5 ms·

War Is a Racket

51 points by simonebrunozzi 3y ago

mrdobilina 3y ago
I like to think of it like "bloody construction work"
focusedone 3y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36074845 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36074845
coffeeshopgoth 3y ago
Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #34: War is good for business. Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #35: Peace is good for business.
- m463 3y ago
  Never heard of these before - they are fun :) https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Ferengi_Rules_of_Acquisition https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Ferengi_Rules_of_Acquisi... wonder if there's someone somewhere who is keeper of the rules. Or a council of franchise meta-rules.
  - williamcotton 3y ago
    It was Gene Roddenberry and then Rick Berman and then nobody which explains the current roster of Star Trek shows on Paramount+!
simonh 3y ago
> The only way to smash this racket is to conscript capital and industry and labour before the nation's manhood can be conscripted.. We do conscript capital to fund military spending, through taxation. It’s levied across the whole society according to ability to pay. There are always arguments about who should pay what, but thats what democratic politics is there to mediate. Of course there is an argument that since individuals face conscription into the military, so why not conscript industry? But of course the US government had already laid down the legal basis for this by 1935 when this book was published. In fact they did so during WW2 in the form of commandeering, the power to compel any producer in the country to accept war orders, along with the imposition of price controls.
- landemva 3y ago
  > It’s levied across the whole society according to ability to pay. In US, sales tax is not based on ability to pay. The very rich often have minimal W-2 income, so they often opt out of progressive income taxes.
  - simonh 3y ago
    No idea, I’m a Brit so not familiar with the details of the US tax system. I’m mostly talking generally about free societies, as the sentiment in the book is broadly applicable. There are many forms of tax. If the system is unfair, sure, it should be fixed. Fundamentally though, my point is that the job of commandeering capital is taxation.
  - achates 3y ago
    Sales taxes are state taxes, they don't pay for the military (except for the national guard, but they're tiny and the feds pay when they deploy abroad).
sharts 3y ago
Yes. And we all support it because life is easier that way.
lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 3y ago
Politicians hide themselves away They only started the war Why should they go out to fight? They leave that role to the poor -- "War Pigs" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc5Nk1DXyEY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc5Nk1DXyEY
syndicatedjelly 3y ago
Hot take: there should be more VC-backed war startups. Call it "wartech". We spend an epic shitton of money per second on the military industrial complex, it would be nice to see a few startups actually try to make things less expensive somehow.
- wpwpwpw 3y ago
  what about not engaging on wars to start with?
  - Sabinus 3y ago
    Because groups of people sometimes come to intractable disagreements, where the cost of fighting is less than the perceived cost of backing down.
- boffinAudio 3y ago
  Hotter take: VC's should invest in diplomacy and cross-cultural pollination that promotes peace between neighboring states, and not war. (Hint: they already do! That's why we haven't all died yet.)
1MachineElf 3y ago
The Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex anime touches upon this theme, although from an angle more akin to the cyberpunk genre versus 20th century military industrial complex. SPOILER ALERT The extremely skilled and elusive hacker which they're investigating, the one that has been plaguing/blackmailing corporations for 5 years, turns out to be mostly* an illusion. The corporations and ruling political party leadership worked together in a scheme to create fake cyber attacks, get them highly publicized, and then profit from government relief/bailout money. Regular people believe someone is terrorizing the country's multinational companies, when in reality, it's just a racket. *The legendary hacker is actually out there, but their actual role in the story is somewhat of a plot twist.
- tnecniv 3y ago
  My memory is kind of sketchy due to its insane complexity, but that’s also the main story point of the Metal Gear (Solid) games. Certain individuals gain massive wealth in the chaos of WW2. They use these resources to further enrich themselves and protect their fortune via manipulating political systems. Eventually these characters are basically all dead (…or are they?!) and the AIs they built to manipulate these systems continue to drive political conflicts on their own to the service of nobody.
AtomicOrbital 3y ago
Best preparation for real war is to continually war on something easier ... I hate the insurance business however low grade war is insurance against real war
euroderf 3y ago
War is Menstruation Envy

