The War on Iraq threatens the US economy as mass murder ceases to be profitableFrom The Existentialist Cowboy
Seen yesterday on a swiss newspaper the following headline: "American Dream, Global Nightmare". It is fast becoming an American "cauchemar" as well. Albert Einstein wrote that the purpose of socialism is to overcome and advance beyond a "predatory phase of human development". In Bush we have reverted to it. Bone headed GOP "trickle down economics" and imperial oil theft abroad threatens an economic train wreck, indeed, democracy itself. A new study confirms that military spending is an economic albatross, a depressing drag on the economy, that will increase joblessness, deprive millions more of an education. Military spending and Pentagon waste soak up federal monies better spent on education, infrastructure, and job creation. Pentagon waste takes monies out of circulation and depresses the economy. Only a tiny part of the economy will benefit --the filthy rich already bought and paid for by Bush's unfair, inequitable tax cuts for what he called "his base". Wealth does not trickle down.
A militarized society is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Much is made of the fact that the military provides opportunities for high school dropouts, the disadvantaged who might not otherwise get an education or a job. The military, it is said, takes these poor folk off the streets. Indeed, it takes them off the street and puts them in the line of fire in wars of naked aggression where suicide rates speak to the issue of our immoral position in Iraq. Moreover, had not the military, by soaking up the lions share of all federal spending, more monies might have been budgeted for truly productive programs like education and training. What is to be said about a society that finds it necessary to send young people off to die in immoral wars in order to get them employed and off the streets?
SNIP
The Reagan/Bush Formula is simplistic and simple-minded: increase defense spending while cutting taxes for the rich. Reagan did not pioneer the formula. It had already been used to disastrous effect by the GOP cabal preceding the Great Depression. It did not work for Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover and it did not work for Ronald Reagan. Nor has it has worked for Bush. Does the GOP have an endemic learning problem that in some 100 years, they still don't get it? We would call a doctor an idiot if he told you just keep on doing whatever it is that's making you sick!
http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/2007/08/war-on-iraq-threatens-us-economy-as.html