Military Industrial Complex - Current "defense" budget is largest in US History...

Discussion in 'Politics' started by Limecat, Aug 21, 2011.

  1. #1 Limecat, Aug 21, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 22, 2011
    Military Industrial Complex - Current "defense/offense" budget largest in US history...

    It's always about the $$$$$$$$$$...stop believing the lies, propaganda, and fear mongering! :smoke:

    Feel free to add anything.

    Military Industrial Complex, Military Industrial Complex

    Military–industrial complex (MIC) is a concept commonly used to refer to policy and monetary relationships between legislators, nationalarmed forces, and the industrial sector that supports them. These relationships include political contributions, political approval for defense spending, lobbying to support bureaucracies, and beneficial legislation and oversight of the industry. It is a type of iron triangle.

    The term is most often played in reference to the military of the United States, where it gained popularity after its use in the farewell address of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, though the term is applicable to any country with a similarly developed infrastructure.

    The term is sometimes used more broadly to include the entire network of contracts and flows of money and resources among individuals as well as institutions of the defense contractors, The Pentagon, and the Congress and executive branch. This sector is intrinsically prone toprincipal-agent problem, moral hazard, and rent seeking. Cases of political corruption have also surfaced with regularity.

    A similar thesis was originally expressed by Daniel Guérin, in his 1936 book Fascism and Big Business, about the fascist government support to heavy industry. It can be defined as, "an informal and changing coalition of groups with vested psychological, moral, and material interests in the continuous development and maintenance of high levels of weaponry, in preservation of colonial markets and in military-strategic conceptions of internal affairs."

    History -

    Technology has long been a part of warfare. Neolithic tools were used as weapons prior to recorded history. The bronze age and iron age saw the rise of complex industries in the manufacturing of weaponry. However, these industries also had practical peacetime applications. For example, industries making swords in times of war could make plowshares in times of peace. It was not until the late 19th to early 20th century that military weaponry became so complex as to require a large subset of industry dedicated solely to its procurement.Firearms, artillery, steamships, and later aircraft and nuclear weapons were markedly different from their ancient predecessors.

    These newer, more complex weapons required highly specialized labor, knowledge and machinery to produce. The time and supporting industry necessary to construct weapon systems of increasing complexity and massive integration, made it no longer feasible to create assets only in times of war. Instead, nations dedicated portions of their economies for the full time production of war assets. The increasing reliance of military on industry gave rise to a stable partnership-the military–industrial complex.

    The first modern MICs arose in Britain, France and Germany in the 1880s and 1890s as part of the increasing need to defend their respective empires both on the ground and at sea. The naval rivalry between Britain, Germany, and France, and their revenge sentiment against the German Empire that followed the Franco-Prussian war, was significant in the inception, growth and development of these MICs. Arguably, the existence of these three nations' respective MICs may have only fueled their military tensions. Similar MICs soon followed in other nations, including Japan and the United States.

    Admiral Jackie Fisher was influential in the shift toward faster integration of technology into military usage, resulting in strengthening relationships between the military, and innovative private companies. Noteworthy industrialists involved in the expanding arms industry of the time included Alfred Krupp, Samuel Colt, William G. Armstrong, Alfred Nobel, and Joseph Whitworth.

    The term, military–industrial complex, is often used in reference of the United States, where it came into the public's general lexicon, following its introduction by President Dwight Eisenhower in his "Farewell Address". This may be attributed to the relative dollar expenditure of the United States as compared to other nations. Currently, the annual military expenditure of the United States accounts for about 47% of the world's total arms expenditures. In contrast, prior to World War I, the U.S. maintained a relatively small peacetime military as compared to other nations. In times of war it relied on militia or, in later years, reserves.

    Following World War I, the United States never completely demobilized. Standing forces were maintained to an even greater extent in the years that followed. World War II was influential in the change of the United States' previous historical pattern of a small peacetime military. During the Second World War, the United States underwent total mobilization of all available national resources to fight and win, alongside its allies, a total war against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. This mobilization of resources exceeded the combined history of all conflicts the nation had previously encountered. By the war's end, East Asia was gravely damaged, and Europe was devastated. The United States and the Soviet Union stood as the two remaining great powers.

