THE FEDERAL PROPAGANDA MACHINE IS STILL HELPING TO RAKE IN MILLIONS IN TAXPAYER MONEY SO AMERICANS CAN FEEL SECURE, SO WE FEEL "DEFENDED".
YOU PROBABLY WILL HAVE A HARD TIME BELIEVING THE NUMBERS ON THAT WEBSITE, BUT THE ACTUAL COSTS ARE MORE THAN IS BEING COUNTED, AS IT TURNS OUT.
These totals OMIT many other expenses, such as the macroeconomic costs to the US economy; the opportunity costs of not investing war dollars in alternative sectors; future interest on war borrowing; and local government and private war costs.
FEDERAL war costs EXCLUDE billions of dollars of STATE, MUNICIPAL AND PRIVATE war costs across the country – dollars spent on services for returned veterans and their families, in addition to local homeland security efforts.
IT ALSO EXCLUDES COST OF "RECONSTRUCTION PAYMENTS" AMERICA MAKES TO NATIONS WE'VE BOMBED THE SUPREME HELL OUT OF.
IMAGINE IF WE ADDED IN ALL THOSE "EXCLUSIONS/OMISSIONS?
AND WHY NOT ADD ALL THAT IN SO AMERICANS CAN SEE WHAT PLAYING "WORLD COP" AND "MUSCLE MAN" COSTS US ALL?
TOO 'SHOCKING', TOO MUCH "AWE"?
BY THE HOUR:
~ Homeland Security Since 9/11
This does NOT include STATE AND MUNICIPAL homeland security costs.
~ Foreign Military Assistance in 2016
~NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Every hour, taxpayers in the United States are paying
$2.19 million JUST to maintain Nuclear Weapons in 2016.
~SLUSH FUND
Every hour, taxpayers in the United States are paying
$3.42 million for the cost of the highly secretive Pentagon Slush Fund.
~ JUST AFGHANISTAN
Every hour, taxpayers in the United States are paying
$4 million for Cost of War in Afghanistan.
~ WARS OF THE EARLY 2000s
Every hour, taxpayers in the United States are paying
$8.36 million for Total Cost of Wars Since 2001.
THAT'S RIGHT, CITIZENS, WE'RE STILL PAYING FOR "OLD" WARS AND ALWAYS WILL BE.
~ DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Every hour, taxpayers in the United States are currently paying
$57.52 million for Department of Defense spending in JUST 2016.
~ Every hour, taxpayers in the United States are paying
$116,063 for Predator and Reaper Drones in 2016.
AND BY THE DAY, JUST IN SYRIA AND IRAQ?
~US war on ISIS costs American taxpayers over $11 million daily – Pentagon report
JUST THE "FIGHT AGAINST ISIS".
ISIS, IF WE RECALL, WAS ACTUALLY CREATED BY THE REAGAN WHITE HOUSE/CIA WHEN AMERICA FUNDED THE TALIBAN AGAINST RUSSIA, FROM WHENCE SPRANG "AL QAEDA" AND THEN "ISIS".
LOOK IT UP, DOUBTERS.
[ TRY <HERE>, <HERE>, <HERE> AND <HERE> FOR STARTERS.]
"The current wars have been paid for almost entirely by borrowing.
[YEAH, CONGRESS LOVES TO "BORROW" FROM SOCIAL SECURITY AND NEVER PAYS BACK!]
This borrowing has raised the US budget deficit, increased the national debt, and had other macroeconomic effects, such as raising consumer interest rates.
Unless the US immediately repays the money borrowed for war, there will also be future interest payments.
We estimate that [JUST] interest payments could total over $7 trillion by 2053."
IF YOU THINK ALL THAT IS CRAZY, HOW ABOUT THIS CHART?
THE ABOVE GRAPH SHOWS US THAT AMERICA, A COUNTRY SMALLER THAN CHINA OR RUSSIA, ACTUALLY SPENDS MORE PER YEAR THAN CHINA, RUSSIA, GREAT BRITAIN (UK), INDIA, FRANCE, JAPAN, AND SAUDI ARABIA COMBINED... CONSIDERABLY MORE IF WE ADD WHAT THE STATISTICIANS LEFT OUT.
WHAT MIGHT WE DO IF WE WEREN'T CONSTANTLY SHELLING OUT ALL THIS LOOT?
HOW GREAT MIGHT LIVING IN AMERICA BE IF ALL THAT MONEY WAS FREED-UP TO USE IT TO BETTER AMERICAN LIVES, CUT TAXPAYER DEBT, MAKE HOME , MAKE AMERICANS THE BENEFACTOR OF ALL THOSE TRILLIONS WE'RE SPENDING ABROAD?