War Is a Racket

mrdobilina 3y ago

I like to think of it like "bloody construction work"

focusedone 3y ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36074845 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36074845

coffeeshopgoth 3y ago

Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #34: War is good for business. Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #35: Peace is good for business.

m463 3y ago
Never heard of these before - they are fun :) https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Ferengi_Rules_of_Acquisition https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Ferengi_Rules_of_Acquisi... wonder if there's someone somewhere who is keeper of the rules. Or a council of franchise meta-rules.
- williamcotton 3y ago
  It was Gene Roddenberry and then Rick Berman and then nobody which explains the current roster of Star Trek shows on Paramount+!

simonh 3y ago

> The only way to smash this racket is to conscript capital and industry and labour before the nation's manhood can be conscripted.. We do conscript capital to fund military spending, through taxation. It’s levied across the whole society according to ability to pay. There are always arguments about who should pay what, but thats what democratic politics is there to mediate. Of course there is an argument that since individuals face conscription into the military, so why not conscript industry? But of course the US government had already laid down the legal basis for this by 1935 when this book was published. In fact they did so during WW2 in the form of commandeering, the power to compel any producer in the country to accept war orders, along with the imposition of price controls.

landemva 3y ago
> It’s levied across the whole society according to ability to pay. In US, sales tax is not based on ability to pay. The very rich often have minimal W-2 income, so they often opt out of progressive income taxes.
- simonh 3y ago
  No idea, I’m a Brit so not familiar with the details of the US tax system. I’m mostly talking generally about free societies, as the sentiment in the book is broadly applicable. There are many forms of tax. If the system is unfair, sure, it should be fixed. Fundamentally though, my point is that the job of commandeering capital is taxation.
- achates 3y ago
  Sales taxes are state taxes, they don't pay for the military (except for the national guard, but they're tiny and the feds pay when they deploy abroad).

sharts 3y ago

Yes. And we all support it because life is easier that way.

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 3y ago

Politicians hide themselves away They only started the war Why should they go out to fight? They leave that role to the poor -- "War Pigs" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc5Nk1DXyEY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc5Nk1DXyEY

syndicatedjelly 3y ago

Hot take: there should be more VC-backed war startups. Call it "wartech". We spend an epic shitton of money per second on the military industrial complex, it would be nice to see a few startups actually try to make things less expensive somehow.

wpwpwpw 3y ago
what about not engaging on wars to start with?
- Sabinus 3y ago
  Because groups of people sometimes come to intractable disagreements, where the cost of fighting is less than the perceived cost of backing down.
boffinAudio 3y ago
Hotter take: VC's should invest in diplomacy and cross-cultural pollination that promotes peace between neighboring states, and not war. (Hint: they already do! That's why we haven't all died yet.)

1MachineElf 3y ago

The Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex anime touches upon this theme, although from an angle more akin to the cyberpunk genre versus 20th century military industrial complex. SPOILER ALERT The extremely skilled and elusive hacker which they're investigating, the one that has been plaguing/blackmailing corporations for 5 years, turns out to be mostly* an illusion. The corporations and ruling political party leadership worked together in a scheme to create fake cyber attacks, get them highly publicized, and then profit from government relief/bailout money. Regular people believe someone is terrorizing the country's multinational companies, when in reality, it's just a racket. *The legendary hacker is actually out there, but their actual role in the story is somewhat of a plot twist.

tnecniv 3y ago
My memory is kind of sketchy due to its insane complexity, but that’s also the main story point of the Metal Gear (Solid) games. Certain individuals gain massive wealth in the chaos of WW2. They use these resources to further enrich themselves and protect their fortune via manipulating political systems. Eventually these characters are basically all dead (…or are they?!) and the AIs they built to manipulate these systems continue to drive political conflicts on their own to the service of nobody.

AtomicOrbital 3y ago

Best preparation for real war is to continually war on something easier ... I hate the insurance business however low grade war is insurance against real war

euroderf 3y ago

War is Menstruation Envy