Last off topic post in this thread The difference in WW2 was that tons of normal manufacturing companies immediately started working on military contracts, creating jobs and bringing in tons of revenues and employing tons of people. Today, we have a handful of full time defense contractors who supply everything...you don't see Ford stopping auto production to help make planes and military vehicles by the thousands, thus allowing them to hire a ton of people. I agree the contractors are responsible for thousands of jobs, but the impact of today's wars pales in comparison to what WW2 did for the economy, as now the contractors just reap the profits and keep the hiring at status quo, as they are equipped already to mass produce for the military
I can see your point. The things that wars do - and this is strictly a theoretical discussion - is that they create a ton of jobs in the military, a ton of jobs in manufacturing, and after the war, a ton of jobs in cleaning up after the war, and a perspective that war is not such a good thing and we should care a little bit more about our commuity. What has been lost by a lot of the youth in the world, particularly the ones who are growing up with poor parenting, is a lack of perspective and respect for others and their community. Somehow, if the parenting model is broken - and with single parents it seems to be trending that way, then somewhere it needs to be picked up by the community/government. I don't have an answer, just throwing discussion points out..... DD
The difference between looters/rioters/evil no gooders and REVOLUTIONARIES is who wins. Had the Original Tea Partiers were strung up and hung and then the rest of the country violently put down History would have them as nothing but a bunch of hooligans destroying property You can only kick someone so long . .. before they kick back. If 50 consecutive people come up and kick the ***** out of you then . . . you jump the 51st before he can . . . it is easy to say the 51st person was blameless. . .but from the perspective of the kicked. . . it is not that simple. Rocket River
And here we see the pro-DoD spending DaDakota. But wait, a mere 8 days ago did not our own dear DaDakota, brilliant mind that he is, lament said spending? Verily, I say! What a joyous experience that was, amirite? But not the businessmen and political leaders disenfranchising them, of course! That's just business, you know, civilized savagery. DaDakota praises the "cutthroat business" of austerity measures and bailouts etc that harm an economy and lead to civil unrest, and then thinks a war might solve both problems at once. Machiavelli would be proud. There's not a pot/kettle pic big enough for this obvious attempt to backtrack. Good day!
well USA did stop Hitler from taking over Europe (and beyond) and prevent jews from being exterminated...so it wasn't all that bad.
It's OK if you get mugged by some unemployed kid for the simple reason that you have more money than he does. It's society's fault.
Rhad, I do think we need to cut back, you are completely missing the point. Just because I said that observationally - maybe a war is coming - does not mean I condone one, or think that we should keep spending. There is a vast difference, and I hope you can can see that. One is talking about the impact of a war - primarily economically, the other is talking about balancing the budget and debt... I WANT NO WAR, and I WANT LESS SPENDING ON THE MILITARY.... Just to be clear. DD
What? They are revolutionaries now? These are not revelotuionaries, they have no point, other than "Hey, my buddy is out and got a free PS3, and the cops didn't get him, I am gonna go too"..... This is just a bunch of random. wanton, hooliganism - and honestly I hope the police crack down.... Whomever said that in the Middle East they riot for freedom, while the UK riots for 42" LCD TVs nailed it. DD
I wish he had a legitimate chance. Honestly, what we need is a "Common sense" party.....and a lobby set up for the American people - because right now, all the lobbyists are for big business and they are raping our country - we need a lobby for the common tax payer, someone that will expose the ill that is the lobbyists that drive our government. Our problem is that our government has become a business rather than doing what it should be doing, protecting it's people. DD
England has a long history of riots, and a long history of well-off people dismissing the riots as simple greed and others pointing to the social ills as a root cause of the rioting. Here's a question: did all these people suddenly wake up one day and realize they were greedy and then decide to start rioting? Were they less greedy the previous day? If not, what has changed? Trying to ascribe a single cause to these riots is r****ded. It takes a trigger issue (the shooting) and an established way of doing things that clearly hurts the lower classes. Then, once the rioting STARTS, people start grabbing stuff from shops. When this sort of stuff happens, it never takes long for people to bring out all their class-based mythology and immediately deploy it as an explanation for the events - "this is only happening because poor people are so dumb and lazy and jealous!" No one's going to condone the random acts of idiocy contained in a handful of youtube videos - but the government and the money-hoarders over there have been taking actions over the last year or so that amount to an actual attack on the poor in society. It's ridiculous to think that there wouldn't be any repercussions.
So why not protest and demonstrate outside of gov't buildings as opposed to destroying innocent people's homes and businesses and taking whatever you want?
I'm poor, well I'm working class at least. I grew up on a council estate in one of the more deprived towns in the country. I have a job, I work for a living, I am not rioting. Don't dare group "the poor" or "the working class" in a group with these utter scumbags who are senselessly destroying people's properties and thieving. There is no political or economical justification for these riots imo. Just criminals
I think a more prudent observation would be that your "point" has been neither consistent, clear, or defensible. It's a mishmash of pseudo-babble based on a bizarre collection of random thoughts and perceived historical anecdotes that may or may not be applicable. In regards to the rest of your post, which may be succinctly described as "DaDakota's point, 2nd edition" it would appear that you are trying to separate the observation that "war is good for the economy" with my observation that the economy is a cause of the civil unrest that is the subject of the thread. Noting that the "war is good for the economy" principle is at best shaky, and more likely false given our "modern" capitalism, I would posit your opinion not only untenable but borderline callous. Subsequent arguments that war or forced civil service would somehow cleanse the world on unrest is objective fantasy outside the less-than-pleasant notion that you may, indeed, "cull the herd". I'll stop here and we can take up the usual back-and-forth in D&D, if you like, where I can resort to vague insults without feeling like such a poophead.