    Still faced with a potential threat immediately following the Second World War, the U.S. never demobilized. The two remaining powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, grew suspicious and hostile toward one another in a period known as the Cold War. This 45-year period of low-intensity, unconventional conflict between the two superpowers, overshadowed by the constant threat of a potential nuclear conflict reinforced the need for constant procurement of military goods and services including large naval, air, and land forces. Thus birthed the military industrial complex in the United States.

    In 1977, following the Vietnam war, U.S. President Jimmy Carter began his presidency with what historian Michael Sherry has called "a determination to break from America's militarized past." However, increased defense spending in the era of President Ronald Reagan was seen by some to have brought the MIC back into prominence.

    President and 5-Star General Dwight D. Eisenhower warned of the MIC in his Farewell Address on January 17, 1961:

    A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction...

    This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence - economic, political, even spiritual - is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together.


    Monetary Impact - Permanent war economy, Permanent war economy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    The concept of permanent war economy originated in 1944 with an article by Ed Sard (alias Frank Demby), Walter S. Oakes and T.N. Vance, a Third Camp Socialist, who predicted a post-war arms race. He argued at the time that the USA would retain the character of a war economy; even in peacetime, US military expenditure would remain large, reducing the percentage of unemployed compared to the 1930s. He extended this analysis in 1950 and 1951.

    The CEO of General Electric and vice-chairman of the War Production Board, Charles Edward Wilson ("Electric Charlie," not to be confused with "Engine Charlie," Charles Erwin Wilsonof General Motors) had already argued for the continuation of large scale military spending in a speech at the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Dinner of the Army Ordnance Association on January 19, 1944. Although he did not use the term "Permanent War Economy" he did argue for an institutionalized war economy -ie. a semi-command economy to be directed bycorporation executives, based on military industry, and funded by government. Wilson argued for this system for purely military reasons. He did not make any argument for a "military Keynesianism". The term refers to the economic component within the military-industrial complex (MIC) (aka. "the Iron Triangle") whereby the collusion between militarism and war profiteering are manifest as a permanently subsidised industry. Wilson warned at the close of World War II that the US must not return to a civilian economy, but must keep to a "permanent war economy."

    Marxist Theory:

    The term has also been used to refer to a Marxist theory which seeks to explain the sustained economic growth which occurred in the decades following World War II, especially amongst developed countries. Marxists developed the theory when the anticipated stagnation of capitalism which had previously followed World War I did not recur. When post-WWII economic growth came to an end with the 1973 oil crisis and gave way to a new period of deepening stagnation, Marxists viewed this as a typical development of late capitalism.

    The theory of the permanent arms economy (as it is called in order to be distinguished from other not necessarily Marxist war economic theories) commences with a difference between the period after the First and the period after the Second World War. Whereas after the First World War state expenditures for arms were soon cut back to peace levels, after the Second World War state expenditures on arms remained very high due to the developing Cold War and the arms race. These continuing strong expenditures on arms are according to the theory of the permanent arms economy the reason for the long boom up to the early 70s. Military spending was around 16% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the 50s in the USA after 38% in1944 during World War II. This spending rate has been in a slow decline since then and finally in the mid-90s it was only at about 2%. During the Vietnam War in 1968 it was 9% and in2003 it was 4%. This strong decline in military spending during the 60s and 70s meant the end of the permanent arms economy and the return of capitalist crisis.

    The different versions of the theory differ in the way to explain the exact mechanism how armaments expenditures did stabilise the capitalist economy. A more “Keynesian” version is to be distinguished from an approach, which is based on the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall.

    Permanent War, Perpetual war - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Perpetual war refers to a lasting state of war with no clear ending conditions. It also describes a situation of ongoing tension that seems likely to escalate at any moment, similar to theCold War.

    In recent history:

    The Cold War, lasting almost 50 years, is an example of such a war, although largely fought by the major powers through a large number of small proxy wars, where the major powers provided aid to various local factions engaged in so-called "wars of national liberation". When the major powers became directly involved, as the U.S. in the war in Vietnam, or the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, the results were generally a disaster for the major power. Another example of protracted conflict were the Indochina Wars, wherein rebel Vietnamese forces fought from 1941 until 1979 against a variety of external foes (including Japan, France, the United States, Cambodia, and China), as well against other establishment Vietnamese factions. The Cold War officially continues on the Korean peninsula where North and South signed an armistice in 1953 after three years of active war.

