>Military Keynesianism was a problem a long time ago, but it has nothing to
>do with current U.S. military adventurism.
>
>Bill Samuel, Landover Hills, MD, USA, wsamuel@cpcug.org

I'd disagree with Bill here and suggest that Ju-chang is the more 
astute analyst when it comes to the USA economy.  

The new orders for military equipment and the non-appearance of 
any peace dividend post the Cold War proves that the prime contractor 
irrigation system (military Keynesianism) is still lawyer-capitalism's 
best answer as to how to pump the economy using government spending.  

Even though the USA is $5 trillion in debt (the annual surplus a mere 
drop in the bucket), it continues its profligate spending on killingry, 
and pushes very hard to get governments and military gangs (those 
legitimized by DC) to purchase large orders of same.  

In order to justify such a course, the USA needs to prove that its
arsenal is an instrument of foreign policy and a vital asset on 
the world stage.  This means bringing situations to a boiling point 
in critical areas where these weapons can be used.

The idea is to keep the Russians compliant using loans as leverage,
and to keep hatred and suspicion of the Chinese at a low boil, 
while meanwhile using lots of cruise missiles and bombers on TV,
making the case to USA viewers that big military budgets are the
way to go for the foreseeable future.

In this sense, the picture has become entirely Orwellian, as the 
hype for military solutions feeds a mindset which sees an endless
need for interventions of the military kind.  Both political parties
now push the same agenda, with the Democrats merely shaving a few
percentage points off the Republican proposals.  The driving engine
of jobs jobs jobs in congressional districts where military 
contracting and basing continues is as powerful as ever, roaring
ahead at full throttle, even though the configuration has changed
(more high tech, less ground troop garrisons).

The USA is a highly militarized society, verging on a police state
internally, with more of its population incarcerated (percentage
wise) than just about any advanced economy's.  As Peter Saint James 
pointed out, corporate control is pretty much complete.  As Medal
of Freedom R. Buckminster Fuller wrote in Grunch of Giants: "the
USA we have known is now bankrupt and extinct."  The DCers are by
this time mere puppets of the supranationals, and a side show 
used to keep the compliant and easily hoodwinked USAers believing
they still have an intact democracy.

One question is whether China will have the power to interrupt 
this vicious circle of self-fulfilling Orwellianism (I prefer
that term to "military Keynesianism") or will be forced to play
the game as well, bolstering its side in various hot spots 
around the world, guaranteeing an endless need for new hardware
and military-minded men and women.  Russia tried to step off the
merry-go-round and is making a tough go of putting the brakes 
on unbridled militarism, but so far the USA has refused to follow
suit and its liberalism is starting to embrace the "last/only 
superpower" ethos, girding itself to moralize about why these 
endless wars are necessary -- as usual, the middle class has 
little choice but to ape the corporate party line.

I still think there's a chance of changing the USA's Orwellian
course.  My angle is to expose the weakness of the curriculum 
to students, so they'll learn to question the authority of grade
school teachers early in life -- something with a "trickle up"
effect.  The math/science curriculum is especially in a shambles
and exposing incompetence and/or willful misdirection is easiest 
in these departments.  

As children and younger people awaken to the fact that the adults 
around them are planning a very ugly and militarized future for 
them, they may opt out.  But then, this is always the hope.  It 
usually turns out that we save only barely enough souls to keep 
from destroying the planet altogether, and then the next cycle 
begins.  

One wonders if God needs high drama and suspense just to stay 
amused, or whether our planet is rather in the hands of a devil, 
Christ Jesus being one who worked galliantly to save us from 
ourselves (many say we're already saved, but if that's true, why 
do we make this such a hell hole I wonder?).

Kirby