War—What Is It Good For?

The answer to the question I posed in my title will be a series of posts over the next week or so. The answer is that it favors the elites that run the country. 

Goering at NuremburgHere is what Herman Goering, head of the German Air Force during WWII, said about it:

"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."

-- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials

Since you can't really trust internet quotes, I checked and it appears that he did say this to a reporter at his trial at Nuremberg.

How did the Nazis lead the German people around by the nose? They used "false flags." Here is how Wikipedia describes a false flag operation:

False flag (aka Black Flag) operations are covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is flying the flag of a country other than one's own. False flag operations are not limited to war and counter-insurgency operations, and can be used in peace-time. 

Reichstag After WWIIIn 1933 an unemployed communist immigrant set fire to the German Parliament, the Reichstag. It is not clear if he acted alone or with others. It is not even clear if he actually set the fire. Many think that he was framed. It seems most likely that he did set the fire. What the Nazis did afterwards is what I am referring to. They used it as an excuse to suspend civil liberties. They arrested all prominent communists, including all communist members of the Reichstag itself. By coincidence, this gave the Nazis a majority in parliament. 

The fire was used by the Nazis to seize power. It was probably set by the communist acting alone, but that did not matter. It was the excuse that was needed by the Nazis to justify their actions. 

Of course if no handy arsonist happens to come along, one can be invented. This is what the Nazis did to justify their invasion of Poland. They invented attacks and border incidents. Here is how Wikipedia describes one such incident:

Much of what is known about the Gleiwitz incident comes from the sworn affidavit of Alfred Naujocks at the Nuremberg Trials. In his testimony, he states that he organized the incident under orders from Reinhard Heydrich and Heinrich Müller, the chief of the Gestapo.

On the night of 31 August 1939, a small group of German operatives, dressed in Polish uniforms and led by Naujocks,seized the Gleiwitz station and broadcast a short anti-German message in Polish (sources vary on the content of the message). The Germans' goal was to make the attack and the broadcast look like the work of anti-German Polish saboteurs.

To make the attack seem more convincing, the Germans brought in Franciszek Honiok, a German Silesian known for sympathizing with the Poles, who had been arrested the previous day by the Gestapo. Honiok was dressed to look like a saboteur; then killed by lethal injection, given gunshot wounds, and left dead at the scene, so that he appeared to have been killed while attacking the station. His corpse was subsequently presented as proof of the attack to the police and press. 

I have decided that it is not enough for me to assert that the public is being manipulated. I need to show how this manipulation has worked in history. Most of America's wars are based on false flags and propaganda. Sometimes these supposed incidents are invented. Sometimes the incident occurs. Sometimes the incident is forced on the other side to make them act first. The Spanish American War, WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq all fit this pattern, as we will see over the next two weeks.

Why I Oppose Same Sex Marriage

Many libertarians favor same sex marriage. I am basically a libertarian, but oppose same sex marriage. In a libertarian society, I would not care. But is a society that lacks freedom, like ours, I oppose it. This article tells you why:

On Thursday, administrative judge Solomon A. Metzger ruled that religious liberty did not exempt the seaside retreat, which is associated with the United Methodist Church, from renting its facilities out for purposes that violate its moral beliefs.

In March 2007, Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association declined Harriet Bernstein and Luisa Paster’s request to rent its Boardwalk Pavilion for the ceremony. The couple sued, claiming they had been discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation. In December 2008, the state Division on Civil Rights found the Christian campground had likely violated the state Law Against Discrimination (LAD) and joined the case.

This is the basic problem with same sex marriage is that it is combined with the coercive power of the state to destroy religious liberty. If a religious group can not regulate its own activities on its own property, then there is no limit to what the state might do. 

Surely I am exaggerating. Health and Human Services just announced this gem:

In August 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services issued an interim final rule that will require most health insurance plans to cover preventive services for women including recommended contraceptive services without charging a co-pay, co-insurance or a deductible. The rule allows certain non-profit religious employers that offer insurance to their employees the choice of whether or not to cover contraceptive services. Today the department is announcing that the final rule on preventive health services will ensure that women with health insurance coverage will have access to the full range of the Institute of Medicine's recommended preventive services, including all FDA -approved forms of contraception. Women will not have to forego these services because of expensive co-pays or deductibles, or because an insurance plan doesn't include contraceptive services.

I thought that your plan would not change? What this means is that a religious organization must, if they provide health care, also provide contraception. What if your religion does not believe in artificial contraception? Tough. This will probably means that people who work in Catholic hospitals will have to get their own health insurance since it will no longer be provided by the hospital. The charities effected were graciously given an extra year to obey. 

While I do not agree with the Catholic church's position on birth control, I find it abhorrent that someone would be forced to pay for an act they feel is immoral. Even worse, it is inevitable that the abortion pill RU-486 will be classified as a contraceptive. 

