US Economic Problems: Result of a Careful Plan
TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 8 Aug 2011
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service
Most of the problems that we encounter in life are within our control. Such problems are, relatively speaking, easier to solve than those which are viewed beyond our control. For quite a time now, the United States has been faced with surmountable problems that are affecting radically the very lives of the American people. Since the people are viewed as the backbone of the nation this episode cannot be taken lightly.
Getting to the Source
The best way to solve a problem properly and effectively is to get to its very source from where it derives. Needless to say, this is not enough. We need to have the will-power, determination and perseverance to provide effective ways for a permanent solution. Let us keep in mind the traditional saying: When there is a will there is a way. In a number of instances, we do have the will but, at the same time, we fail to adopt the right means.
When a country, like the United States, develops the habit to interfere periodically in the internal affairs of other nations, there are always going to be serious problems. Moreover, this powerful nation has built some 746 military bases in 146 countries. This has stimulated anger in many especially when such military bases are beginning to be viewed as a threat. Since forcing this super-power to fold up its foreign military bases through a conventional war is viewed as out of question, then a careful plan will have to be developed to this end.
It has to be a strategic plan that the United States would not dream, even remotely, that it is there. Hence, when such a plan eventually starts working and beginning to achieve the desired results the United States becomes faced with a dilemma: Giving full attention on the vital needs of the people, such as health care, social security, education and adequate residential facilities, or simply continuing with its venture of seeking conflicts and promoting wars.
Co-incidentally, the United States has only two major political parties that are diametrically opposite in their philosophy of government and priorities in the kind of actions that need to be carried out. The Republicans are mainly concerned with defending and promoting the interests of big corporations and the wealthy. In fact, when it comes to taxation they say it has to be 10% across the board. This means that those that make, say, ten million dollars a year will pay only one million in taxes. They will not notice the difference and still remain rich.
Governmental Irresponsibility
At the same time, a family with children that makes twenty thousand dollars a year, not enough today to make ends meet, will have to pay in taxes the 10% across the board, that is, two thousand dollars! Hence, in the Republican agenda, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. This reveals a great lack of common sense. No wonder why so many Americans do not have adequate home facilities, and do not have enough money to have enough food on table and to pay their monthly bills!
To turn an insult into injury, the Republican slogan is: Let’s take the government off the back of the people. This means Republicans want to turn the power of the government in the hands of the private sector, thus paving the way for corporations to exploit the people’s human potential mercilessly. And, in this case, the government would do nothing to protect the people from any kind of abuse. In other words, they abdicate their responsibility to do what the people who elect them want them to do, namely, to govern.
The ultimate goal of Republicans is to spend endless money on the manufacture and sales of weapons and the promotion of endless wars. This has been tangibly evidenced in the recent financial problems the United States experienced when its financial assets were on the verge of total collapse. The Republicans would cut all money from the vital needs of the people, such as social security, Medicare and Medicaid as well as from education and health care needs of the people in general, but not one lousy dollar from the weapons industry and the military industrial complex.
On the other hand, the majority of Democrats want to cut money from the tremendous excess that is being spent on weapons and wars. Some of the US military bases have been costing the United States one billion dollars monthly to keep them going. It has been calculated that if the USA closed merely 50% of its foreign military bases, there would be food and medicine for all the poor and low income people for many years to come. Besides, all Americans would receive free education from the cradle to the grave.
What most US government officials believe to be the greatest strength and security of the nation is increasingly becoming their greatness weakness to the detriment of the entire USA. Unless drastic steps are taken to reverse this trend, the USA, as we know it today, will cease to exist before we even know it. Let us now examine properly this carefully formulated plan by all those who feel hatred and animosity toward this nation. In the first place, the time when wars are fought between nations in a conventional way, it’s now over.
Carefully Formulated Plan
To realize this formulated plan to destroy the USA may we may keep in mind the following. The people are the backbone of the nation. Without people there is no nation. This means that a nation is strong and weak as its people. If the people are healthy, and well educated, if their potential is developed to the maximum as to create beneficial industries, everyone will be a winner and no one a loser. Then the future strength of the USA is guaranteed to last endlessly. On the other hand, if the people tend to be unhealthy, barely educated, and constantly face financial problems, then the USA becomes in serious trouble.
This philosophy led to the creation of so called terrorists whose job is not to wage a conventional war with the USA, but to create scenarios that would alert the US government with animosity and uncertainty. They started in 2001 with the destruction of the twin towers in New York. Their purpose was hopefully to force the United Sates to react by showing its machismo in having as many overseas military bases as possible and in creating more sophisticated weapons and highly expensive military equipment.
