NO SOUP FOR YOU!

(Richard Lardner, The Economist, James Quinn, Military.Com, Fred Powers, Frazer Chronicle)

 

No matter what you say, we taxpayers are in all kinds of binds, can’t we get a touch, I mean even when the military turns down additional weapons that they can play with, our elected officials say, (here’s more, go play). There must be a reason why elected officials disregard public opinion by the majority of the country and seem intent on spending our money, even in the face of those that would know that we don’t need more money for a pet project.

 

There are more than 40 war machine manufacturers in the United States, and at least one in Germany that gross billions of taxpayer money each and every year. So when the military say’s NO to additional spending, you think that Capitol Hill would be overjoyed to hear the news, but…..not so, Congress wants to spend an additional $436 million dollars on a weapon the experts say is not necessary.

 

How can that be…..in this day and age of possible and probable austerity, when as a nation we are struggling to keep our homes, and pay our minimal bills and living expenses with no hope of putting money away for the proverbial rainy day…..what in hell is going on, on Capitol Hill?

 

Some of our military might, and it is extensive, doesn’t even get into the war on terror, some of our military equipment is so advanced that it will probably never be used, at least in the foreseeable future. Some weapons are devised, manufactured, tested, and put into mothball status.

 

Let’s be real clear on military spending in the 21^st century, war machine manufacturing creates well paying jobs, and protects area suppliers, and businesses. Military spending, actually taxpayer money, is good for the communities where military factories are. It’s the old boom or bust mentality, as long as the money holds out, the locals will reap the benefits of higher paying jobs and a better life style.

 

However once the money flow stops, people go first to unemployment, and either move, get a lower paying job, or go on welfare and Medicaid, and still work at a lower paying job. It’s an attitude and a practice that has been going on for American for more than 150 years, but it used to be in the private sector, but now has spilled over into the government sector.

 

PORK BARRELED POLITICS

We hear the Pork Barrel statement all the time, and I kind of have a different view of what Pork Barreling really is. Sure in many cases, politicians champion their own districts and those constituents that are potential votes, but you know, some of these projects are necessary for a variety, and should be examined on a case by case basis.

 

I’m not sure that Pork Barrel even applies to today’s political atmosphere; the term comes from Edward Everett Hale and was a homily metaphor for any form of public spending to the citizenry. After the Civil War the term came to be used derogatorily as a special interest type of activity on Capitol Hill.

 

Citizens Against Government Waste outline seven criteria by which spending can be classified as Pork;

1. Request by only one chamber of Congress

2. Not specifically authorized

3. Not competitively awarded

4. Not requested by the President

5, greatly exceeds the President’s budget request or the previous year’s funding

 

6. Not the subject of Congressional hearings

7. Serves only a local or special interest.

 

People can make an argument for many cases of a politicians seeming pet project, however if some projects are viewed through honest objective analyses, some projects actually are requests for taxpayer funds that will benefit the masses.

 

The newest possible Pork Barrel project is the Abrams M1A3 Tank, which is under development, a behemoth weighing 67.6 short tons, capable of speeds approaching 40 miles an hour. The cost of this big boy will be around $6.21 million in 1999 and $8.58 today in a stripped down version, the price goes up exponentially when you add all the bells and whistles that are available, like a dash board cigarette lighter which probably adds another hundred grand.

 

The Abrams M1A1 wasn’t even deployed to Afghanistan until 2010, at that time 15 tanks were earmarked for Marine use in the hills and dales of the Afghan landscape. The Abrams has been used in a dual role in the roughed countryside, according to military personnel, it serves not only as a combat multiplier, but as a deterrent to insurgent attacks. I’m not sure that a $44 sum million dollar piece of equipment should be used as a combat multiplier and as a deterrent against aggression by the enemy, but what the hell; I’m only a poor and lowly taxpayer.

 

The weapon has other features that really make no sense to me what-so-ever, like a definitive presence, and that the tank is a formidable machine, and its use signifies commitment, like the United States is committed to the war in Afghanistan. To me, the mere size of the thing, more than 32 feet, and width, 12 feet speaks danger in capital letters.

 

IT TAKES A GREAT SALESMEN TODAY

In today’s world, the real world, where money is tight…..and getting tighter, air shows have, in the past been used to showcase America’s military might. I never really got into the Blue Angles flying in formation, mostly because I saw firsthand…..(at a military base) what a jet strafing sounds like, how accurate they can be, and the resulting devastation, to use one word, awesome!

 

But fifteen years ago and more I kind of had the idea that we were devising and manufacturing weaponry that only we could marvel at. I got the feeling that many countries around the globe kind of looked at the United States as the real threat to peace in our time.

 

All the stealth that is being devised, and make no mistake, there are weapons that we have paid for that we either have never seen, or that will become obsolete before they are ever used…..in which case we will never hear about.

 

New advancements will, in the long term probably spell the demise of the fighter pilot, no more Tom Cruise, and top guns, say goodbye also to Kelly McGillis, and Charlie Sheen and his Topper character, war movies will never be the same.

 

The drone will replace them all, as a drone will strafe targets, and computer controlled bombs will hit targets hundreds and even thousands of miles away, all from some room deep inside some military installation in Colorado.

 

There seems to be only one problem for the Western world and their pursuit of happiness and pilotless military weaponry…..money. It takes unbelievable amounts of money to keep at least the United States in the forefront of the technology to create newer, faster, and pilotless aircraft.

 

Can crewless tanks be just around the corner, will battleships at sea be controlled from San Diego, California…..possibly. It seems like the military is hell bent to take the human out of some parts of war making, and when that happens, humanity will take a huge step backwards.

 

The military and Congress seem intent on keeping a certain amount of the tax dollar for military spending in the study of advanced weaponry. The military industrial complex is alive and well in the halls of the White House, and the back streets of Washington.

 

The United States, the only superpower remaining on earth, currently spends more money on its defense then the next 45 highest spending countries in the world combined. The reason, conventional war has changed, now there are towel headed Muslims in the desert, or on the streets of American, Boston Marathon, and they don’t use drones, Abram Tanks, or Blackhawk helicopters, they use presser-cookers and ball bearings.

 

It’s like the kid from Afghanistan said when a G.I. asked what he wanted from Christmas, and he replied “a stick”. “What in the world would you want a stick for,” the G.I. replied, “to trip road side devises” the brown eyed pre-teen said, man is the world changing or what?

 

A military general once said that it was too bad that “so many young people died in war,” but in a bit of irony, almost as an afterthought the general said, “death is a deterrent to man making war against man.” Now with so many pilotless and remote controlled pieces of military hardware…..were exactly is the deterrent?

 

These advanced weapons of ever increasing size, potential killing power and cost might just be the end of us after all…..Ma keep the soup on, Congress is going to spend all the money.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!