Hey, We Need That Money for War

 

An acquaintance of mine is schizophrenic and addicted to drugs. The last time he was left on his own he got hit by a car and was badly injured. His physical wounds are mostly healed, so he will soon be released from the hospital.

However, he is unable to function on his own. He needs to be in a residential facility or halfway house. But those are all full around here. Our country simply does not have enough money to care for people like him.

My wife, meanwhile, was on the board of directors of the local Boys and Girls Club for several years. They did very important work providing after-school structure and guidance for some of the local kids most in need of it. But their facility got too old to maintain and they had constant difficulty getting enough donations to stay in business. They had to close for many months, though they do hope to reopen eventually and provide services from the basement of a church.

Our country, in other words, doesn’t have enough money for minimal youth services either.

Fortunately, though, we have billions (or trillions, depending on how you measure such things) to subsidize a “defense industry” that can barely keep up with the demand for fighter jets, one- to two-thousand pound bombs, new and improved napalm (white phosphorus), tanks, machine guns, and other materiel needed by our allies in the defense of freedom and human rights all around the world.

It does seem odd, though, that those allies are governed by some of the very worst murderers, torturers, homophobes, and misogynists in the world. They include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel, plus various psychopaths in Central and South America.

One of the ways this works is that the weapons manufacturers set up “think tanks” to advocate for more war spending. The think tanks pose as enclaves of dispassionate scholars carefully analyzing complex issues. Then they issue reports and “white papers” explaining why more and more money needs spending on “defense.” You might have heard of some of them. They include The Hudson Institute, the Rand Corporation, and the National Center for a New American Security (NCAS).

That last one, the NCAS, is quite the player. An article at “Responsible Statecraft” observes that it is: “one of the think tanks leading the charge in highlighting the threat from Beijing.” And, by no coincidence:

They [NCAS] also received at least $8,946,000 from 2014-2019 from the U.S. government and defense contractors, including over $7 million from defense contractors like Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Huntington Ingalls, General Dynamics, and Boeing who would stand to make billions if the 500-ship fleet [it recommended] were enacted.

These war-happy think tanks are also very good at getting their recommendations into the news. A recent study looked at who the Washington Post, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal turned to for citations on the Ukraine-Russia war. One result:

…85 percent of the think tank citations they made went to those bankrolled by the weapons industry. Since the conflict started, the stocks of corporations like Raytheon, Lockheed martin, and Northrup Grumman have spiked as the West has spent more on arms. ( Revealed: How Arms-Industry Think Tanks Push America to War )

One final observation: This arrangement between the war industry, their think tanks, the press, the U.S. lawmakers, and the Pentagon appears to be completely isolated from two-party politics. It purrs right along no matter who is in the White House or Congress.