America Is Completely Broke, And Here We Are Funding Fantasy Wars at the Pentagon

[leftchick]

By Chalmers Johnson, Tomdispatch.com

Posted on February 3, 2009, Printed on February 3, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/story/124881/

Like much of the rest of the world, Americans know that the U.S. automotive industry is in the grips of what may be a fatal decline. Unless it receives emergency financing and undergoes significant reform, it is undoubtedly headed for the graveyard in which many American industries are already buried, including those that made televisions and other consumer electronics, many types of scientific and medical equipment, machine tools, textiles, and much earth-moving equipment -- and that's to name only the most obvious candidates. They all lost their competitiveness to newly emerging economies that were able to outpace them in innovative design, price, quality, service, and fuel economy, among other things.

A similar, if far less well known, crisis exists when it comes to the military-industrial complex. That crisis has its roots in the corrupt and deceitful practices that have long characterized the high command of the Armed Forces, civilian executives of the armaments industries, and Congressional opportunists and criminals looking for pork-barrel projects, defense installations for their districts, or even bribes for votes.

Given our economic crisis, the estimated trillion dollars we spend each year on the military and its weaponry is simply unsustainable. Even if present fiscal constraints no longer existed, we would still have misspent too much of our tax revenues on too few, overly expensive, overly complex weapons systems that leave us ill-prepared to defend the country in a real military emergency. We face a double crisis at the Pentagon: we can no longer afford the pretense of being the Earth's sole superpower, and we cannot afford to perpetuate a system in which the military-industrial complex makes its fortune off inferior, poorly designed weapons.

<snip>

It is hard to imagine any sector of the American economy more driven by ideology, delusion, and propaganda than the armed services. Many people believe that our military is the largest, best equipped, and most invincible among the world's armed forces. None of these things is true, but our military is, without a doubt, the most expensive to maintain. Each year, we Americans account for nearly half of all global military spending, an amount larger than the next 45 nations together spend on their militaries annually.

Equally striking, the military seems increasingly ill-adapted to the types of wars that Pentagon strategists agree the United States is most likely to fight in the future, and is, in fact, already fighting in Afghanistan -- insurgencies led by non-state actors. While the Department of Defense produces weaponry meant for such wars, it is also squandering staggering levels of defense appropriations on aircraft, ships, and futuristic weapons systems that fascinate generals and admirals, and are beloved by military contractors mainly because their complexity runs up their cost to astronomical levels.

[ixion]

1. not to mention fantasy 'wars' on pot smokers, et. al.

all these so-called 'wars' of fantasy should be revoked, IMO.

[G_j]

2. unsustainable!

of course it is!

but who cares besides you and I, Chalmers, and a few "purists"?

[Kolesar]

11. Congressman Barney Frank cares

to his credit, Def Secretary Gates cut the ridiculous F22 program down to 170 or so aircraft. They had planned to buy 700 or 800.

[seemslikeadream]

13. I do G_j

:hug:



They Thought They Were Free - Read by Dave Emory


The Germans, 1933-45

Excerpt from pages 166-73 of "They Thought They Were Free" First published in 1955

By Milton Mayer

But Then It Was Too Late

"What no one seemed to notice," said a colleague of mine, a philologist, "was the ever widening gap, after 1933, between the government and the people. Just think how very wide this gap was to begin with, here in Germany. And it became always wider. You know, it doesn’t make people close to their government to be told that this is a people’s government, a true democracy, or to be enrolled in civilian defense, or even to vote. All this has little, really nothing, to do with knowing one is governing.

"What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it.

....

"Yes," I said.

"You see," my colleague went on, "one doesn’t see exactly where or how to move. Believe me, this is true. Each act, each occasion, is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, THE SHOCK DOCTRINE will join with you in resisting somehow. You don’t want to act, or even talk, alone; you don’t want to ‘go out of your way to make trouble.’ Why not?—Well, you are not in the habit of doing it. And it is not just fear, fear of standing alone, that restrains you; it is also genuine uncertainty.

"Uncertainty is a very important factor, and, instead of decreasing as time goes on, it grows. Outside, in the streets, in the general community, ‘everyone’ is happy. One hears no protest, and certainly sees none. You know, in France or Italy there would be slogans against the government painted on walls and fences; in Germany, outside the great cities, perhaps, there is not even this. In the university community, in your own community, you speak privately to your colleagues, some of whom certainly feel as you do; but what do they say? They say, ‘It’s not so bad’ or ‘You’re seeing things’ or ‘You’re an alarmist.’



Michael Parenti - Terrorism, Globalism & Conspiracy

"Coincidence Theory: By sheer chance things just happen repeatedly and coincidentally to benefit their interests without any conscious connivance by them, which is most uncanny. There is also: Stupidity Theory, Innocence Theory, Momentary Aberration Theory, Incompetence Theory, Unintended Consequences Theory and Innocent Cultural Proclivities Theory."

- Michael Parenti

[whistle]

3. BushCo added $8.5 trillion in new debt, dismantled 80% of America's

...production economy, allowed our infrastructure to deteriorate and shipped skilled jobs overseas while allowing America's labor force to stagnate and loose vital training and skills

[Tuesday Afternoon]

4. 5th K&R ....off to the greatest with you ...!!

:patriot:

[Mari333]

5. I have always known

that until the United States changes its vision from being a militaristic chest thumping bully to a peaceful nation, it will continue to destroy itself. we are seeing that now.
let the empire fall, if this is the only way it will.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. Hey! I just posted the same article from a different source! K&R

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4969664

Great minds, and all that.

:toast: :hi:

[leftchick]

7. lol!

Chalmers Johnson is a true American treasure.

:hi:

[Moostache]

8. Bring the boys back home!

Shut down Empire USA.

Retask the military to the following missions:
1) secure the nation's borders
2) secure the nation's ports
3) secure the nation's infrastructure by rebuilding it for a new century
4) secure the nation's energy supply by developing renewable and domestic sources
5) secure the nation's cities and coasts by fixing levees and eco-systems

There is no reason on Earth for us to continue spending so much every year on the offensive capabilities and empire-maintaining missions of the Armed Forces. Their primary mission, their raison d'etre so to speak, is to PROTECT AND DEFEND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The problems we face are big enough that we need to put our best minds on them - currently many of those minds are still co-opted by the military for weapons development.

I envision a new way, a new future, one where the highest paying and most prestigious jobs would be those that contribute the most to the betterment and sustainability of society and the future of mankind. I see a world where those who currently benefit disproportionately relative to their true value to the species (entertainers, bankers, business owners, corporate hacks and paid-off politicians) are laid low and compensated not based on how many favors they can call in or how many people they can exploit or how many viewers they can attract, but rather on their actual benefits to the species.

Its a daydream to be sure...but its a far better world, with infinitely more possibilities than the current shit-storm we face now...

[azul]

9. funding fantasy wars with a fantastic democracy

Read Chalmers Johnson's Nemesis for the real NIE on empire building's bankruptcy.

[bertman]

10. Thanks for reminding me about that, azul.

[windoe]

12. Wish....

Americans would somehow refuse to pay taxes, or use alternative currency, in order to remove ourselves from this destructive equation--until assurances are made that we are being truly represented. But we continue to play this crooked game.

We are losing our homes, our jobs and quality of life sucks- the only way to starve the machine is to stop feeding it. Somehow I do not think President Obama can stop the MIC as long as Americans are silent and complacent. We have to make ourselves heard and (peacefully) felt in a massive way to stop this violent agenda.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

14. Everyone needs a hobby.

An $8.5 trillion hobby. :banghead: