It’s a great idea, but it will never happen. The Senate and WH will NEVER sign off on a cut for the MIC.
It also looks like Republicans in the House are prepared to cut the defense budget and to clip the wings of the MIC!
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Right and cut SS, Medicare, eliminate Ukraine aid - military and humanitarian, because America is all about the Benjamins.
That way every one of those “conservatives” will feel great and can go on TV to virtue signal, being able to point to the tens of thousands of jobs and skills they eliminated in the Defense Industry.
And lose the next elections in huge landslides.
Insert image of Emperor Xi rolling in the isle.
https://creativedestructionmedia.com/investigations/2022/05/03/george-soros-the-god-emperor-of-ukraine/
Intelligence sources tell CD Media that the following people and institutions are or were in the Soros cabal in Ukraine:
State Department, USAID, FBI, etc – George Kent, Marie Yovanovitch, Karen Greenway, Martha Boersh, Geoffrey Pyatt, Michael McFaul, William Taylor
World Bank: Sato Kahkomen
Ukrainian Officials: former President Petro Poroshenko, former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Volodymyr Groisman, former Finance Minister Natalia Jaresco (US citizen), former Finance Minister Alexandr Danilyuk, Finance Minister Oksana Markarova, Yuriy Vitrenko (Naftogas and Ukroboronprom), Andrei Kobolev (Naftogas), Aivaras Abromacius (Minister of Economic Development and Ukrobornoprom), Alexei Gonocharuk (current prime minister), Timofiy Milovanov (Minister of Economic Development), Inna Sovsun, Yuriy Blashuk, Petr Chernyshov (Kyivstar), Vladislav Rsahkovan (IMF, NBU).
Oligarchs: Viktor Pinchuk allegedly owes more than $1 billion to George Soros funds or banks. Pinchuk controls people within the Ukrainian government and lobbies for legislation that supports the progressive agenda.
Investment Banking: Dragon Capital, Tomas Fiala
Strategic Consulting: George Massoud at McKinsy Kyiv, Lazard Managing Partner Boijdar Djelic (former Finance Minister in Yugoslavia)
Political Parties: Golos (Vyacheslav Vakarchuk, Julia Klimenko). Golos is co-sponsored by Dragon Capital and the Soros machine.
Who has more power?
As an aside, remember that time the Pentagon misplaced $2.3 trillion?
Soros took credit for the 2014 Ukraine civil war with the help of the CIA.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/260665/soros-national-borders-are-enemy-matthew-vadum
Soros traffics in revolution and human misery. His devious business deals have brought the financial systems of the United Kingdom and Malaysia to their knees. Soros helped finance the Czech Republic’s 1989 “Velvet Revolution.” He acknowledged having orchestrated coups in Croatia, Georgia, Slovakia, and Yugoslavia. In the United States, he has financed the violent, politically destabilizing Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter movements.
…
“The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States,”
I'm 76 years old now and am running of people older than I am with whom to compare notes about how much fun that **** was, but I remember people being terribly poor for five or ten years after the war was over, as a sort of a normal thing. In my view, the people trying to perpetrate this garbage are barking mad...
Of course. The Department of Defense does not defend anything but the profits of weapons manufacturers. Lloyd Austin is Secretary of Defense after having been on the Board of Directors of Raytheon - builder of missiles being used to kill people all over the world with whom America is NOT at war.
America has more than 400 generals and admirals in military leadership. That is FAR MORE than we ever had in World War II.
The U.S. military does nothing to stop the invading horde of millions of foreigners (from all over the world) across our southern border even though that is a primary responsibility of the military.
The military cannot recruit nearly enough volunteers, having turned into a bunch of woke sissies from top to bottom.
They are spending billions on the F-35 fighter jets which are much worse at EVERYTHING than any of their predecessors.
The military is paralyzed by inaction while China surveils our entire land-based ICBM missile system, for a week, with a spy balloon.
America’s weapons are too costly to produce in large quantities so the nation is not prepared for any major wars while having troops stationed in more than 100 countries across the globe.
America is defenseless while spending close to a trillion dollars per year SUPPOSEDLY on defense.
We do have maternity flight suits so there is that.
We have people serving in the military who cannot even decide what sex they are. How can a nation defend itself when its troops can’t decide whether they are male or female? These are not “warriors.” They are dingbats.
We could get the national debt under control if we could simply stop this out-of-control insanity taking place at the Pentagon.
To think there is no waste in the military is absurd. Never mind about social engineering of the soldiers.
The best way for conservatives to attack the MIC is: 1) Don’t join it. (The military stopped being about just defending the country and more about pimping Leftism around the globe a long time ago.) 2) Badmouth all the war-mongering POS any and every chance you get. Let the political Left get saddled with the “imperialism” moniker from hence forth. and 3) Counsel others to either not join the military (or be very wary of joining). It’s pretty easy to do given how dysfunctional the leadership of it is.
It’s about damn time.
Wait til they cut pensions/retiree benefits. Then you will hear howls around here.
