4 ms·

Well, except the defense industry. The guys who sell you x-ray machines and bomb sniffing dogs and private security services. And the companies who build mili

by ohyes 9y ago

Well, except the defense industry. The guys who sell you x-ray machines and bomb sniffing dogs and private security services. And the companies who build military tanks, planes, and ships. And the companies that build guns, body-armor and night vision goggles. And the ones that want you to be scared because scared people are easy to manipulate. Oh, that stuff represents a shit-ton of the federal budget? Weird. I guess it's just a really dangerous world, nothing to be done about it...

dsfyu404ed 9y ago
The parts of the defense industry you listed are the parts that benefit most from arms races between well funded nation states and proxy wars. Basic hardware is cheap. Anyone can make it and that drives down price. The Mexican police can buy cheap guns and bullets from whoever they want. Stuff like radar systems and guided missiles are what makes it into the highlights list of the quarterly all hands.
- ohyes 9y ago
  9/11 (an incident of mass murder) caused the US to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, surely that sold enough guided missiles, attack helicopters and radar systems to make the quarterlies for a few years. It also sold a ton of those bomb search machines and led to a couple of huge wings of the government (NSA and TSA). Cheney's Haliburton stock being a singular example of this type of violence being beneficial to certain corporate interests. People with power and money are much more cynical that we'd like to believe.
  - dsfyu404ed 9y ago
    >People with power and money are much more cynical that we'd like to believe. Than you'd like to believe. I have no illusions.
    - ohyes 9y ago
      Indeed, I would personally prefer to live in the world where our leaders are idealists trying to make the world a better place rather than war-profiteers.
      - jessaustin 9y ago
        I'd prefer to live in the world with fewer leaders, each of whose leadership is inflicted on fewer of his fellow human beings.

by ohyes 9y ago

dsfyu404ed 9y ago

The parts of the defense industry you listed are the parts that benefit most from arms races between well funded nation states and proxy wars. Basic hardware is cheap. Anyone can make it and that drives down price. The Mexican police can buy cheap guns and bullets from whoever they want. Stuff like radar systems and guided missiles are what makes it into the highlights list of the quarterly all hands.

ohyes 9y ago
9/11 (an incident of mass murder) caused the US to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, surely that sold enough guided missiles, attack helicopters and radar systems to make the quarterlies for a few years. It also sold a ton of those bomb search machines and led to a couple of huge wings of the government (NSA and TSA). Cheney's Haliburton stock being a singular example of this type of violence being beneficial to certain corporate interests. People with power and money are much more cynical that we'd like to believe.
- dsfyu404ed 9y ago
  >People with power and money are much more cynical that we'd like to believe. Than you'd like to believe. I have no illusions.
  - ohyes 9y ago
    Indeed, I would personally prefer to live in the world where our leaders are idealists trying to make the world a better place rather than war-profiteers.
    - jessaustin 9y ago
      I'd prefer to live in the world with fewer leaders, each of whose leadership is inflicted on fewer of his fellow human beings.