To this end, the so called terrorists know very well that sooner or later the entire nation will enter into a serious financial crisis since the money spent on weapons and wars is viewed as wasted money for all practical purposes. This is very easy to understand. When a nation manufactures cars, for example, money is made by those who sell them. Besides, those that buy such cars will use them to go to work and make a lot of money in return. Here we have a win-win situation since the items produced prove to be fully constructive.
However, the manufacture of weapons and conventional war material is destructive, that is, the money spent on such items may be viewed as wasted. On the other hand, if such material is used then we witness the destruction of infrastructure of cities and the endless killing of numerous innocent people. In this case we have a lose-lose situation. If such money went from the outset to provide people with a good health care system, excellent education and adequate housing facilities, the nation would have become stronger.
The so called terrorists figure out that all people have the same basic needs. They all want to eat when they are hungry and to drink when they are thirsty. They all look for medical assistance when they feel sick and they all want to have a home where they could live decently. They also know well from history that when people are made to suffer by their government for a long time, they all tend to revolt sooner or later and to have their government replaced. The plan of the so called terrorists to destroy the USA is very simple.
Negative and Destructive Consequences
They want to perform actions that would force the United States to put all of its money and wealth into the production of negative and destructive material, such as weapons and military equipment that has been prepared to fight traditional conventional wars, where you know who is the enemy that had always been linked to a nation. This explains why in the traditional conventional wars we always had nations fighting against other nations. There was a time when the United States seemed to understand this in one way or another.
This explains why under the last democratic administration headed by President Bill Clinton there was a surplus of $800 billion dollars. Dialogues and diplomacy played then a very big role. By way of contrast, the subsequent republican administration headed by President George W. Bush left $2 trillion dollars deficit. This was due to the fact that Republicans tended to solve all problems through the manufacture and sales of weapons and the promotion of struggles and wars. Besides, republicans always worked primarily for the benefit of rich corporations, for all the millionaires and billionaires you can imagine.
For quite a time now, the weapons industry and the military industrial complex have emerged to become a very lucrative business that created multi-millionaires, including some US government officials as well. Through these negative elements, money is made fast, even though many cities are destroyed and millions of people massacred. These disasters are viewed merely as collateral damage. The so called terrorists are fully aware that when the USA creates such disasters, the native populations will turn against Americans as a result.
Great animosity is created and those that survive the merciless killing by the US military tend to lose the will to live and try to do something negative against Americans. This explains, in a way, the story of the so called suicide bombers. In spite of the recent financial crisis the United States had to go through, all republicans and quite a few democrats as well, wanted to cut money from the vital needs of the people but not from the weapons industry and the military industrial complex.
In view of what has been stated, here are some lessons we need to learn and to keep constantly in mind:
A nation is as strong and weak as its people. If the people are healthy, properly educated, and have adequate home facilities then we will have a productive nation that is fully self-sufficient.
The military is not a humanitarian organization. Its job is to destroy the infrastructure of cities and even massacre innocent civilians to achieve its objectives. This way it instigates terrorism by way of reaction.
The weapons industry and the military industrial complex have emerged to become a very lucrative business. Weapons and military equipment is sold to anyone that would give the right price.
Those in the US government that advocate more US foreign military bases, warships, and sophisticated weapons, such as the drones, should have their financial assets fully investigated.
Since the US news media is owned by big corporations, there is heavy censorship involved. Because of this there is hardly ever one single word uttered which is critical of the military, struggles and wars.
Regardless of what we may hear to the contrary, the US government is noticeably crippled; the real power is invested in big corporations, which control US government officials with iron fist.
The political campaign of those running for a high office is generally characterized by deception. In theory they want to promote the vital needs of people but in practice they promote the interests of big corporations.
The military in history has never served to secure a genuine and lasting peace; it always helped to promote violence which breeds more violence. For the military peace is turning a nation into a virtual cemetery.
The most gigantic step the United States could take to bring a perpetual solution to its financial crisis is to downsize considerably its military, starting with the closing of as many military bases as possible.
One of the US greatest mistakes has been to try to assume the role of the United Nations on a global scale, which forced it to become the policeman of the world to its total financial detriment.
The problems the United States is facing at this stage of history do not come merely from plans of so called terrorists; they come also from the US government’s reckless spending on weapons and wars.
In conclusion, the American people should replace without hesitation all government officials who advocate more military expenditures with those who advocate drastic cuts in military budget. We need to select political figures in government who are truly concerned with health care, social security, education and housing facilities of the people above the interests of big corporations.
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Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – President, International Association of Educators for World Peace, Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education, Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament.
-Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University.
-Hon President & Professor, SBS Swiss Business School, Zurich.
-Member, TRANSCEND-A Network for Peace, Development and Environment.
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 8 Aug 2011.
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