U.S. Wasting Billions While Tripling No-Bid Contracts

Terrortruslen: Årtiets største svindelnummer.

Den amerikanske advokat og samfundsrevser Glenn Greenwald, forklarer i dagens blogindlæg hvorfor han mener, at den stærkt overdrevne terrortrussel er det største svindelnummer i det nye årtusinde, idet den bruges til at berige store multinationale selskaber i det militær-industrielle kompleks for befolkningens penge, altimens teltbyer opstår overalt i USA og nationen er håbløst forgældet.

"Exaggerating, manipulating and exploiting the Terrorist threat for profit and power has been the biggest scam of the decade; only Wall Street's ability to make the Government prop it up and profit from the crisis it created at the expense of everyone else can compete for that title. Nothing has altered the mindset of the American citizenry more than a decade's worth of fear-mongering So compelling is fear-based propaganda, so beholden are our government institutions to these private Security State factions, and so unaccountable is the power bestowed by these programs, that even a full decade after the only Terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, its growth continues more or less unabated."

Læs resten på Greenwalds blog.

War Lobby Won $700 Billion Budget Boost, Wants MORE as Collapse Looms

War Dollars Could Fill Deficit Gaps of All State Budgets.

In a commentary on Huffington Post yesterday William Hartung, the director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy, estimated that the amount of money spent on the war in Afghanistan could fill the deficit gaps of all state budgets:

"...Those genuinely concerned about war costs need to go where the money is -- Afghanistan. The Pentagon has asked for $113 billion to fight the war there for this year, roughly two and one-half times what has been requested to support the United States' dwindling commitment in Iraq. That gap will only increase as troop numbers in Iraq continue to fall. To put this in some perspective, the entire Gross Domestic Product of Afghanistan is about $29 billion per year, which means that annual U.S. expenditures on the war are nearly four times the value of the entire Afghan economy. That number would obviously change if the drug economy were taken into account, but it is stunning nonetheless.

The tax dollars being spent on Afghanistan are enough to offset the $100 billion per year that House Republicans are seeking to cut from next year's budget, or enough to fill the projected budget gaps of the 44 states that expect to run deficits in 2012. In other words, if the Afghan war ended and the funds allocated for it were returned to the states, no state in America would run a deficit next year. This would save millions of jobs of teachers, police, firefighters and other public employees while holding the line on basic services like Medicaid and income support for families in poverty. This would in turn be good for the economy as a whole. Military spending creates fewer jobs than virtually any other form of expenditure, from education to housing to transportation. So shifting funds away from war spending will result in a net increase in jobs nationwide...."

Source: William Hartung, America's Costliest War, Huffington Post April 5. 2011.

The Military-Industrial Complex Revisited

The Military-Industrial Complex from Eisenhower to Obama

USA: Over $1.2 billioner til national sikkerhed i 2012.

Det er næppe nogen stor hemmelighed at den amerikanske økonomi fortsat har svært ved at komme sig oven på finanskrisen, men selvom dette er velkendt er det svært at tyde udfra supermagtens økonomiske prioriteringer, idet tallene som udgør det enorme forventede nationale sikkerhedsbudget for 2012, alt i alt løber op i over $1.2 billioner (am. trillion). Christopher Hellman har en gennemgang af budgettet på Counterpunch.

Eisenhowers Advarsel mod Det Militær-Industrielle Kompleks.

"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."

Artikler om det militærindustrielle kompleks.

Military Industrial Complex 2.0: Cubicle Mercenaries, Subcontracting Warriors, and Other Phenomena of a Privatizing Pentagon.

Is The USA Addicted To War?

Economic Death Spiral at the Pentagon.

Left and Right Against the Military Industrial Complex

Washington Post: The Military-Media Complex

Boston Globe 2008: Propaganda at home

Chalmers Johnson: The Military-Industrial Complex. It's Much Later Than You Think

Pentagon Pundits: Media Facilitate Iraq Propaganda Effort