    In Current Events:

    British journalist Robert Fisk is among the critics of Western policies in the Middle East and argues that recent Western conflicts against the Middle East after the end of the Cold War have been part of a new perpetual war. He suggests that Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush launched attacks on Iraq, Sudan, and Afghanistan to distract the population from his domestic political problems and claims that despite victorious claims after the first Gulf War that Saddam Hussein had been "defanged," he was again the target of Western attacks through 2001 (and of course beyond).

    Similarly, Ted Koppel described the War on Terror as "Our Children's Children's War." In any case, after nine and a half years, it is the longest war America has ever fought, and up to the present day.

    Critics have used the term "perpetual war" in reference to non-military "wars", such as the "War on Drugs", "War on Poverty", "War on Cancer", Lou Dobbs's "War on the Middle Class", or the "War on Terrorism" or Bill O'Reilly's "War on Christmas".

    War Is a Racket, War Is a Racket - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    War Is a Racket is the title of two works, a speech and a booklet, by retired U.S. Marine Major General Smedley D. Butler. In them, Butler frankly discusses from his experience as a career military officer how business interests commercially benefit from warfare.

    After he retired from the Marine Corps, Gen. Butler made a nationwide tour in the early 1930s giving his speech "War is a Racket". The speech was so well received that he wrote a longer version as a small book with the same title that was published in 1935 by Round Table Press, Inc., of New York. The booklet was also condensed in Reader's Digest as a book supplement which helped popularize his message. In an introduction to the Reader's Digest version, Lowell Thomas, the "as told to" author of Butler's oral autobiographical adventures, praised Butler's "moral as well as physical courage".

    In War Is A Racket, Butler points to a variety of examples, mostly from World War I, where industrialists whose operations were subsidised by public funding were able to generate substantial profits essentially from mass human suffering.

    The work is divided into five chapters:
    \t1.\tWar is a racket
    \t2.\tWho makes the profits?
    \t3.\tWho pays the bills?
    \t4.\tHow to smash this racket!
    \t5.\tTo hell with war!

    It contains this key summary:

    "War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."

    In another often cited quote from the book Butler says:

    "I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped makeHonduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."

    The book is also interesting historically as Butler points out in 1935 that the US is engaging in military war games in the Pacific that are bound to provoke the Japanese.

    "The Japanese, a proud people, of course will be pleased beyond expression to see the United States fleet so close to Nippon's shores. Even as pleased as would be the residents of California were they to dimly discern through the morning mist, the Japanese fleet playing at war games off Los Angeles."

    Butler explains that the excuse for the buildup of the US fleet and the war games is fear that "the great fleet of this supposed enemy will strike suddenly and annihilate 125,000,000 people."

    In his 1987 biography of Butler, Maverick Marine, Hans Schmidt gave a brief review:

    "Butler's particular contribution was his recantation, denouncing war on moral grounds after having been a warrior hero and spending most of his life as a military insider. The theme remained vigorously patriotic and nationalistic, decrying imperialism as a disgrace rooted in the greed of a privileged few."

    Arms Industry, Arms industry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    The arms industry is a global industry and business which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology and equipment. It comprises government and commercial industry involved in research, development, production, and service of military material, equipment and facilities. Arms producing companies, also referred to as defense companies or military industry, produce arms mainly for the armed forces of states. Departments of government also operate in the arms industry, buying and selling weapons, munitions and other military items. Products include guns, ammunition, missiles, military aircraft,military vehicles, ships, electronic systems, and more. The arms industry also conducts significant research and development.

    It is estimated that yearly, over 1.5 trillion dollars are spent on military expenditures worldwide (2.7% of World GDP). Part of this goes to the procurement of military hardware and services from the military industry. The combined arms sales of the top 100 largest arms producing companies amounted to an estimated $315 billion in 2006. In 2004 over $30 billion were spent in the international arms trade (a figure that excludes domestic sales of arms). The arms trade has also been one of the sectors impacted by the credit crunch, with total deal value in the market halving from US$32.9bn to US$14.3bn in 2008. Many industrialized countries have a domestic arms industry to supply their own military forces. Some countries also have a substantial legal or illegal domestic trade in weapons for use by its citizens. An illegal trade in small arms is prevalent in many countries and regions affected by political instability.