TWO YEARS AGO, IN 2014, ONE GROUP CALCULATED THE COST OF THE TWO WARS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN...
AT THAT TIME IT WAS RUNNING UP TO $6 TRILLION DOLLARS.
6 TRILLION TAXPAYER DOLLARS.
THAT MEANS EVERY AMERICAN HOUSEHOLD HAS BEEN, IS, AND WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYING OVER $75,000 EACH!
According to the Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government 2013 report, the US “has already paid $260 billion in interest on the war debt,” and future interest payments would amount to trillions of dollars.
This Harvard University report has also been carried on its website by the Centre for Research on Globalisation, which is a widely-quoted Montreal-based independent research and media organization.
The report states:
“The Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, taken together, will be the most expensive wars in US history—totaling somewhere between $4 trillion and $6 trillion.
“The Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, taken together, will be the most expensive wars in US history—totaling somewhere between $4 trillion and $6 trillion.
This includes long-term medical care and disability compensation for service members, veterans and families, military replenishment and social and economic costs. The largest portion of that bill is yet to be paid.”
It asserts:
“Another major share of the long-term costs of the wars comes from paying off trillions of dollars in debt incurred as the US government failed to include their cost in annual budgets and simultaneously implemented sweeping tax cuts for the rich. In addition, huge expenditures are being made to replace military equipment used in the two wars.
“Another major share of the long-term costs of the wars comes from paying off trillions of dollars in debt incurred as the US government failed to include their cost in annual budgets and simultaneously implemented sweeping tax cuts for the rich. In addition, huge expenditures are being made to replace military equipment used in the two wars.
The report also cites improvements in military pay and benefits made in 2004 to counter declining recruitment rates as casualties rose in the Iraq war.”
[THOSE WERE ENDED BY CONGRESS BUT OBAMA VETOED THE CUTS.]
[CONGRESS ALSO VOTED TO DECREASE MILITARY RETIREMENT BENEFITS, WHILE RECENTLY VOTING THEMSELVES HIGHER RETIREMENT PAY.]
The authors of this report have warned that the legacy of decisions taken during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars would dominate future federal budgets for decades to come."
THAT'S RIGHT, OUR CHILDREN AND THEIR CHILDREN WILL STILL BE PAYING FOR THESE UNWINNABLE WARS ALL THEIR LIVES.
THERE SIMPLY IS NO VICTORY TO BE HAD IN NATIONS THAT CURSE OUR VERY PRESENCE THERE.
NO MATTER HOW MUCH WE SPEND IN THOSE COUNTRIES, OUR TROOPS ARE DESPISED AND EVEN CITIZENS OFTEN SEEK TO KILL THEM, ANY WAY THEY CAN.
WHO, WHAT CAN MEASURE THE PRICE OUR VETERANS WILL PAY IN THE FUTURE FOR BEING SENT TO THOSE MIDDLE EASTERN NATIONS?
THE HARVARD REPORT REVEALS LITTLE KNOWN FACTS THAT SHOULD MAKE ANY GROWN MAN WEEP:
“One out of every two
veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan has already applied for permanent
disability benefits. The official figure of 50,000 American troops
“wounded in action” vastly underestimates the real human costs of the
two US wars. One-third of returning veterans are being diagnosed with
mental health issues—suffering from anxiety, depression, and/or
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).”
The report notes that in addition, over a quarter of a million troops have suffered traumatic brain injuries (TBI), which, in many cases, were combined with PTSD, posing greater problems in treatment and recovery.
SUICIDE RATES FOR OUR TROOPS WHO MANAGED TO SURVIVE BUSH'S WARS HAVE DOUBLED.
“Constituting a particularly grim facet of this mental
health crisis is the doubling of the suicide rate for US Army personnel,
with many who attempted suicide suffering serious injuries,” opine the
report authors.
The largest expenditures on health care for World War II veterans took place in the 1980s, roughly four decades after the war, and that spending on medical care and disability payments for Vietnam War veterans was still on the rise.
The largest expenditures on health care for World War II veterans took place in the 1980s, roughly four decades after the war, and that spending on medical care and disability payments for Vietnam War veterans was still on the rise.
Here follows the description:
“The most common medical
problems suffered by troops returning from the two wars include:
diseases of the musculoskeletal system (principally joint and back
disorders); mental health disorders; central nervous system and
endocrine system disorders; as well as respiratory, digestive, skin and
hearing disorders."FOUR DECADES?
FOUR DECADES OF PAIN AND SUFFERING?
THIS IS HOW WE "SUPPORT", HOW WE "THANK" OUR VETERANS?