I’m guessing you’re unaware the 0bama admin had tasked ALL recruiters to ONLY recruit certain demographic types from 2009 to 2017.
their effort was to change the military from mostly conservative to ‘progressive’
similar to colleges only admitting certain demographics thereby insuring the future business leaders would be ‘progressive’... the military started the policy of riff’ing conservatives whenever possible (or just tossing them into meat grinder missions resulting in massive casualties). They would also only advance those who were ‘progressive enough’ to advance.
the result? just look to the head of the joint chiefs. he’d sooner communicate with communist china to reassure them he’d delay any actions the President may try to initiate.
and if you’re wondering, yes... that’s treason
The Deep State holds the fish, the Defense Contractor seals bark. MIC does not control the Pentagon / Alphabet Agencies. The Pentagon / Alphabet Agencies control MIC
I’d love to see a very powerful US military capable of dealing with any foreign threat but based here and not spread all over the globe.
Once I started reading about our NATO allies and maybe us giving Kiev a whole new Air Force of F-16’s and other fighter jets plus all the supporting equipment plus an integrated air defense system….I realized how deep runs the greed and rot to clean out existing weapons as an excuse to replace them with more and more and more new systems to US and allied forces
All under the tattered banner of defending democracy
The Neocons will fight cutting the defense budget tooth and nail. They will not go quietly into the night. Are you ready to rumble?
My fellow Americans:
Three days from now, after half a century in the service of our country, I shall lay down the responsibilities of office as, in traditional and solemn ceremony, the authority of the Presidency is vested in my successor.
This evening I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell, and to share a few final thoughts with you, my countrymen.
Like every other citizen, I wish the new President, and all who will labor with him, Godspeed. I pray that the coming years will be blessed with peace and prosperity for all.
Our people expect their President and the Congress to find essential agreement on issues of great moment, the wise resolution of which will better shape the future of the Nation.
My own relations with the Congress, which began on a remote and tenuous basis when, long ago, a member of the Senate appointed me to West Point, have since ranged to the intimate during the war and immediate post-war period, and, finally, to the mutually interdependent during these past eight years.
In this final relationship, the Congress and the Administration have, on most vital issues, cooperated well, to serve the national good rather than mere partisanship, and so have assured that the business of the Nation should go forward. So, my official relationship with the Congress ends in a feeling, on my part, of gratitude that we have been able to do so much together.
******
We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations. Three of these involved our own country. Despite these holocausts America is today the strongest, the most influential and most productive nation in the world. Understandably proud of this pre-eminence, we yet realize that America's leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.
******
Throughout America's adventure in free government, our basic purposes have been to keep the peace; to foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity and integrity among people and among nations. To strive for less would be unworthy of a free and religious people. Any failure traceable to arrogance, or our lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us grievous hurt both at home and abroad.
Progress toward these noble goals is persistently threatened by the conflict now engulfing the world. It commands our whole attention, absorbs our very beings. We face a hostile ideology-global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger it poses promises to be of indefinite duration. To meet it successfully, there is called for, not so much the emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis, but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle-with liberty at stake. Only thus shall we remain, despite every provocation, on our charted course toward permanent peace and human betterment.
Crises there will continue to be. In meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small, there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties. A huge increase in newer elements of our defense; development of unrealistic programs to cure every ill in agriculture; a dramatic expansion in basic and applied research-these and many other possibilities, each possibly promising in itself, may be suggested as the only way to the road we wish to travel.
But each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs-balance between the private and the public economy, balance between cost and hoped for advantage-balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable; balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual; balance between action of the moment and the national welfare of the future. Good judgment seeks balance and progress; lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration.
The record of many decades stands as proof that our people and their government have, in the main, understood these truths and have responded to them well, in the face of stress and threat. But threats, new in kind or degree, constantly arise. I mention two only.
******
A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.
Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peace time, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.
Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United State corporations.
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence-economic, political, even spiritual-is felt in every city, every state house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
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.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.
In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.
Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been over shadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.
Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.
It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system-ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society.
******
Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's future, we-you and I, and our government-must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.
******
Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.
Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield.
Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose difference, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose. Because this need is so sharp and apparent I confess that I lay down my official responsibilities in this field with a definite sense of disappointment. As one who has witnessed the horror and the lingering sadness of war-as one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years-I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace is in sight.
Happily, I can say that war has been avoided. Steady progress toward our ultimate goal has been made. But, so much remains to be done. As a private citizen, I shall never cease to do what little I can to help the world advance along that road.
******
So-in this my last good night to you as your President-I thank you for the many opportunities you have given me for public service in war and peace. I trust that in that service you find somethings worthy; as for the rest of it, I know you will find ways to improve performance in the future.
You and I-my fellow citizens-need to be strong in our faith that all nations, under God, will reach the goal of peace with justice. May we be ever unswerving in devotion to principle, confident but humble with power, diligent in pursuit of the Nation's great goals.
To all the peoples of the world, I once more give expression to America's prayerful and continuing inspiration:
We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love.
******
Well I don’t know about that but my family is in total agreement to get the kids out of this country before they are ever sent into another meat grinder for the benefit of the elite. Plans hatching, I suggest you all do the same. Eff this government.
In Eisenhower’s day, it was the Military-Industrial complex.
Today it has expanded to be the Military-Industrial-Intelligence-Police complex, with other behemoths wanting to join the club.
And of course, no end to wealthy nitwits who think they should run the show.
Not nearly fast enough.
We’ve got a House and Senate full of neocons and polls are showing all Americans backing our Ukrainian war with Russia by 2-to-1.