    Contracts to supply a given country's military are awarded by the government, making arms contracts of substantial political importance. The link between politics and the arms trade can result in the development of what US President Dwight D. Eisenhower described as a military-industrial-congressional complex, where the armed forces, commerce, and politics become closely linked. The European defense procurement is more or less analogous to the U.S. military-industrial complex. Various corporations, some publicly held, others private, bid for these contracts, which are often worth many billions of dollars. Sometimes, such as the contract for the new Joint Strike Fighter, a competitive tendering process takes place, where the decision is made on the merits of the design submitted by the companies involved. Other times, no bidding or competition takes place.

    In the Cold War Era, arms exports were used by both the Soviet Union and the United States to influence their standings in other countries, particularly Third World Countries. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, global arms exports initially fell slightly, but have since 2003 grown again, and now come close to Cold War levels.

    World's largest defense budgets: USA

    List of countries by military expenditures - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    World's largest arms exporters: USA

    Arms industry: World's largest arms exporters - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics

    http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf

    America's Wars: U.S. Casualties and Veterans - Infoplease.com

    United States military casualties of war - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    US Troop Deaths since WWII:
    China, 1945-1947 - 13 dead, 43 wounded - 56 total dead or wounded
    Berlin Blockade, 1948-1949 - 31 dead
    Battle of Inchon, 1950 - 224 killed, 809 wounded - 1,033 total dead or wounded
    Korean War, 1950-1953 - 53,686 dead, 92,134 wounded - 128,650 total dead or wounded (4,759 "missing")
    U.S.S.R. Cold War, 1947-1991 - 32 dead, 12 wounded - 44 total dead or wounded
    China Cold War, 1950-1972 - 16 dead
    Vietnam War, 1955-1975 - 58,209 dead, 153,303 wounded - 211,454 total dead or wounded (2,489 "missing")
    1958 Lebanon crisis, 1958 - 6 dead, 1 wounded - 7 total dead or wounded
    Bay of Pigs Invasion, 1961 - 4 dead
    Dominican Republic, 1965-1966 - 13 dead, 200 wounded - 213 total dead or wounded
    Iran, 1980 - 8 dead, 4 wounded - 12 total dead or wounded
    El Salvador Civil War, 1980-1992 - 37 dead, 35 wounded - 72 total dead or wounded
    Beirut deployment, 1982-1984 - 266 dead, 169 wounded - 435 total dead or wounded
    Invasion of Grenada, 1983 - 19 dead, 119 wounded - 138 total dead or wounded
    1986 Bombing of Libya, 1986 - 2 dead
    Persian Gulf escorts, 1987-1988 - 39 dead, 31 wounded - 70 total dead or wounded
    Invasion of Panama, 1989 - 40 dead, 324 wounded - 364 total dead or wounded
    Gulf War, 1990-1991 - 258 dead, 849 wounded - 1,107 total dead or wounded
    Somalia, 1992-1993 - 43 dead, 153 wounded - 196 total dead or wounded
    Haiti, 1994-1995 - 4 dead, 3 wounded - 7 total dead or wounded
    Colombia, 1994-Present - 8 dead
    Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1995-2004 - 12 dead, 6 wounded - 18 total dead or wounded
    Kosovo, 1999-2006 - 20 dead, 2 wounded - 22 total dead or wounded
    War on Terror, 2001-Present - 6,100+ dead, 44,000+ wounded - 51,000+ total dead or wounded
    Breakdown of "war on terror" - Afghanistan, 2001-Present, 1,600+ deaths & Iraq, 2003-Present, 4,500+ deaths.

    Foreign Troop Deaths, Civilian Deaths/Collateral Damage-

    List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    From 1945 and up to 1987, about 76,000,000 people have been murdered in cold blood by one regime or another, around thirteen times the number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Most of this democide has been done for political reasons (reasons of state or power), but also much of it has been outright genocide (the killing of people by virtue of their ethnicity, race, religion, or nationality).

    War Deaths since 1945 Mapped | Creativeconflictwisdom's Blog

    An estimated 51 million people have been killed in wars between 1945 and 2000. Almost a third of these deaths were amongst the population of China. China, Vietnam, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan suffered the highest number of war deaths during this period.

