We live in a war time economy, and Trump is willing to be more open about it than most:
The reality is, the war time economy has been here since World War II.
"We are living in the midst of a permanent wartime economy," wrote John Ralston Saul in his book, Voltaire's Bastard, in which he provides his philosophical case that rational thinking has had it's good things, but also had its bad. The armaments industry being one of the bad reasons, and how pervasive it has become, writing, "The most important sector in international trade is not oil or automobiles or airplanes. It is armaments."
John Ralston Saul points out that historically, economically, morally, or just being practical, "in a healthy economy arms would not occupy first place unless that society were at war."
For Saul, the armaments economy came from a rational place, writing:
This explosion in armaments production provides the perfect demonstration of how the rational system works. These enormous industries are the result of conscious policies. They have involved prolonged cooperation between most of the key modern elites-politicians, bureaucrats, corporate managers, staff officers, scientists and economics.
When John Ralston Saul writes, "It is precisely this abstraction which has made it impossible for the citizen to get a handle on the situation," about the armament economy.
That may very well be the reason that we as citizens allow the armament economy to prevail. It's ability to be abstract allows us to continue selling a product of which its purpose is to murder people.
The United States has been at war for 17 years. It's ability to be abstract has made it easier for Americans to allow a war to last thing long, and for their not to be anti-war movements like the one about Vietnam.
If the Afghanistan War was on television like the Vietnam War, it would've ended years ago.
Trump says he is draining the swamp. What he's doing is keeping the same thing moving along, and worse.
Never mind the worst of Trump for a moment. As the screenshot at the top shows, Donald Trump wants to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, because he thinks that will be good for the economy.
This is what John Ralston Saul wrote in Voltaire's Bastards, published in 1992:
It should be remembered that while education, social services and highway construction together add up to less than 15 percent of the 1988 U.S. federal budget, defense's $312 billion represents 33 percent. Moreover, it is generally estimated that one-quarter of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) is military oriented.
So at best, Donald Trump can say he's doing what every other president has done for around 50 years. At best..
The Balance, however, points out how the war time economy is not merely morally incomprehensible, but it's also not as productive:
That $2.1 trillion spent on the War on Terror created 18 million jobs. But if it had gone toward education instead, it would have created almost 38 million jobs. That would have helped end the recession sooner.
We need things to change, but Donald Trump is not even trying. Therefore, fuck him.
And fuck this war time economy bullshit...
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