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Military Industrial Complex

Military Industrial Complex Strikes Again: War Spending Will Bankrupt America

February 19, 2018 John W. Whitehead, Informationclearinghouse.info , ,
“Why throw money at defense when everything is falling down around us? Do we need to spend more money on our military (about $600 billion this year) than the next seven countries combined? Do we need 1.4 million active military personnel and 850,000 reserves when the enemy at the moment — ISIS — numbers in the low tens of thousands? If so, it seems there's something radically wrong with our strategy. Should 55% of the federal government's discretionary spending go to the military and only 3% to transportation when the toll in American lives is far greater from failing infrastructure than from terrorism? Does California need nearly as many active military bases (31, according to militarybases.com) as it has UC and state university campuses (33)?

Washington Post: US Military-Industrial Complex’s Chief Propagandist

January 12, 2018 Eric Zuesse, Strategic-culture.org , ,
It used to be that the New York Times and the Washington Post competed against each other to be the chief propagandist for the hundred or so top firms who sell to the US federal government — the 100 top “federal contractors,” almost all of which are Pentagon contractors — mainly these are weapons-manufacturing firms, such as the biggest, Lockheed Martin. The federal government is a large part of these firms’ essential market; so, invasions by the US against other countries require lots of their goods and services; and, also, America’s foreign allies additionally buy these weapons; and, right now, US President Trump is demanding that they increase their ‘defense’ budgets to buy more of them. Wars produce corporate profits if (like in the United States) the military suppliers are private corporations instead of government-owned (socialized).

3 Big Ways The Military Industrial Complex Is Ruining Our Country

September 27, 2017 Ria Modak, www.alternet.org , ,
By Ria Modak for AlterNet - Financially, taxpayers are getting screwed by every angle of the military industiral complex. The U.S. defense budget constitutes hundreds of billions of dollars. More than half of federal discretionary funding goes to the military industrial complex, which encompasses more than 1,200 government organizations and almost 2,000 private corporations working on counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence. The roles of government bureaucrat and military personnel have become nearly indistinguishable; 70 percent of retired three- and four-star generals were employed by defense contractors after their time at the Pentagon. In 2015, nearly 80 percent of Lockheed Martin’s $46.1 billion profit came from the federal government, which has cumulatively given $400 billion to defense corporations that have been sanctioned for fraud. The U.S. government’s decision to subsidize the mergers of major defense corporations in the 1990s put thousands of dollars into the pockets of defense firm executives while millions of workers lost their jobs. Senator Bernie Sanders aptly named the process “payoffs for layoffs.” These extreme examples of corporate greed and opportunism have had ramifications at home and abroad.

Newsletter: The Immense Power We Must Confront

January 14, 2017 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.PopularResistance.org , , , , , ,
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. Fifty-six years ago on January 17, 1961 President Eisenhower warned "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." JFK with Jackie Kennedy and Governor Connolly just before he was assassinatedThis was followed by the assassination of JFK, which now has been exposed as involving members of the military and intelligence agencies; the massive Vietnam War, constant regime change operations, the growth of the US military and intelligence budgets and never-ending wars since 9/11. The military and intelligence agencies have grown tremendously.

Trump Dossier Should Be Treated Skeptically But Taken Seriously

January 14, 2017 Jim Naureckas, www.fair.org , , , , ,
By Jim Naureckas for FAIR. But as the document circulated behind the scenes, a funny thing happened: People in governmental positions seemed to be taking it seriously. Senators Harry Reid (D.–Nevada) and John McCain (R.–Ariz.) both pushed the FBI to investigate the report’s charges of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence—Reid before Trump’s election, McCain afterwards. In October 2016, the FBI obtained a warrant from the secret FISA court authorizing an investigation into charges contained in the report. And in January 2017, Trump, President Obama and congressional leaders were given a summary of the report’s charges, which Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said was done in order to “ensure that policymakers are provided with the fullest possible picture of any matters that might affect national security.”

Protests, Arrests Outside Christening Of Destroyer

June 19, 2016 Beth Brogan, www.bangordailynews.com , ,
By Beth Brogan for Bangor Daily News. BATH, Maine — A group of 12 protesters, several of them members of the organization Veterans for Peace, were arrested Saturday morning outside Bath Iron Works as thousands gathered in the shipyard for the christening of the future USS Michael Monsoor. The protesters blocked traffic on Washington Street, outside the shipyard’s south gate near the intersection of Spring Street, shortly before 9:30 a.m., while people stood in line to enter the event and the future crew of the destroyer marched into the yard, according to protester Bruce Gagnon of Bath. “We just shut the whole street down,” Gagnon, 63, told the Bangor Daily News. “Our goal was to interrupt the celebration of endless war and corporate profit.

Permanent War State: Money Raining Down On US Military Complex

December 22, 2015 Binoy Kampmark, www.globalresearch.ca ,
By Binoy Kampmark for Global Research - The funding to continue the war against ISIL is an authorization of force against ISIL, albeit a quiet one, designed not to attract public attention. Jack Goldsmith, Lawfare, Dec 17, 2015. Money is raining down on the US military complex in the $1.15 trillion spending bill that was unveiled on Wednesday by various leaders of Congress.[1] Of that portion, a good $572.7 billion is set aside for Pentagon expenditure. (These figures tend to be deceptive in themselves, given the notoriously unreliable accuracy of defence accounting.)

New Mexico Thrives On Nuclear Bomb, Despite Pledge

August 9, 2015 Len Ackland and Burt Hubbard, www.revealnews.org , , ,
By Len Ackland and Burt Hubbard in Reveal News. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Standing next to a 12-foot nuclear bomb that looks more like a trim missile than a weapon of mass destruction, engineer Phil Hoover exudes pride. “I feel a real sense of accomplishment,” he said. But as Hoover knows, looks can be deceiving. He and fellow engineers at Sandia National Laboratories have spent the past few years designing, building and testing the top-secret electronic and mechanical innards of the sophisticated B61-12. Later, when nuclear explosives are added at the federal Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, the bomb will have a maximum explosive force equivalent to 50,000 tons of TNT – more than three times more powerful than the U.S. atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, 70 years ago this August that killed more than 130,000 people.

Weapon Makers Create Pressure Group For 2016 Election

May 12, 2015 Lee Fang, www.firstlook.org , ,
Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers has formed a new pressure group, now active in Iowa and New Hampshire, to serve as the “premiere national security and foreign policy organization during the 2016 debate” and to “help elect a president who supports American engagement and a strong foreign policy.” Roger’s group, Americans for Peace, Prosperity, and Security, is hosting candidate events and intends to host a candidate forum later this year. Rogers told local media that his new group, which plans to be operational in South Carolina soon, will be closely engaged with the candidates, not only through public events, but also throughprivate meetings with the APPS advisory board members. Just before kicking off her presidential campaign, GOP candidate Carly Fiorina appeared at an APPS forum in New Hampshire. In April, APPS-NH chairman Havenstein personally sponsored the First in the Nation kick-off event for the New Hampshire Republican Party.
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