empire is expensive. isolation is nothing more than a pipe dream. it's been that way since 1945. the misplaced priority lay with the entire national security state, which was elaborated as institutional frame and patronage network from the immediate post world war 2 period onward in the context of the cold war. good for business, that. republicans love the national security state. they can't throw enough money at it. democrats aren't much better.
what i am curious about sometimes is how the industries that get military procurement deals are organized. because there's an argument that shiny weapon systems provide jobs---and they do----but it's not obvious americans get those jobs. and that's necessarily ok. profit uber alles. o yes.
__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
|