We can clearly hear the drums beating from across the Atlantic. A new adventure was already expected with the change of administration.
It's worth noting Trump was the first US President to not start a war in half a century.
War Is a Racket (1933)
61–70 of 235 posts
Re: War Is a Racket (1933)
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
This guy is amazing and it really speaks of the troubles of war. >The flag follows the dollar, the soldiers follow the flag. I find this "business plot"[0] to be fascinating as well. >Retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler asserted that wealthy businessmen were plotting to create a fascist veterans' organization with Butler as its leader and use it in a coup d'état to overthrow Roosevelt. >Early in the com…
Capitalists tend to dislike Democracy. In a Democracy, groups of people tax the Capitalists to pay for all sorts of frivolities like Health Care, Elder Care, poor folk care, and crazy useless stuff like Libraries, parks (aka future mining locations), policing, and community-sponsored housing. It's so much easier for the Capitalists if there is a fascist in charge, because then such nonsense as just mentioned is tampe…
The quality of the discourse on HN continues to hit new lows.
Re: War Is a Racket (1933)
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
You've completely glossed over the root of it here. The lie that Russia is going to invade Ukraine is the "Saddam has WMDs" Every time the US media talks about an imminent "Russian Invasion", or suggests that they are not the ones instigating the war, they are indirectly instigating war with Russia by lying.
Russia currently has troops on Ukrainian soil. They invaded 8 years ago, and the invasion has not ended.
The current lie is that there is a threat of a new invasion. Not even Ukrainian leadership agrees with this, but it doesn't seem to affect planning in the United States.
"They invaded 8 years ago"
hm ok. Do you know what a US color revolution is?
https://www.wrongkindofgreen.org/2014/03/11/pierre-omidyar-c...
Re: War Is a Racket (1933)
#64I started paying attention to this when I lived close to DC around 2002. Bush was cutting the top tax brackets while ramping up for the Iraq invasion, the defense contractors made record profits (I remember one CEO making around 30 million) and the DC metro was plastered with ads touting the patriotism of the defense contractors. I thought "these guys are making record money, are getting their taxes reduced, try to l…
USA loves armed conflict so much it pays the EU to run their junior league fighters NATO. Just can't get enough of it.
Re: War Is a Racket (1933)
#65Re: War Is a Racket (1933)
#66I read this book (or a good chunk of it) awhile ago and something was off about it. I didn't believe he knew what he was talking about. I dont recall any counter examples in his book, or him claiming he had direct experience with businesses matters. Perhaps he conflated correlation and causation. Some businesses are going to profit from war because demand for certain items will spike. But to claim WW I was pushed by…
I have not read the book but what about the campaigns in China, the Philippines, and Latin America? I don't think it's controversial to say commercial interests were a significant (if not the main) driver in those cases.
Re: War Is a Racket (1933)
#67This talk from 1933 aged poorly. America's initial lack of intervention in WW2 resulted in Pearl Harbor and German conquest of most of Europe. Smedley Butler can stay forgotten as a footnote in the dusty annals of history.
Except that this description of war seems to paint every US military intervention post WWII extremely well. There's also no point in positing counter-factual scenarios regarding WWII. If you want to imagine a world where the US rushed in and "saved" Europe early and prevents Pearl Harbor, you also have to imagine a world where US domestic support for Germany ultimately wins out and we end up supporting them.
> Except that this description of war seems to paint every US military intervention post WWII extremely well.
Maybe except the intervention in Korea
Re: War Is a Racket (1933)
#68War is a racket. But to imply that the little guy does not profit is disingenuous. 330 million Americans profit from the fact the US dollar is a reserve currency. Countries and people park their money in dollars, and as the world economy grows, there's a need for more dollars, and the US Government obliges by running mind blowing deficits. In the old times, vassals would pay tribute, today, they simply buy US Treasur…
Having the dollar as the reserve currency resulted in at first the draining of American gold reserves, and now the draining of American manufacturing. So it hasn't been without a cost.
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Re: War Is a Racket (1933)
#69We can clearly hear the drums beating from across the Atlantic. A new adventure was already expected with the change of administration.
It's worth noting Trump was the first US President to not start a war in half a century.
He also launched more drone strikes than Obama, relaxed the rules of engagement and civilian oversight over the chain of command, and killed hundreds of civilians in airstrikes on Afghanistan and the first use of a MOAB in combat.
Re: War Is a Racket (1933)
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
This guy is amazing and it really speaks of the troubles of war. >The flag follows the dollar, the soldiers follow the flag. I find this "business plot"[0] to be fascinating as well. >Retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler asserted that wealthy businessmen were plotting to create a fascist veterans' organization with Butler as its leader and use it in a coup d'état to overthrow Roosevelt. >Early in the com…
Capitalists tend to dislike Democracy. In a Democracy, groups of people tax the Capitalists to pay for all sorts of frivolities like Health Care, Elder Care, poor folk care, and crazy useless stuff like Libraries, parks (aka future mining locations), policing, and community-sponsored housing. It's so much easier for the Capitalists if there is a fascist in charge, because then such nonsense as just mentioned is tampe…
Hi, I'm a Social Democrat. I want all of those things and a capitalist system. I don't think markets solve every problem, however. For example, I think universal healthcare is a good idea.