Bad Wigins wrote:
Almost the entire US economy consists of the production and trade of useless and harmful things, including a bloated military.
What the MIC does is at best completely unnecessary and at worst harmful both to the US and other countries. With a huge nuclear arsenal, no other country will attack it regardless of its conventional strength. The army's purpose is to
) sit around in "allied" countries doing nothing at all
) stir up trouble in other countries to have something to do
) look good on TV
Public relations is probably its most important role, as the easiest way to control the country is to drum up lots of terrorists to scare the people, then show them the mighty army that will protect them from the terrorists. Then the people say "I love the government" and do as they're told.
The vast majority of US trade is consumer spending, which amplified the economic crash because consumers don't like buying useless things in a bad economy. They have to be carefully tracked and targeted by marketers to buy anything at all.* Without the government making them pay taxes and spending it on a bloated military, capitalism would collapse permanently.
Well said.