    War Dead Since 1950

    U.S. Interventions - 1945 to the Present William Blum

    Iraq War Casualties: U.S. Military Deaths and Civilian Deaths in Iraq - NPR

    Iraq War, 2003 - Present, 30,000 - 900,000 dead - mostly civilian, 800,000 +

    At least 919,967 people have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq since the U.S. and coalition attacks, based on lowest credible estimates.

    Unknown News | Helen & Harry's cranky weblog of news and opinion | unknownnews@inbox.com

    Iraq and Afghanistan Casualty Statistics

    62,006 - the number killed in the 'war on terror' - World Politics, World - The Independent

    The War on Terror in numbers » OWNI.eu, News, Augmented

    War on Terrorism: General Apologizes for Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan

    Afghanistan, 2001 - Present,

    Civilian Victims of United States' Aerial Bombing of Afghanistan

    Civilian casualties caused by ISAF and US Forces in the War in Afghanistan (2001-Present)

    Afghanistan civilian casualties: year by year, month by month. Visualised data | News | guardian.co.uk

    Civilian deaths in Afghan war hit record high - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

    Afghan war civilian deaths highest yet in 2010: UN | World | DAWN.COM

    Companies who benefit -

    Companies and Firms of the Military Industrial Complex

    Category: Defense companies of the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Military Industrial Complex Contracts Leaderboard

    The Military-Industrial Complex Leaderboard Since 10/30/06

    A Running Leaderboard of the Top Grossing Names in the Business based on their currently running MilitaryIndustrialComplex.com Total.

    1.\tLockheed Martin Corporation\t$118,764,843,795
    2.\tBoeing Company, The\t$74,135,669,029
    3.\tNorthrop Grumman Corporation\t$61,426,842,474
    4.\tRaytheon Company, The\t$44,414,716,285
    5.\tGeneral Dynamics\t$36,639,497,039
    6.\tBAe Systems\t$29,764,849,462
    7.\tMcDonnell Douglas (a subsidiary of Boeing)\t$24,418,061,390
    8.\tScience Applications Intl Corporation\t$16,433,661,609
    9.\tOshkosh Corporation\t$17,163,038,667
    10.\tGeneral Electric Corporation\t$11,010,299,406
    11.\tAM General LLC\t$10,685,739,997
    12.\tL-3 Communications\t$9,768,566,450
    13.\tBooz Allen Hamilton, Incorporated\t$6,789,089,137
    14.\tHarris Corporation\t$5,528,759,594
    15.\tInternational Military & Government\t$4,504,607,503

    Spending -

    U.S. Military Spending, 1946–2009 - Infoplease.com

    Military budget of the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    U.S. Defense Spending and Budget: The Mismatch Between Spending and Resources | The Heritage Foundation

    History News Network | Because the Past is the Present, and the Future too.

    2011 Defense Spending Bill & Taxes – Largest in History - Truth is Treason

    Column: US Funds Military at Expense of Citizens

    US Military Spending Over the Years

    Videos:

    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY]Eisenhower warns us of the military industrial complex. - YouTube[/ame]


    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJTaw0GhY_s]The Military Industrial Complex in Five Minutes - YouTube[/ame]


    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLUoWhWsOWk]War, Ron Paul, and Conservatism - YouTube[/ame]
    War, Ron Paul, and Conservatism - YouTube

    Thomas E. Woods, Jr., is the New York Times bestselling author of 11 books.
    Woods holds a bachelor's degree in history from Harvard and his master's, M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Columbia University.


    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCt7AZdna1c]Michael Scheuer : US Foreign Policy fuels Terrorism - YouTube[/ame]


    Additional info:

    U.S. Military Personnel, Veterans Give Obama Lower Marks

    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4SrziRCqyE]YouTube - US military suicide rate exceeds combat fatalities[/ame]


    :(

    18 veterans commit suicide each day - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

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    War of aggression - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    How PR Sold the War in the Persian Gulf | Center for Media and Democracy


    [​IMG]

    Hill & Knowlton Propaganda...?


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    Seems like we are always the ones doing the most murdering and mostly for interests of corporations - military industrial complex.

