General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDoes anybody know what happened to US laws against War Profiteering?
It seems to me that the quickest way to reduce war would be to take the profit out of it. I know US used to have laws against war profiteering but I don't think their are still valid. If they are, they are not being enforced. Why not?
Turbineguy
(37,208 posts)Dick Cheney.
msongs
(67,193 posts)abelenkpe
(9,933 posts)Wonder what happened to them.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)We used to have laws against propaganda aimed at Americans, too.
el_bryanto
(11,804 posts)WW2 had enormous propoganda efforts - and of course many companies made a lot of money off of world war 2.
It also depends on what you mean by war profiteering - at the time I think it was used on companies who would hike their prices because of the war.
But making money by selling the army stuff, that became a big business in WW2.
Bryant
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)The appointment of Cass Sunstein was a disgrace. The NSA online programs purveying propaganda, disinformation and smear at American citizens are something we would expect from a totalitarian state, not the United States of America.
DU hosts, protects, and is thick with propaganda along the lines of the DLC/Third Way and their ilk.
IMO, one of the clearest signs of how deep into corruption our government and our political systems have sunk is the pervasiveness and normalization of this manipulative shit aimed at Americans...
...in a country whose government claims to be representative of the people.
Obama taps "cognitive infiltrator" Cass Sunstein for Committee to create "trust" in NSA:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023512796
Salon: Obama confidants spine-chilling proposal: Cass Sunstein wants the government to "cognitively infiltrate" anti-government groups
http://www.salon.com/2010/01/15/sunstein_2/
The US government's online campaigns of disinformation, manipulation, and smear.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024560097
Snowden: Training Guide for GCHQ, NSA Agents Infiltrating and Disrupting Alternative Media Online
http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/02/25/snowden-training-guide-for-gchq-nsa-agents-infiltrating-and-disrupting-alternative-media-online/
The influx of corporate propaganda-spouting posters is blatant and unnatural.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3189367
U.S. Repeals Propaganda Ban, Spreads Government-Made News To Americans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023262111
The goal of the propaganda assaults across the internet is not to convince anyone of anything.*
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023359801
The government figured out sockpuppet management but not "persona management."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023358242
The Gentleman's Guide To Forum Spies (spooks, feds, etc.)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4159454
Seventeen techniques for truth suppression.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4249741
Just do some Googling on astroturfing - big organizations have some sophisticated tools.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1208351
Greenwald: Leaked Docs Reveal Agency's (GCHQ) Digital Propaganda Toolkit
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025241916[/div class="excerpt"]
el_bryanto
(11,804 posts)But then again I don't think posters who are pro-Hillary are necessarily sock puppets - while I find Hillary Clinton to be a middle of the road, pro-wall street candidate, I can see why others might be attracted to her.
Bryant
Maedhros
(10,007 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)But they "hate us for our freedom!" Yup.
johnnyreb
(915 posts)(....)
Truman heard about needless waste and profiteering from construction of Fort Leonard Wood in his home state of Missouri, and he determined to see for himself what was going on. He traveled in his personal Dodge car not only to Missouri but to various military installations from Florida through the Midwest; approximately 10,000 mi (16,000 km) of driving. Everywhere he went he saw hard-luck poverty among the working people contrasted with millions of government dollars going to military contractors.
(....)
Truman's record of stopping war profiteering in the 1940s was said to be "the most famous and the most successful" example, a model needed as a corrective measure to stem US military contractor improprieties in the War on Terror.[47] The problem was still not solved by 2007 when Senator Charles Schumer wrote, "The lesson of the Truman Committee is sorely in need of learning today".[42] He described how Republican Representatives blocked "for more than a year" a bipartisan proposal for an investigative committee to look into military "scandals and abuses" in Iraq.[42] When Senators Jim Webb of Virginia and Claire McCaskill of Missouri who held the same Senate seat as Truman did formed a Truman-type committee in January 2008, the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Bush said it was "a threat to national security."[42]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truman_Committee
song:
http://freechannel.org/BlowSmokeInYourEyes.mp3
bluesbassman
(19,310 posts)Unfortunately that line of thinking continues in varying degrees and application to this day.
ellenfl
(8,660 posts)former9thward
(31,802 posts)ellenfl
(8,660 posts)former9thward
(31,802 posts)The same as was done to Bush in similar circumstances. Politics does not necessarily conform to reality especially since the American public is not well educated on our system and politicians know that.