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I don't think the Iraq war was that much of a burden on the US economy. Reputation and soft power, yes. Economy, no.
The Iraq occupation though...different story.
Anyway, there seems to be a significant difference between supporting an established popular uprising that has shown itself fairly motivated and tenacious, and going into a tightly controlled country based on the pink and fluffy hope that once you've started the war, you'll get an uprising on your side.
Good lord. First of all, we are currently engaged in 1 war - Afghanistan (which had 93% support when it started). Iraq is no longer a combat mission with the war ended and Libya is a limited military operation for which we are providing support for a UN coalition.
Second of all, the economy is in full recovery. In the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't cost that much to fire some missiles and the Republicans won't touch the bloated military budget anyway, so it's all quite unrelated to the recovery of the economy.
Makes for a good story, though.
Unemployment is just below 9% here in Texas, one of the better states.
Well they say WW2 took our country out of the depression and made the economy boom. The elite may consider war a last ditch effort to solve serious worldwide financial problems. Not to say it will work out the way they want, but it could be their motivation.
WWII made our economy boom because we had and grew the largest industrial manufacturing base in the world, while much of the rest of the world's manufacturing was destroyed by war.
Since that time, our manufacturing base disappeared and went to other countries. So no, we have not benefitted in any way from all the countless wars since WWII. Nor will we in the future.
They simply add trillions to our debt, which we are all paying for through the "hidden tax" of loss of wage/savings buying power via monetization of the debt by the Fed (aka erosion of the value of the dollar, over 20% in the past 5 years alone).
[quote=[B]NHartphotog[/b]]WWII made our economy boom because we had and grew the largest industrial manufacturing base in the world, while much of the rest of the world's manufacturing was destroyed by war.
Since that time, our manufacturing base disappeared and went to other countries. So no, we have not benefitted in any way from all the countless wars since WWII. Nor will we in the future.quote]
You'd also need to factor in the caliber of people in that time as versus the kind of citizens were dealing with today. Back in the forties,
when we all pitched in to help our country in the war effort, we were all Americans. Today, we're a mixed-bag of individuals who believe that we
all have a share in whatever good things there are about being an American but for many of us, it's always about letting someone else do the work,
while we share in the benefit. As Americans, we were of a common cause, fathers and sons went off to war, wives and mothers went to work, we
were of a singularly common mind, to stop the threat of communism. We welcomed the likes of Joe McCarthy, J.Edgar Hoover, the G-Men and even
John Wayne and Audey Murphy, we saw them as real red-blooded Americans, patriotic to a fault and we put much credence into their agenda, to fight
the agressive oppressor, to champion freedom, to spread the American way across the planet. Our eyes might've been half open, we could never envision
our leaders going astray, we all supported our home team, the government of the United States. Was it because we once felt united, of one common spirit,
all dedicated to the singular proposition that we were the top dog whether militarily or economically or even as it were, technologically, no one was better.
There were countries that still hide and oppress their womenfolk but we had Rosie the Riveter. We had the brightest students on the planet but now we're
looking at the dumbing-down of our children who care more about their Ipods, Ipads, Playstations and Blackberries than excelling at science or math.
Maybe it's a foolish persuit to compare the typical American citizen of the WW2 era with the resident of America today. The game has changed
drastically and our population has greatly risen. We've become a sanctuary for those huddled masses longing to be free, we've all but rolled out a welcome
mat to those who come here because they want a piece of the American dream, the free-lunch program that continues to divide those who put into the system,
while others just take from the system. Add to that, your own very valid observation, our leaders have sold us out, they are nowhere like the leaders of the past.
Yes, we're a lame duck now as far as manufacturing is concerned, we've sold out to the Chinese, excellent copiests who've utilized and usurped great and hungry
labor pool, a nation who now holds our pawn tickets and our debt. We've seen a new generation of robber-barons who've glutted themselves to the point of excess,
we've seen the wrist-slapping of serious wrongdoing by our own government who've been running their own agenda as common bedfellows with the crooked bankers,
corruption in government is rampant, war is the final frontier and munitions and armament are our best products.
We've seen our best days come and go. We won't be doing the beer-barrel polka this time around, and Johnny isn't going to come marching home, they have too
many body-bags to fill, and the only thing marching on, here in 2011, is time.
As a grass roots American, let me use an old African adage:
"When elephants fight, it's always only the grass that gets trampled".
Well they say WW2 took our country out of the depression and made the economy boom. The elite may consider war a last ditch effort to solve serious worldwide financial problems. Not to say it will work out the way they want, but it could be their motivation.
The only way war would help the US economy is if we started manufacturing war materials as we did during WWII. I believe that is now done in China and India, so our economy will see no benefit.
We were at war almost the entire 2000s decade yet that decade saw the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression. WWII was an anomoly, and it only was an economic blessing in the United States. Usually war is detremental to the economy.
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