So Many Complexes

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.” ― Dwight D. Eisenhower 

President Eisenhower's original draft included Congress but he felt he had spent so much of his energy fighting the military that he didn't have the wherewithal to take on congress, too. 

I use this photo to drive home the magnitude of our expenditures on things military. Here's another way to look at things from a current perspective: http://world-defece-review.blogspot.com/2013/01/top-10-largest-air-forces-2013.html 

Nation TOTAL AIRCRAFT: TOTAL HELICOPTERS:

1) US AIR FORCE                           15293                   6665

2) RUSSIAN AIR FORCE              4274                   1426

3) CHINA                                         2743                       96

4) INDIAN AIR FORCE                1962                     559

5) IRAN AIR FORCE                     1858                     800

6)NORTH KOREA                         1667                     237

7)PAKISTAN AIR FORCE            1531                     589

8)TURKISH AIR FORCE             1512                     570

9) UNITED KINGDOM (UK)         1412                     367

10) JAPAN                                      1252                     258

No country is a threat to us. We are a threat to MANY. That’s just wrong!

Of the top 10 largest air powers, we rank number one, with TOTAL AIRCRAFT:15293, TOTAL HELICOPTERS:6665; China has 2743 AIRCRAFT and 96 HELICOPTERS. Of the other nine, 7 are our Allies (maybe not friends, but allies). 

Look also at the number of countries whose air forces use US MADE planes, many of them sold/given to them on credit to keep our military-industrial complex (MIC) going. 

Let’s put our military spending in perspective. We’re spending some $700 million/year on defense. That's $2,222 for every man, woman and child (assuming 315M population). 

We spend 13% less (only $1943 for every man, woman and child) on K-12 education. Does it make sense to you that we spend more per person to 'defend' each American than we do to educate them? Especially when we have no 'enemy' with war capacities anywhere near our own, and where the combined forces of ourselves and our allies dwarfs any other possible combination? 

We are spending money on equipment that will fill more desert sands without EVER having flown a combat mission -- at the expense of our children and their futures.

Post Script:

President Eisenhower cited the Military-Industrial-Complex. I have given this a lot of thought as I work on my documentary on the scam of prescription drugs. I am looking at the Pharmacy-Congressional complex (they rigged Medicare Part D). 

There's also the Agri-congressional complex, the healthcare-congressional complex, the insurance-congressional complex, the education-congressional complex, the Big Oil-congressional complex, the transportation-congressional complex, the list goes on. After I complete this documentary, I will tackle yet another congressional complex. Have a preference? Let me know.