    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM0uvgHKZe8]YouTube - Madeleine Albright - The deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children was worth it for Iraq's non existent WMD's[/ame]


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    President Obama announced his Council on Jobs and Competitiveness – a board to get Americans back to work and strengthen our economy that will be chaired by Jeff Immelt, the CEO and Chairman of General Electric. (GE is notorious for shipping jobs overseas, avoiding taxes, and is heavily involved in the military industrial complex)

    Announcing a New Council on Jobs and Competitiveness | The White House

    Military Aviation Systems | GE Aviation Systems

    July 2010 - GE Intelligent Platforms: The UAV Company > Embedded Insider > GE Intelligent Platforms

    General Electric makes most of the things that go boom overseas, including our infamous "UAVs".

    Colluding with big corporations and being a war monger far outweighs any perceived "good" Obama has done.

    "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."​

    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPVfa9c8O1s]YouTube - Ron Paul Movement Hour #2 part 6[/ame]


    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bybOdn5-yD0]Fund War, Cut Social Security & Medicare - Senator - YouTube[/ame]


    “Naturally the common people don't want war. But after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and for exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.” - Hermann Goering, Hitler's Reich Marshall, at the Nuremberg Trials after World War II.

    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10d56dzPax0]John Stossel - Scare Tactics - YouTube[/ame]
     
    • Like Like x 3
  2. GE paid no taxes and is one of the biggest players in the wartime industrial complex. Makes me sick that we have a nation thats turned into this. This is what happens when you go to far centralizing authority. War goes from being a last resort to the only resort.

    Hell of a post, as usual, Mr. Felime. :bongin:
     

  3. Yep. I concur.

    Thanks, a lot of it I've posted before but never in one thread. Most of the links/text is information I had in a TextEdit file from a couple months ago that I never got around to posting...figured now is as good of time as any. :smoke:
     
  4. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi7-Haa0erg]When False Flags don't Fly anymore PEOPLE ARE LEARNING THE TRUTH - YouTube[/ame]
     
  5. the video is ok, but what is YOUR opinion on the subject, the accusations contained in it?

    Me, I think many of the items he tossed out there are valid, but not all

    Yes, IMHO, the IMC (Industrial Military Complex) has operatives causing havoc...are people learning about the instances...I doubt it..most are too busy grazing like good sheeple.

    There is a thread on how the IMC or other such scum counter (obscure) attempts to gain intel on real important issues and related news items;
    http://forum.grasscity.com/politics...tion-misdirection-control-internet-forum.html

    worth a read, at least of the original post...
     
  6. Are you aware that IMC is just a different phrase for Illuminati? Just want to make sure because I'm not sure if people understand that.
     
  7. I'm sure some haven't even heard of the Illuminati...or the IMC (a nation of sheeple ya know)

    conspiracy boogeyman by any name, still suck the life blood from the people...and there are a LOT of names for them. :D

    IMC is something tangible to me, the other 'name' is used all the time, even in comic books for superhero elitist groups (check out the version of such in Marvel comics, they tried to banish the Hulk from earth...they failed but they tried)
     
  8. Well, I've said it before, and I'll say it again; the game is rigged.
    We can cut out a huge chunk of the defense budget by getting tough on various common practices.
    There are laws on the books that prevent government contractors for being required to guarantee their work. Think about it; in most states that I know of, unless I am very mistaken (and if I am correct me), if a contractor does a truly shitty job you can take his ass to court and make them make good on the work.
    The military cannot do this to contractors. The example I use the most is one i saw personally. While my ship was in the yards for refit, a large contractor won the contract to weld the plates on the flight deck. This is kinda important, since aircraft are kinda big and heavy, and the stress of them slamming into the deck and catching the wire is enormous. The the welds fail then people will die. Not may die, will die.
    they got the contract in the usual way, by lowballing the estimate.

    The company only went ~20% over budget--on a contract for several million dollars. When QA testing was complete, every single weld the company performed failed testing. The contractor was "fired" and the contract was opened for bidding again. The contractor who had gone over budget and failed utterly--won the contract to fix it's own fuckup.
    So this time when they went in to do the job, the ship assigned ship's company Hull Techs (Navy guys who know how to weld) to nursemaid every job done by the company. They went 30% over budget this time.
    In the end, the contractor wound up getting paid twice for the same job, and cost our guys what little down time they may have had.

