Monday, February 13, 2006

Military Socialism

Not just a news report, this, but one to make you think a bit. A couple of excerpts:

All sorts of modern corporations got where they were because of military socialism, especially the automobile and oil industries. As EPI showed, the American economy is addicted to it: since 2001 a little under half of the 3.4 million new jobs created have been paid for by the Pentagon (and another 1.3 million have been created by non-defense discretionary spending; more socialism!).

And the other question is whether even more jobs could be created if some of those Pentagon dollars were shifted to direct spending on housing and infrastructure. That seems quite likely, and this was Melman's view—as for instance, he argued in a 2003 Counterpunch essay. If we're going to have a socialist system here in America—and already we have a Federal Reserve Chairman who perhaps exercises as much control over the U.S. economy as GOSPLAN ever did in the Soviet Union—we may as well do it right.

1 comment:

Hadrian said...

No you ignorant lefty-- the government has had nothing to do with it. All American prosperity is the result of hardworking and underpaid CEO's. It's the free market. The free market is like a god, no, wait, it is GOD. If there were no government at all, we would all be wealthy entrepeneurs. All of us!