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QUESTION ON QUORA:
"The
cost of war is in the trillions. That type of money could have saved
hundreds of thousands of lives in the medical industry or literally
millions of lives in the developing world. Why is the US spending so
much money on fighting a war that has claimed so few US victims?"
OUR ANSWER:
Aside from the threat of another 911 and the fact that we
have lost over 4,000 young soldier’s lives, the real reason is there is money
in it for big business and the Military Industrial Complex. War is a racket. So is occupying under the
guise of democracy. People make big money at it and an entire Military
Industrial Complex thrives on it.
The details of exactly how this occurs were in a warning by President Eisenhower as he left office. His words were very prophetic:
The details of exactly how this occurs were in a warning by President Eisenhower as he left office. His words were very prophetic:
The Military Industrial Complex (MIC) consists of both the Pentagon and
the contractors that serve it, their lobbying firms and the
politicians who promote weapons systems, incursions and services to
the government for profit and gain.
The MIC has tremendous power, even though it is presently being tested by Sequestration. For further details and specific example of how the MIC has influenced our decision makers and contributed to the deaths of our finest youth, please see the following:
ABOUT THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
It is corrupt and driven by corporate influence:
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/11/halliburton200711
It is broken and riddled with incompetence:
It is broken and riddled with incompetence:
http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2008/04/us-federal-government-procurement.html
http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2007/01/what-american-public-must-know-about.html
A quote many years ago from Major-General Smedley D. Butler: Common Sense (November 1935)
" I spent thirty-three years and four months in active service as a member of our country's most agile military force---the Marine Corps. I have served in all commissioned ranks from a second lieutenant to major-general. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street, and for the bankers, In short I was a racketeer for capitalism
Thus, I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place to live for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in…. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American Sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras "right" for American fruit companies in 1903. In China in1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. During those years I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. I was rewarded honors, medals, promotion. Looking back on it, I feel I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was operate his racket in three city districts. We Marines operated on three continents. War Is A Racket"
The beat goes on today with the KBR's the Lockheed Martins and the other huge corporations supplying and supporting wars.
Every major aerospace company from IBM to Lockheed Martin and Boeing has totally stand-alone divisions that serve as cost centers and pursue monumental interests in the politics of government and the billions in service contracts that are outsourced there. This has gone on for years. I watched it for 3 decades on the inside of these companies.
These companies routinely spend more in lobbying expenses than they pay in income taxes each year.
http://www.ibtimes.com/30-major-us-corporations-paid-more-lobby-congress-income-taxes-2008-2010-380982
The interests of these firms is now changing slightly with Sequestration and many are making acquisitions and marketing services in the Health Care sectors or escalating their interests in civil aviation, education and other fields.
If it was too costly to do business with the government, 302,315 companies and some of the largest corporations in the world would not be involved in it. See the below link to contract awards and amounts in 2010 to large enterprises:
1. LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION
- $34,288,619,722The interests of these firms is now changing slightly with Sequestration and many are making acquisitions and marketing services in the Health Care sectors or escalating their interests in civil aviation, education and other fields.
If it was too costly to do business with the government, 302,315 companies and some of the largest corporations in the world would not be involved in it. See the below link to contract awards and amounts in 2010 to large enterprises:
2. THE BOEING COMPANY 19,358,512,809
3. NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORPORATION 15,472,742,729
4. GENERAL DYNAMICS CORPORATION 14,903,216,900
5. RAYTHEON COMPANY 14,880,453,061
6. L-3 COMMUNICATIONS HOLDINGS, INC. 7,629,644,919
7. UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION 7,330,023,190
8. OSHKOSH CORPORATION 7,197,520,183
9. SAIC, INC. 6,595,330,339
10. BAE SYSTEMS PLC 6,587,705,335
1 comment:
The fomenting of wars, though extremely profitable to the merchants of war, depletes the economies of those participating and makes them more susceptible to predation. That said, so much of the U.S. economy is built on warfare technology, and, given the unstable nature of war, this seems like the worst possible foundation, especially for a vision and a future.
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