PTSD musings from a non-veteran.

[Senior citizen]

I don't think it is so much that Communists are our enemy, as that Communist ideology is a threat to corporate profits. Socialized medicine, for example, threatens the big pharmaceutical companies. But sending our people to fight is a boon to corporate profits, because if they survive, they'll probably need tons of medication to keep them from going postal.

So, if I understand it correctly, a person might enlist because it is the only way they can get medical coverage for themself and their family, may be sent to kill people in other countries (we're the only country without a national health plan, so all other countries must be on the subversive list), and, should they survive, is likely to be medicated for the rest of their life.

I'm not sure I know where I'm going with this, I just know that I woke up in the middle of the night wondering if pharmaceutical corporations are part of the military-industrial complex.

[applegrove]

1. Oh - I hate that expression. But having PTSD - a non veteran - yes

they have amazing drugs. And yes they are expensive now. But will be less so (?) in the future.

I cannot go where you are - thinking that Pharmaceutical corporations would be actually rubbing their hands at the thought of war. Perhaps they do.

I think though that the Bush WH proved one thing. That 'perpetual war' does not work. War is messy. You cannot win one if you are not from there to begin with. In the end, the people themselves have to deal with their own dam selves. You can peacekeep. You can have a humanitarian intervention. But you can not win it simply by going to war and fighting. You have to let markets develop. You have to give something to the minority parties. They forgot somehow that the 19th Century wars were fought under rules where everyone had a uniform in a distinct color and line up on two sides. If you wanted to have a beer and you were poor, you had to join the army. Not that way anymore. Unless you go in with an overwhelming number of soldier so that you can keep the peace - you do not have a successful (?) war.

I hope that is what neocons are learning. That you just simply will never come up with a better idea than all that has been tried.

I guess I am more optimistic than you.

[whistle]

2. That's why America has become Nazified.....

....Hitler's Nazi party was fanatically anti-communist, but highly totalitarian that provided socialized programs for the working class to keep them distracted from the real goals of the party which were to dominate Europe and rigidly pro-corporate wealth to lock in their power base. America has been doing the same thing throughout the last 60 years.

Then Bush comes along and begins to default on America's social programs, while allowing corporations to outsource jobs, cut out key benefits such as medical insurance and default on retirement/pension plans of their workforce, thus threatening both the poor and the middle class stability in this country.

Bush's ownership society is nothing more than a massive horde of shop keepers, free lance workers, internet spam mailers and network marketing entrepreneurs, who seek to scratch out a living wherever they are able to find a "buck". They incorporate as sub-chapter S companies and use friends or relatives as workers and bookkeepers.

They hide or knowingly under report the bulk of their incomes in order to avoid paying taxes. They live off meager savings they might have, borrow on the equity they might have in their property or homes, use credit cards as working capital and declare personal expenses as business development or operating costs. Many of these small business enterprises even falsify expenses and use electronic business accounting software that has no paper trails to simulate transactions that never happen, gambling that the IRS will be too understaffed and under budgeted to hit their company with an IRS audit. After several years of pursuing this American dream, if they are lucky, they will sell out or declare bankruptcy, wipe the slate clean and repeat the process or go back into the corporate job market.

We have a bullshit president, heading up a bullshit political party that claims to be creating a new bullshit economy for the 21st century, feeding the American people with a bullshit American dream that for the past five years has feed off looting the capital and savings of the middle class and creating the illusion of prosperity by amassing over $3 trillion in new debt and stealing over $1.6 trillion in excess social security taxes that were paid into the assumed surplus.

Now as his legacy for his final term in office, George Bush plans to default on those social security notes he relied upon to fund his tax cuts and war machine. He will do this by pitting the younger generation of the under 30 crowd against the elderly and soon to retire by wiping out social security altogether for younger workers. This maneuver will force younger workers and the small business owners to invest in private accounts for future retirement making them vulnerable to highly risky and non-secured stocks, bonds and other financial instruments not yet invented. Management fees of these private accounts will skim off up to 30% of these accounts leaving these young workers with uncertain amounts to retire on. The already retired and soon to be retired will loose more than 30% in future benefits, while inflation and rising costs of essentials like medical care and prescription medications will accelerate far beyond the future fixed income streams to pay for most of these older Americans. Happy Memorial weekend.

[jimshoes]

3. Nicely said whistle,

especially the part about the sub s corps.

[whistle]

4. Thank you....