I blogged about Slouching Toward Gomorrah recently. The process is speeding up. 

David Stockman on Crony Capitalism

David Stockman on Crony Capitalism from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.

Moyers is inaccurate in his introduction. He confuses tax rates with taxes. This is a common error. The amount of taxes that the wealthy paid went up even though the marginal tax rate went down. Taxes rates went down for everyone, not just the wealthy. 

Here is an excerpt from the interview:

BILL MOYERS: What do you mean by the free money that banks are using overnight?

Well, by that we mean when the Fed, the Federal Reserve sets the so-called federal funds rate at ten basis points, where it is today, that more or less guarantees banks can go into the Fed window, the discount window, and borrow at ten basis points.

And then you take that money and you buy a government bond that is yielding two percent or three percent. Or buy some corporate bonds that are yielding five percent. Or if you want to really get aggressive, buy some Australian dollars that have been going up. Or buy some cotton futures. And this is really what has been going on in our markets.

The cheap funding, which is guaranteed by the Fed, the investment of that cheap funding into speculative assets and then pocketing the spread. And you can make huge amounts of money as long as the music doesn't stop. And when the music stops then all of a sudden, the cheap, overnight money dries up. This is what's happening in Europe today. This is what happened in 2008.

And then people are stuck with all these risky assets, and they can't fund them. They owe cash to the people they borrowed overnight from or on a weekly basis. That's what creates the so-called contagion. That's what creates the downward spiral. Now, unless we let those burn out, it'll be done over and over. In other words, if, you know, if a lesson isn't learned, then the error will be repeated over and over.

Why I Doubt I Will Vote for Romney

The problem with what Romney is saying is that the government has the authority to decide, without review, who is a "traitor" and who is not. Basically Romney says, "Trust me." While I do think it unlikely that non-Moslems will be charged, so "we" are safe, there is absolutely nothing in the bill to restrict it to anyone. If the government decides you are a terrorist, you are a terrorist. 

I also find it amusing that Romney is reading out of a Democratic play book on the issue of defense spending. Obama is actually not proposing to cut defense. He is proposing to cut the rate of increase in defense spending. When Democrats called reductions in the rate of increase of social spending as "cuts," the Republicans complained it was unfair. Now, suddenly, it is fair. 

My big hope is that Romney is as big a liar as he appears to be and the rhetoric of the campaign will be ignored if he is elected. It is better to raise taxes a little bit, and cut spending a lot, than it is to do nothing. When the crisis hits the government will either print money or make draconian cuts everywhere. I do not understand why everyone can not see this. Probably their "template," their world view, will not let them. 

Guardedly Pessimistic or "The Brain That Wouldn't Die"

More and more people are starting to realize the dire situation our government is in. The reason I am guardedly pessimistic is that I still hope that some changes will be made in our government. I find it difficult to believe that the government will not take some action. But of course there is one of my favorite aphorisms- Never Underestimate the Power of Stupidity. Maybe our government's fiscal policy is like that old movie, "The Brain That Wouldn't Die." 

There are a few people like me who have been predicting this for some time. Personally in order to avoid being dependent on Social Security, I took steps. Many of my contemporaries did not. A lot of my steps did not go as well as I had hoped, but I am working on that. 

Ron Paul was one who understood. He made this comment in April 24, 2002:

“Federal Reserve policy will continue at an expanding rate with massive credit expansion, which will make the dollar crisis worse. Gold will be seen as an alternative to paper money as it returns to its historic role as money. Erosion of civil liberties here at home will continue as our government responds to political fear in dealing with the terrorist threat by making generous use of the powers obtained with the Patriot Act. … The Congress and the president will shift radically, expanding the size and scope of the federal government. This will satisfy both the liberals and the conservatives. Military and police power will grow, satisfying the conservatives. The welfare state, both domestic and international, will expand, satisfying the liberals. Both sides will endorse military interventionism overseas. … During the next decade, the American people will become poorer and less free while they become more dependent upon the government for economic security. … I have no timetable for these predictions, but keep them around and look at them in five to ten years. I hope and pray that I am wrong on all accounts.”

Ron Paul was right of course. 

Doug Casey Research wrote an interesting article last week about government spending entitled "The US Government is Bankrupt." Although I recommend you read the whole thing, if you are so inclined, here is the most important part that explains why the crisis is happening:

As with Social Security, the demographics for Medicare are disastrous. Again, 12% of the population now is over 65, but by 2030 it will be 23%, so, everything being equal, spending is going vastly higher. But it's much worse than that because of skyrocketing medical costs. Note that there is no necessity, in a free market, for medical costs to rise. Rather, they should be expected to fall, like the cost of most technology.

I still do not think that the US Government is bankrupt because I expect they will repudiate Medicare. Are you ready for this? If not I suggest two things you can do right now. Cut your expenses to the bone and save, save, save. Exercise and lose weight. I am starting to do both. Are you ready?