Jan 07 2009
Billions for Guns But What about BUTTER?
I must express my disgust at how the entire World’s economy seems to have gone down the toilet due to the cost of WARS around the globe!
We note that Bill Clinton left office with over $120 Billion surplus, and today the USA faces a $1 Trillion deficit–this year! President-elect Obama stated yesterday that he thinks the USA must endure several years of $Trillion dollar deficits–due to federal bailouts, economic stimulus packages, tax cuts, and shrinking revenues. But what has really destroyed the U.S. economy–and that of the rest of the World–are the costs of WAR.
Wars in the former USSR states, the horn of Africa, and the Gaza strip affect ALL NATIONS! The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are draining the United States treasury at such a rate that ordinary middle class taxpayers can not even comprehend the amount of money involved. Staggering. We can’t continue this. It reads like a plot in a spy novel: Third world dictators and terrorist organizations undermine the economic well-being of the United States and Europe in order to further disrupt the civilized world so they can take over.
While our kids and small-minded adults of all ages fiddle with cell phones and gps devices, the serious enemies of our entire World structure are busy plotting how to destroy us. They also use cell phones and gps devices–but to much more devastating effect.
While Food Banks are hard-pressed to provide for all the needy in the United States, and the United Nations struggles with food for peace programs and health programs around the world, the USA, Europe, Russia, and Israel spend Billions on bullets and bombs and warships and soldiers.
I don’t know what the solution is, but part of it has to be for the civilized nations of the World to come to terms with each other–for our mutual benefit. Dragging down the USA and Europe would destroy all of civilization. We can’t start the World all over again. It doesn’t work that way any more.
The Arab nations must get past the ancient insults and colonialism and “jew” preoccupations and develop their societies within the structure of muslim-acceptable economic systems that will generate JOBs and FUTURES for all the young men of those countries who have NO JOBs, NO EDUCATIONS, NO FUTURES, NO WIVES AND FAMILIES, AND NO HOPES FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE–SO THEY JOIN UP WITH TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS THAT OFFER THEM SOME SENSE OF PRIDE AND PURPOSE–ALBEIT INSANE TO MOST OF US.
We need to extricate foreign armies from what amounts to inter-tribal rivalry and nation-state building in both Afghanistan and Iraq. They have to do it themselves.
The only people who benefit from all these wars are the arms manufacturers and their lobbyists and agents. Unfortunately, these are the people who roam the streets and hallways of Washington D.C.
One way to dramatically reduce the cost of wars to a country would be put a special tax on these arms. When the going was good for the oil companies, governments all over the world, including Tony Blair’s United Kingdom, decided to slap oil companies with a “windfall tax”. The same needs to be done with arms manufacturers, but in a punitive manner: 45% of sales should do it.
Here in Africa, including Zimbabwe where I write from, we have seen wars where western arms companies supply BOTH SIDES in a war with guns, shells, mortars and all the rest of it. They should pay over and above the normal tax rates when that income hits their fat US bank accounts.
I agree that the world is preoccupied with trivialities while our civilisation slides back, but I disagree that if the US folds today (God forbid), then we are all done for.
When Rome collapsed yes the world fell into the dark ages when progress all but stopped, but it is different now. Progress is now globalised. The world is now so integrated it is impossible for us to fall back into the Dark Ages.
I enjoy this blog, please keep it up!
The amount the world spends on military hardware would solve almost every problem under the sun if only the funds were diverted - such as food, the ecology, medical advancement - but then again that would wipe out a lot of greedy corporate competition which would make me a Marxist troublemaker. The whole economy is based on debt - it always was - Zeitgeist Addendum is a real eye-opener if you haven’t seen it…
One need not look too far to see who benefits from these wars. The US thrives on conflicts and they are the ones who wouldn’t want to see wars go away. The ones who are left to suffer are the clueless Americans who have time and again been “scared” by the propagandists in Washington.
What a Brilliant Post. you need to cc PE Obama and the entire UN.
Here Here !
Good thoughts and great blog! I hope Obama’s dream team can bring some hope to this economy. entersweepstakes.today.com