Sicking “The Fuzz” on Terrorism
An empire is, fundamentally, in the business of providing protection. People in America applauded when the Soviet Union collapsed and China took the capitalist road...but it practically put them out of business. There was nothing to provide protection against.
The sensible thing for the United States to do, following the fall of its one and only major enemy, would have been to cut the defence budget down to a nub...and invest the money in infrastructure and capital improvements, so Americans would be able to compete on better terms with the rising economies of their former enemies. It was obvious that with billions of people entering the modern economy for the first time, the world was beginning a new, more competitive phase of development...and that without huge capital investment, labour rates for marginally skilled workers were doomed to fall.
But what kind of world would it be if people always behaved sensibly? Instead, it was party time in the U.S. of A. Americans went on a binge of spending, borrowing and soft-headed thinking. Colleges switched from teaching engineering to letting students emote on subjects such as gender and racial equality. The leading profit makers switched from manufacturing to finance...from making things to lending money...from Detroit to Wall Street. New regulations imposed higher operating costs...and more lawyers and more delays. And lobbyists got billions in special favours.
No lobbyists were as successful at squeezing the public tube as those who work for the defence industry. People come to believe what they must believe when they must believe it. The United States is an imperial power with one major leading industry: defence. But with no enemies capable of inflicting real damage to the country, the defence industry had to invent one: terrorism...and the people had to believe it.
Readers typically want to argue this point. "What about 9/11?" they ask.
Of course, terrorists always pose a danger to individuals. And if they are daring and determined enough, they pose a danger to many individuals. But they pose no real danger to the state...and none to the Pentagon. You could put all the world's terrorists together in a single army...they would still stand no chance whatsoever of defeating the United States of America.
Normally, it is the police who are charged with protecting citizens. The fuzz fight crime and criminals...even gangs of criminals. Terrorists in the U.S.A., as near as we can tell, are practically non-existent. They don't seem capable of breaking into a parking meter, let alone challenging the U.S. Army. There must be 10,000 paid cops for every one of them. Why bring the Pentagon onto the case?
As mentioned in these reckonings, the feds are adding to the official national debt at the rate of $1.5 billion per day. Still, neither Democrats nor Republicans dared challenge the Pentagon's latest $600 billion spendfest. No one wants to audit the Pentagon. No one wants to oppose it. The Pentagon is in a bubble of its own.
The average man is no genius. And half the population is even dumber. He responds to popular issues by instinct. He's not going to spend his leisure time thinking about how the military industry complex works. Instead, he's going to get behind the man in the crisp uniform. He'll support America's leading industry – until it ruins him.
Yes, dear reader...every empire is a kind of bubble in power...an extraordinary, temporary thing. And like every bubble, empires end in bankruptcy...disgrace...and the perp walk.
Bill Bonner
The Daily Reckoning Australia
P.S. to get The Daily Reckoning direct to your inbox sign up to our free e-mail newsletter or if you prefer to use RSS, subscribe to the Daily Reckoning RSS feed.
Related Articles:
- America’s Decline as a Great Empire
- Spending In Our ‘Defence’…
- In Defense of the Empire
- The Good War
- The US Empire: Home of the World’s Biggest Zombies
About the Author
Best-selling investment author Bill Bonner is the founder and president of Agora Publishing, one of the world's most successful consumer newsletter companies. Owner of both Fleet Street Publications and MoneyWeek magazine in the UK, he is also author of the free daily e-mail The Daily Reckoning.
Comment by Mireille on 23 June 2008:
So what about 9/11?
Comment by beyondtool on 24 June 2008:
Lookout he's thrown a grenade..
*Flamesuit on*
Well there's the popular "loose change" film. Not going into the gamut of conspiracy theories but it does amaze me that people even concieve the US government is capable of this. I mean look at Vietnam, and the arguably manufactured 1930 depression, they are capable of anything really. Not saying I'm a 911 nut..
Comment by beyondtool on 24 June 2008:
err.. I mean why can't people concieve the US is capable of this. *Comments need an edit button..
Comment by obs on 24 June 2008:
Well when your countries main export or industry is weapons, you need buyers or users. Im sure Colt, Armalite, Northrop Grumen, and the like will do quite well, especially when your tax system is set up so its cheaper to leave everything in the theatre of operations behind when you leave(Iraq), and buy new ones. Unfortunately you can only speculate on such things as nothing will be slipped on what may have been conceived.
Comment by Unpopular Truth on 24 June 2008:
So, got a name for all of us to focus on when you say "the evil industrial military complex"? A company? A political group? A mothers club committee?
Or do we just point to the evil volcano lair or something equally fantastical?
Comment by Coffee Addict on 24 June 2008:
US and Iranian interests actually have long term ALIGNMENT with regards to Afghanistan and Iraq. The so called War on Terror has twisted this to ensure there is no end in site. It was the Al-Qaeda plot all along to split and divide the region, to polarise opinions and facilitate regime change in countries like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Al-Qaeda has had some wins and losses on this front. America was simply their dupe and Bush willingly fell of it. The one consistent element here has been the stupidity of US foreign policy and corruption by Halliburton & other war profiteers.
Back to the Iran / Israel sabre rattling. My guess is it is just that. I could be wrong but the chances of failure in any raid on Iran's nuclear facilities would be high: 1) given the installation of 29 SA-15 Gauntlet anti-aircraft systems; 2) the need to use tactical nuclear bunker busters / and or consequtive raids to get through to the heavily reinforced facilities deep underground; 3) spread out nature of the facilities, many of which are in civilian population centres; 4)distance to target; 5) Iranian Airforce capabilities (eg. MIG 35, MIG 29) 6) Iranian Missile technology; 7) Likely overthrow of the Iraq administration by al-Sadr;
Hebollah reaction from Lebanon etc. etc.
In a nutshell the market has little to worry about - except for George Bush's ongoing desire to have a go at Iran of course.
Comment by Coffee Addict on 24 June 2008:
The face was not intended. The macro must have been triggered by the keystrokes.
Comment by tom on 24 June 2008:
Even $600 billion will not be near as enough to fume out all the rats from the nooks and crannies of the Pentagon.
In addition, even if the State is financially mired, a vast proportion of the world's wealth and resources still lie within the private ownership of western capital identities (institutions and individuals). This gives the power-brokering entity, known that is The States, the capability to assert force and economic sanctioning on small fries to extend their nationalistic interests whilst providing more levers in negotiating with tougher diplomatic opponents (like the bear and the panda).
Comment by mike on 25 June 2008:
...the american empire is, fundamentally, in the business of harnessing creativity under the guidance of various and sundry institutions of benign terror for the purpose of reaching the highest level of comfort possible...for the people, by the people , ...etc etc the people......these institutions are military, financial, and religious....successful empires need to have all three ingredients for success. .....the american military ...is the army ,the navy ,the air force etc....what a fence with a "de" or an "of" has got to do with that is opinion.....guns keep "order"...and sin or refinement...and debt and tax do too....as the power of sin over the people is waning....then the power of guns and debt has to pick up the slack....these benign terrors act as a check and balance on the chaotic excitment of asocial individualism although social collectivism carried to extreme could bring order to the brink of boredom...better to have social individualism working in harmony with asocial collectivism....concern over global warming and destruction of the environment is the birthing of a new facet on the jewel of the wayward christian diaspora or at least a re-interpretation of an already existing one...self-control to prevent self-destruction.....
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