General Discussion

SheilaT

(23,156 posts)

26. I am not sure it's really a matter of the people making

Sat Mar 9, 2013, 08:14 PM

Mar 2013

decisions wanting to enrich various companies. Yes, those companies are enriched, and many of them are well-represented in government, but to me it's more essential than that. It is, in my opinion, a set of completely mis-placed priorities, which seems to start and end with the notion that this country is above all the most powerful military presence in the world. Nothing else matters. Not jobs at home, not education, not health care, not clean water, not housing for everyone. I could go on and on, but it comes back to nothing matters but the powerful military presence.

Even the soldiers who fight those wars don't matter, because they have been sent off ill-equipped (and for all I know ill-trained), poorly supplied, and so on. They are just bodies to be out there. Cannon fodder is what we used to call soldiers like that. As an aside, I've read that in WWI Russia sent off soldiers without guns. They were expected to wait until the soldier next to them was killed, then take that gun.

The world is changing. Our power as a nation is diminishing. It's not very obvious yet, because we still spend more than the entire rest of the world combined on our military, but the damage is being done.

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How bad does it have to get? [View all] dixiegrrrrl Mar 2013 OP

Until The Beer, Bread And NASCAR Are Gone - Americans Are The Perfect Sheeple cantbeserious Mar 2013 #1

for the romans, it was bread and circuses unblock Mar 2013 #2

Updated OP With NASCAR As Surrogate For Circuses cantbeserious Mar 2013 #3

Change NASCAR to sports jmowreader Mar 2013 #11

and mega sports and general squelching of curiosity and questioning status quo. Whisp Mar 2013 #14

And all the city fathers give into the black mail of a moved WCGreen Mar 2013 #37

Why did you pick NASCAR? ChisolmTrailDem Mar 2013 #21

Very Popular With Low Information Voters cantbeserious Mar 2013 #23

Bullpuckey. ChisolmTrailDem Mar 2013 #24

A NASCAR Fan - Well Enjoy The Sport cantbeserious Mar 2013 #25

You say that as if I'm somehow a lesser person because I am a NASCAR fan. ChisolmTrailDem Mar 2013 #27

If NASCAR Is Your Sport - Then Enjoy It cantbeserious Mar 2013 #28

WHAT THE Hell are you picking on Beer for!? Wednesdays Mar 2013 #29

I hate circuses. All those clowns. Squinch Mar 2013 #30

sadly, much worse. unblock Mar 2013 #4

Apparently most of Europe is uprising this week. dixiegrrrrl Mar 2013 #6

In Paris in the summer of 1789 it took the price of... kairos12 Mar 2013 #5

In my readings of post 1790 history dixiegrrrrl Mar 2013 #7

You are right kairos12 Mar 2013 #8

Rome and Great Britain became dependent on their colonies and had to defend them. Tierra_y_Libertad Mar 2013 #9

What client states? What countries can we not afford to do without? stevenleser Mar 2013 #31

Well, that's a relief. Tierra_y_Libertad Mar 2013 #34

What are you even talking about? nt stevenleser Mar 2013 #35

The OP. What are you talking about? Tierra_y_Libertad Mar 2013 #36

I thought the 1% already owned damn near everything. talkingmime Mar 2013 #10

I think they are at about 40% of wealth in the country now which is already way too high. stevenleser Mar 2013 #33

I'm pretty sure you're correct about the 1% owning 40% but think about the side issue... talkingmime Mar 2013 #38

Absolutely. And you can take it further. There is a similar relation between the top 1/10th of 1% stevenleser Mar 2013 #39

That's exactly the point I was trying to make. You could be AT the top 2-10% level and... talkingmime Mar 2013 #41

The truth of the matter is that this country SheilaT Mar 2013 #12

The people making the decisions know that the actual wars are beside the point. Arugula Latte Mar 2013 #15

I am not sure it's really a matter of the people making SheilaT Mar 2013 #26

I don't think that is true. There is still immense wealth and capacity here. It's just that the stevenleser Mar 2013 #40

Certainly, the strongest economic growth that we SheilaT Mar 2013 #43

kick and rec for discussion nt steve2470 Mar 2013 #13

This is worse, because we have foreign investors coming in, buying up Cleita Mar 2013 #16

When the bread and circus no longer keeps the serfs sedated. Rex Mar 2013 #17

K&R DeSwiss Mar 2013 #18

. snagglepuss Mar 2013 #19

I wonder and worry for the next generations (being born now) dotymed Mar 2013 #20

"spring is coming" dixiegrrrrl Mar 2013 #22

Collapse will follow our debt avalanche cbrer Mar 2013 #32

I dont think so. I dont think debt is what will trigger the tipping point. stevenleser Mar 2013 #42