In its conclusion, the report not only seeks to dispel illusions that ending full-scale wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would produce any kind of “peace dividend” that could help ameliorate conditions of poverty, unemployment and declining living standards for working people in the US itself, but makes it clear that the legacy of decisions made during the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts would impose significant long-term costs on the federal government for many years to come."
FEW READING THIS WERE THERE, BOOTS ON THOSE SANDS, FACING THE CONSTANT HATRED, THE INCESSANT ASSAULT, THE KNOWLEDGE THAT EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD OUR MILITARY FORCES MET WERE POTENTIAL SUICIDE BOMBERS, SNIPERS, ASSASSINS.
ONLY THOSE WHO HAVE LIVED EVERY DAY LIKE THAT CAN KNOW WHAT HORRORS IT PUTS THE HUMAN MIND THROUGH.
THIS AUTHOR HAS SAT AND LISTENED TO VETERANS WHO SURVIVED KOREA, VIETNAM, THE "GULF" WARS TALK FOR HOURS, EVEN DAYS, AND I OFTEN WISH I HADN'T, BUT THESE ARE THINGS ALL AMERICANS NEED TO KNOW.
ALWAYS, ALWAYS LISTEN TO ANY VETERAN WHO WANTS TO TALK ABOUT IT.
STARTING WITH KOREA, OUR MILITARY HAS FACED ENEMIES WHO USE TACTICS NO CIVILIZED ARMY ON EARTH EVER USED BEFORE.
THEIR PRIME MOTIVE IS TO KILL OUR SONS/DAUGHTERS IN WAYS MOST HUMAN MINDS CANNOT GRASP, TO TORTURE THEM IN THE CRUELEST FASHION, AND EVEN MUTILATE THEIR DEAD AND DYING BODIES.
THEY NEVER ALLOW OUR TROOPS TO REST DAY OR NIGHT.
ALL SOLDIERS GO INTO HARM'S WAY, YES, BUT THE HARM OUR MILITARY FACES IN THE MIDDLE EAST IS MORE HEINOUS THAN ANY THEY'VE EVER FACED BEFORE.
THEY FACE AN ENEMY SWORN TO KILL THEM, AND ALL OF US, SO LONG AS ONE OF THEIR NUMBERS LIVE...WHO USE WOMEN AND CHILDREN AS LIVING WEAPONS TO DESTROY OUR FORCES.
BECAUSE OF ALL THAT, CIVILIAN COMPANIES CHARGE EXORBITANT FEES TO GO INTO THOSE NATIONS, AND OUR GOVERNMENT COMPENSATES THEM WAY MORE THAN IT DOES OUR FIGHTING FORCES.
WHILE OUR DAMNABLE CONGRESS VOTED TO STOP COMBAT PAY FOR OUR TROOPS AND DID NOT EVEN SUPPLY THEM WITH CLEAN WATER OR ENOUGH FOOD OR EVEN CHANGES OF SOCKS AND UNDERWEAR SOMETIMES, THEY PAY PRIVATE CONTRACTORS HANDSOMELY, BECAUSE THEY KNOW WE TAXPAYERS WILL FOOT THE BILLS FOR THAT.
In fiscal year 2014 ALONE, the United States government paid out an astounding $444 billion in federal contracts.
That’s equivalent to almost forty percent of the federal discretionary budget for 2014.
TOP 10 CONTRACTORS, JUST THE TOP 10
Here’s a rundown of the top 10 federal contractors in 2014.
Hint: all of the top 10 contractors are for-profit companies, and all of them owe their status to military spending – something worth keeping in mind as Congress engages in battle over government spending levels for the Pentagon versus every single other priority, including health care, education, and job creation.
10. Huntington Ingalls Industries, $4.7 billion.
Huntington Ingalls describes itself as “America’s largest military shipbuilding company.”
9. BAE Systems, $5.0 billion.
BAE Systems traffics in “defense, aerospace and security solutions” (and yes, they are a British company with significant operations in the U.S.), with products ranging from amphibious combat vehicles to “hyper velocity projectiles.”
8. L-3 Communications Holdings, $5.8 billion.
L-3 bills itself as a “prime contractor in aerospace and national security solutions.” Its products include explosive detection systems and holographic weapons sights, among others.
7. United Technologies Corporation, $6.0 billion.
UTC is a parent company for defense contractors Pratt & Whitney, UTC Aerospace Systems, and Sikorsky. Pratt & Whitney is the maker of the F-35 jet fighter engine, among others, while Sikorsky is the maker of the Black Hawk helicopter.
