Waging the trillion-dollar war (taxed to death)

All of this spending will need to be financed by adding to the federal debt. Extra interest payments will total $200 billion or more even if the borrowing is repaid quickly. Conflict in the Middle East has also played a part in doubling the price of oil from $30 a barrel just prior to the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 to $60 a barrel today. Each $5 increase in the price of oil reduces our national income by about $17 billion a year.

Even by this simple yardstick, if the American military presence in the region lasts another five years, the total outlay for the war could stretch to more than $1.3 trillion, or $11,300 for every household in the United States......

1. War is the ultimate discipline to any government. If it can successfully meet the challenge of war, it will survive. If it cannot, it will perish. All else is secondary. The sanctity of its laws, the prosperity of its citizens, and the solvency of it treasury will be quickly sacrificed by any government in its primal act of self-survival.

2. All that is necessary, therefore, to ensure that a government will maintain or expand its debt is to involve it in war or the threat of war. The greater the threat and the more destructive the war, the greater the need for debt.

3. To involve a country in war or the threat of war, it will be necessary for it to have enemies with credible military might. If such enemies already exist, all the better. If they exist but lack military strength, it will be necessary to provide them the money to build their war machine. If an enemy does not exist at all, then it will be necessary to create one by financing the rise of a hostile regime.....

as described by/in:

Whether anyone actually put this strategy into words or passed it along from generation to generation is not important. In fact, it is doubtful it has ever worked that way. Whether it is the product of conscious planning or merely the consequence of men responding to the profit opportunities inherent in fiat money(1), the world's financial lords have acted as though they were following such a plan, and this has become especially apparent since the creation of the central-bank Mandrake Mechanism(2) three centuries ago.

The "balance-of-power" question is particularly intriguing. Most history texts present the concept as though it were some kind of natural, social phenomenon which, somehow, has worked to the benefit of mankind. The implication is that it's just wonderful how, after all those European wars, no nation was strong enough to completely dominate the others. When the United States emerged from World War II with exactly such power, it was widely deplored, and massive political/financial mechanisms such as foreign aid and disarmament were set in motion to restore the balance. This has become almost a revered doctrine of international democracy. But the overlooked consequence of this sentimental notion is that wars "between equals" have become the permanent landscape of history."

(2) Mandrake Mechanism is the exact method central banks use to "monetize debt" and thus create "fiat money," such described in detail in the book, "The Creature From Jekyll Island" by G. Edward Griffin.

Conflict in the Middle East has also played a part in doubling the price of oil from $30 a barrel just prior to the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 to $60 a barrel today.

This is false. There has been no disruption in the production of oil because of any "conflicts" happening in the middle east. There was more of an impact when Venezuela had their big strike.

We are producing more oil than ever. It's just that with the economic upturn around the world, demand is outstripping supply. People are betting that demand will increase, and are paying more to make sure they get what they need.

Prices will drop when either the surplus oil becomes so great that it is clear demand won't outstrip supply, or when we either increase supply greatly, or reduce demand on a global scale.

I haven't seen any real discussion of this, but I believe China's increase in use is outstripping the possible demand reductions we could have expected by implementing higher fuel economy standards in this country.

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