Financing fantasy wars....

[Bigmack]

Was reading this post "8% funding increase Dod"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4966016

I was cussing and shaking my head at a country that has no health care for millions, but has the most expensive military in the world....
and then found this little gem by Chalmers Johnson. (couple of clips from a long article...)

"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.
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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.
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Until we decide (or are forced) to dismantle our empire, sell off most of our 761 military bases (according to official statistics for fiscal year 2008) in other people's countries, and bring our military expenditures into line with those of the rest of the world, we are destined to go bankrupt in the name of national defense. As of this moment, we are well on our way, which is why the Obama administration will face such critical -- and difficult -- decisions when it comes to the Pentagon budget."


http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175029

[Chulanowa]

1. Our technology is 2009-level...

But the minds running the pentagon are still living in 1943. All the money we put into our military is basically just masturbation to the "glory days" of America "saving the world" in WW2. It's pathetic, misguided, and ineffective.

[wolfgangmo]

2. Military spending is what destroyed the Soviet Union.

And now that we haven't learned jack shit from that I wonder how long it will be until we go down unless we get defense spending under control.

The fact is that our military can't win wars. Battles, sure, but the wars are being lost. And given that defense accounts for about 50% of the fed budget, it is time that we start calling out the corporate welfare queens that the defense sector is.