6. McKesson Corporation, $6.2 billion.
On its face, health care solutions company McKesson appears to be the lone non-military contractor among the group. But even McKesson would not be where it is without our country’s penchant for Pentagon spending: it gets $4.2 billion in contracts from Veterans’ Affairs, and an additional $1.6 billion directly from the Department of Defense.
5. Northrop Grumman Corporation, $10.3 billion.
Northrop Grumman bills itself as providing “unmanned systems, cybersecurity, C4ISR, and security” solutions. Northrop Grumman makes the Air Force’s A-10 Thunderbolt II (also known as the “Warthog”), among others.
4. Raytheon Company, $12.6 billion.
Raytheon’s business includes missile defense, electronic warfare, precision weapons, and more, including Tomahawk and Patriot missiles.
[SPECIAL NOTE: WHILE ALL THESE CORPORATIONS HAVE HAD CHARGES FILED AGAINST THEM FOR VARIOUS THINGS, RAYTHEON (PLUS DYNCORP, ACCUSED OF TRADING IN SEX SLAVES) TOPS THE CHARTS IN VIOLATIONS AND CRIMINAL MISCONDUCT CHARGES.
RAYTHEON ITSELF (AND/OR SOME OF ITS EMPLOYEES) HAS BEEN INDICTED FOR THINGS LIKE CHEATING THE GOVERNMENT, SELLING DEFECTIVE PRODUCTS, MAIL FRAUD, GROSS MISMANAGEMENT OF TOXIC WASTE SITES, OVER-BILLING, BRIBERY, THEFT, RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, WATER CONTAMINATION OF U.S. AIRPORT AND CITIES, AND EVEN PATENT INFRINGEMENT, BUT EVERY YEAR THE FEDS KEEP RAYTHEON ON THE PAYROLL. WHY?
(SOURCES: <HERE> AND <HERE>]
3. General Dynamics Corporation, $15.4 billion.
General Dynamics provides aerospace, combat systems, marine systems, and more, including Abrams tanks, MRAPs (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles, and nuclear submarines through its Electric Boat division.
2. Boeing, $19.6 billion.
Boeing specializes in fighter jets, rotorcraft, advanced weapons, and missile defense, including Minuteman missiles, the V-22 Osprey aircraft, and the F-15 aircraft.
1. Lockheed Martin, $32.2 billion.
That’s 7% of all federal contracts, and the equivalent of three percent of discretionary spending in 2014, to just one company.
That company saw over $5.5 billion in profit, and paid its CEO more than $34 million in 2014. And the $32 billion it received from the U.S. government made up more than seventy percent of its total sales.
And Lockheed’s signature product?
The F-35 jet fighter, which despite being in development since 2001, and being billions of dollars over budget, is not yet combat ready. The F-35’s top initial selling point?
Affordability.
WASTE...THE FEDS WASTE MORE THAN WE CAN COUNT... BUT MOSTLY, THEY ARE PRONE TO WASTE HUMAN LIVES AND ARE HAPPY TO DESTROY THE AMERICAN ECONOMY TO MAKE THE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX HAPPY THAT PRODUCES THE MEANS FOR WARS.
THOSE CORPORATE OFFICES WRITE NICE, BIG CHECKS FOR CONGRESSIONAL AND PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS, AND THAT, MY FRIENDS, THAT CYCLE OF "IF I SCRATCH YOUR BACK, YOU WILL SCRATCH MINE" IS WHY WE'RE WHERE WE ARE , SO DEEP IN DEBT WE CAN NEVER CRAWL OUT, AND WHY THOUSANDS OF OUR SONS/DAUGHTERS WILL NEVER COME HOME ALIVE FROM THE MIDDLE EAST, AND WHY, EVEN IF THEY DO, THEY MAY NEVER KNOW PEACE AGAIN.
WAR...WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?
ASK YOURSELVES THAT, THINK, AND THEN DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT TO DO ABOUT IT.
WAR...WE SEE WHO PROFITS HIGHLY FROM IT, BUT WE MUST ALSO LOOK HARDER AT WHO PAYS.
TO LOSE ONE MORE LIFE OVER THERE IS TOO HIGH A PRICE.
OUR MILITARY NEEDS TO COME HOME, ALL OF THEM, AND GUARD THIS NATION FROM WITHIN.
THEY ARE MORE THAN CAPABLE OF DOING JUST THAT.
I DARE TO SAY THAT THERE IS ALMOST NO 'SOLDIER' WHO DOES NOT WANT TO JUST COME HOME.
WE OWE THEM THAT.
WE OWE THEM, NOT THE ONES WHO SENT THEM THERE, AND NOT THE ONES MAKING MONEY OFF THEIR SUFFERING AND THEIR DEATHS.
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