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Nobody assimilates so much diverse information and finds the common thread better than Mark Steyn. And nobody writes with such wit and style.
Here is my two-cents' worth of insight into why the U.S. hasn't won a war in two-thirds of a century:
There is a link between the advent of central bank-produced fiat money and war. Prior to 1913 the U.S. did not fight a foreign war, with the exception of the brief Spanish-American War, which Professor Ralph Raico has shown to be a trumped up affair with the U.S. taking over a tottering Old World power's colonial empire. With almost unlimited access to the nation's resources through its power to monetize the debt via the Fed, the federal government does not have to go to the people or the peoples' representatives to get the money to wage war. This has two serious problems. One, we fight at the drop of a hat anymore and, two, we do not fight to win...which would mean a shorter, cheaper war. So, to answer Mark Steyn's question about why we fight so badly, we do not have to win or even have a strategy to win, because the funding will continue as long as we do not lose. As for the U.S. spending 43 percent of the world's military budget, I believe this reflects the enormity of the waste and corruption at the federal level. It is similar to claiming that we are serious about the war on poverty, because we throw so much money down the welfare rat hole. Everyone knows that the war on poverty is a failure, yet the funding continues. Take the Air Force's "new" F-35. It has been under development by Lockheed for years, yet its projected operational date is still six or seven year away...and I'll bet dollars (for what they are worth) to doughnuts that that date will be extended. So procuring much needed new military hardware has become a very well-paying welfare assignment for top federal officials, top Air Force officers, and, of course, military contractors like Lockheed. All know that the funding will continue, despite their failure to produce. The Fed sees to that. So, they don't produce. The private sector would have fired everyone long ago and found a different way to procure military resources.Patrick Barron
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Very insightful and all too true. The Behemoth Military Industrial Complex has been wagging the tail far too long. In the memorable but forgotten words of soon to be retired President Dwight David Eisenhower, "we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." With unlimited funding, the wars have gone on and on. Time to tame the beast and gut the Feds.
ReplyDeleteThe umbrella term for all the unwarranted influence of business in the affairs of government (and the other way around) should be crony capitalism.
ReplyDeleteThe military contractors, the vaccine (drug) companies, insurance companies’ et al, all force the taxpayer to buy and use their products, whether they want them or not
Edmondo Donato