    Every day in the yards we would see contractors deliberately dither and drag their feet setting up a work area; they made sure it too longer so the job would go into overtime, since they got paid double time for overtime during the week.

    The moral of my story is that if we can get the laws changed to prevent bid overruns and enforce proper work completion instead of rewarding laziness and graft, we can cut about 10-20% off the military budget without any impact on the military capability.

    don't even get me started on why the military has to pay $20 for a goddamned hammer.
     
  9. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXsoakk3GRk&feature=player_embedded]The Great Dictator Speech (Charlie Chaplin) & Inception Soundtrack (Time) - YouTube[/ame]
     
  10. Whats that you say Lurk? Rigged?
    Why I never....
    [​IMG]

    Uploaded with ImageShack.us
     
  11. so according to msnbc nightly news, if the government in libya is setup swiftly and democracy is installed that.....we will have lower gas prices!







    -.-
     
  12. Excellent post MJ.

    Allow me to get fitted for a new tinfoil suit and top hat.
     
  13. ^ hahahaha
    I hear fluoridated water with some "enhanced" man made chemicals is way better.
     
  14. It's not the fluorine that bothers me, it the fact that some head shrinkers want to add lithium to the water supply.
    free mood altering medication every time you open the tap!
    Short Sharp Science: Lithium in drinking water has 'anti-suicide' effect
    The Dr. Coldwell Report: Lithium To Be Added To Our Water Supply?
    Lithium in the Water Supply - NYTimes.com

    first they start talking about it all cautious-like...

    and Re. the Carlin rant: why do you think they are so busy trying to marginalize the 2nd Amendment to just hunting, or shotguns for sporting? the same reason rifles are so hard to find in Europe:
    "The rifle is a weapon. Let there be no mistake about that. It is a tool of power, and thus dependent completely upon the moral stature of its user. It is equally useful in securing meat for the table, destroying group enemies on the battlefield, and resisting tyranny. In fact, it is the only means of resisting tyranny, since a citizenry armed with rifles simply cannot be tyrannized."
    "The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles."
    —Jeff Cooper, The Art of the Rifle

    That's why so many people are trying to limit the firearms we can hold, limit the caliber and magazine capacity. They know the real reason behind the 2nd Amendment.

    In the late 1700's the English army was not a state or local militia, but it was built around an older model and was defined at the time as a national militia. That can help explain:
    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YY5Rj4cQ50]The 2nd Amendment - YouTube[/ame]
    you can see them go through the whole bit at [ame=http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ec7_1251312990]LiveLeak.com - Penn And Teller: Gun Control - Full Episode[/ame]

    I also like how Ron Paul explains it:
    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbq--pFYcLw&feature=related]Ron Paul 2nd amendment - YouTube[/ame]

    When the game gets rigged to the point that we can't fix it, we still have one alternative. luckily, we can still fix the issue--we do not need to turn the table over yet.
     
  15. Afghanistan set to get huge supply of military gear - Checkpoint Washington - The Washington Post


    Cha ching baby! 22,000 vehicles.. give me a break
     
  16. So this is shit we are "giving" to Karzai/whatever Afghan Gov't looks like in 3 years?

    This is how military dictators get installed.

    In 20 years, we'll be going in there and overthrowing Karzai/whoever.

    Right. Wouldn't want someone to invade and occupy poor Afghanistan for 12 years or anything fucked up like that... oh wait... They did INVITE us, right???
     

  17. I've done a little research on this and I concur. Todays 'Illuminati' trace their origins up through the Greco-Roman mystery cults.

    It bothers me when people think that conspiracies are theories. You may think of their global enslavement plans as an agenda because that is what it is.

    This agenda is detailed in documents from the Council of Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg Group, the Club of Rome, the United Nations, the United Religions Initiative, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.

    They all have web sites and publish documents so there is no need to imagine anything.

    The United States has simply been used by these people as a military tool to further their global agenda.


    [​IMG]
    The world's top 7 largest military budgets in 2010. Figures sourced from SIPRI


    [​IMG]

    Trilaterals Over America
     
  18. tl;dr but from what i read (a good 5 paragraphs or so) this is what i am observing as well, i look foreward to readingt the rest when im not so tired. +rep
     
  19. its the borja all over again.
    im telling you its fucking templars and they want power over everyone
     

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