Feuer Frei!
04-15-11, 11:05 PM
Today, the U.S. military is in approximately 130 different nations and it has a total of about 700 military bases around the world. But just like the Roman Empire, the U.S. empire has become overextended and it is starting to decline. Most of our politicians believe that we can continue to "police the world" and project our power to every corner of the globe, but the more we meddle the more the rest of the world hates us and the worse our financial problems get.
Over the past decade, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost U.S. taxpayers well over a trillion dollars (http://costofwar.com/en/).
So what have we gotten in return for a trillion dollars?
In Afghanistan, we haven't even found the one man we supposedly went there to look for - Osama Bin Laden. It defies comprehension how a man with a really bad kidney disease can hide in caves and evade the most powerful military on earth for nearly a decade.
But at least we got rid of the Taliban and set up a good form of government, right?
Oh yeah, we set up a really wonderful government. For example, they recently arrested a one-legged Afghan Red Cross worker and sentenced him to death for converting to Christianity (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1354246/One-legged-Afghan-Red-Cross-worker-hanged-converting-Christianity.html).
Now we are involved in a third war in the Middle East. Even though Libya was no threat to the United States, Obama felt compelled to stick our nose into a chaotic civil war.
Now it looks like our involvement in Libya could last for a very, very long time.
In a joint op-ed piece in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/opinion/15iht-edlibya15.html?_r=1), Barack Obama, David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy declared that NATO military operations in Libya will not end until there is a regime change....
So exactly who are we "helping" in Libya?
It turns out that we are providing "air cover" for many of the same people who were shooting at our troops in Iraq.
Yes, you read the correctly.
According to The Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8407047/Libyan-rebel-commander-admits-his-fighters-have-al-Qaeda-links.html), the leader of the Libyan rebels is even admitting that his "troops" include jihadists that were firing bullets at U.S. troops in Iraq....
Sadly, our meddling goes well beyond the three wars we are currently fighting. The truth is that the U.S. military is actively "conducting operations" in dozens of different countries.
For example, most Americans don't even realize what the U.S. is doing in Pakistan.
How would you like it if a foreign power was conducting missile attacks inside the United States over the objections of our national leaders?
Well, that is what we are doing in Pakistan and we are going to continue even though Pakistani officials are adamantly objecting.
According to AFP (http://www.alternet.org/rss/breaking_news/561220/cia_will_not_halt_operations_in_pakistan%3A_offici al/), the CIA intends to continue conducting operations in Pakistan no matter what the Pakistani government says....
U.S. military spending (http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/u-s-military-spending-is-out-of-control-12-facts-that-show-that-we-cannot-afford-to-be-the-police-of-the-world) is wildly out of control. The truth is that U.S. military spending is greater (http://www.eurocapital.gr/permalink/21515.txt) than the military spending of China, Russia, Japan, India, and the rest of NATO combined. The United States already accounts for 46.5% (http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-military-spending) of all military spending in the world. China is next with only 6.6%.
Just one day of the war in Afghanistan costs more money (http://www.businessinsider.com/facts-about-defense-spending-2010-11#each-day-in-afghanistan-costs-the-government-more-than-it-did-to-build-the-entire-pentagon-6) than it took to build the entire Pentagon.
So will reducing military spending solve all of our financial problems?
Of course not.
The United States has the biggest debt problem (http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/debt-management-is-there-any-hope-for-americas-debt-problem) in the history of the world.
Right now the U.S. government is over 14 trillion dollars in debt. Our debt is increasing by over 2 million dollars every single minute.
Our politicians are running up the national credit card as if there will never be any consequences.
But a very serious day of reckoning is coming, and when it arrives the rest of the world is not going to be in the mood to help us.
It is being projected that by 2021, the U.S. will be paying $1.1 trillion a year just in interest on the national debt.
So what are our politicians doing about it?
Nothing.
During the last election, the Republicans made a "pledge" to the American people to cut $100 billion from the 2011 budget if they were elected.
Then once they got in they told us that $61 billion would be enough.
Then John Boehner gave in and agreed to cut the 2011 budget by only $38.5 billion.
Well, now it turns out that even the $38.5 billion figure was not even real.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the "budget deal" will only slash $352 million (with an "m") from the 2011 budget.
