that is, and how much more solid our economy would be if all that money were put to use creating high tech industries that would help to clean up and power a new post oil lifestyle!
Instead of new imaginative industry, we export the religion of death. How sad.
posted by SB Gypsy | 12:49 PM
7 Comments:
It is very sad. Love of money... greed.. is what has brought us (US) to what we are today. I guess the easy money is in military arms. It's too difficult to think up great new industry.
Yes, the religion and industry of death. It is the basis of our enconomy. To get any use out of what we spend our tax dollars on, we have to be at war. To call this private industry is just absurd. If we are going fund make-work programs, it would be better to put that money into imaginative industries.
Good Morning OWL, I bet if they added the cost of the war to the cost of gas at the pump (a special tax??) the sheeple would wake up quick.
Hey RD, New industries, modernizing our infrastructure, equipping our schools, granting scholarships, all this is too obvious for these incompetent nincompoops!
Well none of this puts me in my happy place!
Good Afternoon Dark Wraith,
While a small clutch of companies has traditionally had the lion's share of huge, high-profile, large-budget contracts, thousands of smaller contractors and sub-contractors have fed at the hog tough, as well.
And I've noticed that our little machine tool company can barely keep the doors open during peace time, but now that the war is on we're hummin' right along. We don't supply only the big military contractors, but the medical industry just doesn't give out those huge neverending PO's.
Hey POP, I'll be getting some more pictures up in the next few days - there's nothing like some beautiful scenery to set ya right.
religion of death = culture of life.
how the f*&^ did THAT happen? my land, but the religious/economic/political/philsosphical implications of such a perversion of meaning are absolutely staggering and entirely too much to think about on the first monday back from a time change.
Hey Andi,
Only too right! Everything they say you just have to think the opposite, and there you have it. (and I hate this time change too - wish they would just leave it like that and be done with it!
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