America's Zombies

No sector has more zombies in it than America’s ‘national security’ industry. Dwight Eisenhower warned the nation in 1961 to watch out for the ‘military-industrial complex.’ He might have saved his breath. The zombies had already taken over. The US was already spending more on ‘defence’ than the net income of all American corporations put together.

“In the years since,” writes Todd Purdum in Vanity Fair, “the trend has warped virtually every aspect of national life, with consequences that are quite radical in their cumulative effect on the economy, on the vast machinery of official secrecy, on the country’s sense of itself, and on the very nature of national government in Washington.  And yet the degree to which America has changed is noticed by almost no one – not in any visceral way.  The transformation has taken hold too gradually and over too long a period.  Almost no one alive today has a mature, firsthand memory of a country that used to be very different…”

“You may have noticed not much difference between Obama’s military policies and those of George W Bush. Why? Because a zombie military is almost impossible to cut down to size. It has already corrupted the political process. Now, the zombies cannot be stopped or controlled,”  said Moneyweeks Bill Bonner 

A bankrupt government can cut almost anything else. But not its military. National security industry insiders glide easily into the seats left by politicians who try to stop them. Ex-generals counsel wimpy Congressmen. Flies and flakes buzz around the trillion-dollar ‘defence’ honey pot.

Military spending rose about 70% during the George W Bush years. Today, the US spends 43 cents of every dollar of military spending anywhere in the world. And now, with the hysteria of “terrorism” and a “nuclear Iran,” who will oppose it?

Many of America’s biggest manufacturers are weapons producers – Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop-Grumman, L3 and KBR. The jump in employment numbers was largely the result of government hiring. We have seen a figure over 40% for the portion of domestic manufacturing devoted to the zombie defence industry. Among the most profitable businesses in the country are surely the 2,000 corporations getting money for counter-terrorism, homeland security, military intelligence and other boondoggles. 

In Washington itself, 33 new building complexes have been put up since 2001 whose occupants are somehow involved in top-secret activities. 

Yes, dear reader, the armed zombies pretend to protect the ‘land of the free’. But they are its biggest enemies. In 2011, they put through a new defence spending bill which removed Americans’ ancient habeas corpus rights. The Commander in Chief also asserted, and exercised, the right to kill anyone, anywhere on his own say-so. And both the president and Congress continued to spend money they didn’t have on cockamamie boondoggles even though it is obvious that the nation is going broke.

It is only a matter of time now. The US Empire will be stabbed in the back by its own protectors.