That is less than one percent of the $38.5 billion figure that was announced.
REST OF ARTICLE (http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/the-end-of-an-empire-and-the-beginning-of-a-depression)
Interesting reading. Certainly to an outsider like me.
Over the past decade, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost U.S. taxpayers well over a trillion dollars (http://costofwar.com/en/).
So what have we gotten in return for a trillion dollars?
In Afghanistan, we haven't even found the one man we supposedly went there to look for - Osama Bin Laden. It defies comprehension how a man with a really bad kidney disease can hide in caves and evade the most powerful military on earth for nearly a decade.
But at least we got rid of the Taliban and set up a good form of government, right?
Oh yeah, we set up a really wonderful government. For example, they recently arrested a one-legged Afghan Red Cross worker and sentenced him to death for converting to Christianity (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1354246/One-legged-Afghan-Red-Cross-worker-hanged-converting-Christianity.html).
Now we are involved in a third war in the Middle East. Even though Libya was no threat to the United States, Obama felt compelled to stick our nose into a chaotic civil war.
Now it looks like our involvement in Libya could last for a very, very long time.
In a joint op-ed piece in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/opinion/15iht-edlibya15.html?_r=1), Barack Obama, David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy declared that NATO military operations in Libya will not end until there is a regime change....
So exactly who are we "helping" in Libya?
It turns out that we are providing "air cover" for many of the same people who were shooting at our troops in Iraq.
Yes, you read the correctly.
According to The Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8407047/Libyan-rebel-commander-admits-his-fighters-have-al-Qaeda-links.html), the leader of the Libyan rebels is even admitting that his "troops" include jihadists that were firing bullets at U.S. troops in Iraq....
Sadly, our meddling goes well beyond the three wars we are currently fighting. The truth is that the U.S. military is actively "conducting operations" in dozens of different countries.
For example, most Americans don't even realize what the U.S. is doing in Pakistan.
How would you like it if a foreign power was conducting missile attacks inside the United States over the objections of our national leaders?
Well, that is what we are doing in Pakistan and we are going to continue even though Pakistani officials are adamantly objecting.
According to AFP (http://www.alternet.org/rss/breaking_news/561220/cia_will_not_halt_operations_in_pakistan%3A_offici al/), the CIA intends to continue conducting operations in Pakistan no matter what the Pakistani government says....
U.S. military spending (http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/u-s-military-spending-is-out-of-control-12-facts-that-show-that-we-cannot-afford-to-be-the-police-of-the-world) is wildly out of control. The truth is that U.S. military spending is greater (http://www.eurocapital.gr/permalink/21515.txt) than the military spending of China, Russia, Japan, India, and the rest of NATO combined. The United States already accounts for 46.5% (http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-military-spending) of all military spending in the world. China is next with only 6.6%.
Just one day of the war in Afghanistan costs more money (http://www.businessinsider.com/facts-about-defense-spending-2010-11#each-day-in-afghanistan-costs-the-government-more-than-it-did-to-build-the-entire-pentagon-6) than it took to build the entire Pentagon.
So will reducing military spending solve all of our financial problems?
Of course not.
The United States has the biggest debt problem (http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/debt-management-is-there-any-hope-for-americas-debt-problem) in the history of the world.
Right now the U.S. government is over 14 trillion dollars in debt. Our debt is increasing by over 2 million dollars every single minute.
Our politicians are running up the national credit card as if there will never be any consequences.
But a very serious day of reckoning is coming, and when it arrives the rest of the world is not going to be in the mood to help us.
It is being projected that by 2021, the U.S. will be paying $1.1 trillion a year just in interest on the national debt.
So what are our politicians doing about it?
Nothing.
During the last election, the Republicans made a "pledge" to the American people to cut $100 billion from the 2011 budget if they were elected.
Then once they got in they told us that $61 billion would be enough.
Then John Boehner gave in and agreed to cut the 2011 budget by only $38.5 billion.
Well, now it turns out that even the $38.5 billion figure was not even real.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the "budget deal" will only slash $352 million (with an "m") from the 2011 budget.
That is less than one percent of the $38.5 billion figure that was announced.
REST OF ARTICLE (http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/the-end-of-an-empire-and-the-beginning-of-a-depression)
Interesting reading. Certainly to an outsider like me.