War has always been a racket. The first such racket that I learned about was when certain Senators in ancient Rome became involved in investing in certain businesses that produced badly needed things for war such as swords, shields, and food. They would make secret investments in these businesses and then begin making inflammatory speeches in the Senate designed to convince the rest of the Senate to declare war on some other people living more or less nearby, such as elsewhere in Europe. The Senate would declare war, the troops would pack up to leave, the management of the army would purchase huge amounts of swords, shields, and food from a certain supplier (in which our lucky Senator friend had made a huge investment), then go marching off to war. Rome generally won such wars, and the lucky Senator was then able to build a large villa for himself on the pleasure island of Capri.
I am sure the same process was carried out over and over again through all human history before and after the Roman Empire, but this was the first such process that I learned about in my school years.
Another great example closer to my American home is our early American wars. "In 1800 Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours and his family immigrated to the United States from France. Pierre's son, Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, was a French-American chemist and industrialist who was impressed by the quality of American gunpowder used for hunting guns and pistols. In 1802, Éleuthère began building a gunpowder mill on the Brandywine River near Wilmington, Delaware, using equipment and capital raised in France. The mill, which he named Eleutherian Mills, began operating in 1803." [the previous quote was obtained by doing a Google Advanced Search for these 5 words - dupont 1800 france america gunpowder, and then copying the text returned to me by Google AI] The Dupont family business sold gunpowder to the US Department of War and made a huge fortune quickly as the US went to war more and more often.
When the Civil War broke out in the USA, some war businesses sold spoiled meat and other inferior foods to the military of both sides. They had a captive customer and took as much advantage of it as possible.
The USA's military is far larger now, and its wars have turned into a racket and possibly the biggest of all business in the US. The businesses that sell things to the military are still delivering lower than top quality goods to the military. It is all a racket and individual soldiers are the biggest losers.
Thanks Bill. Yes, the racket is an old one, and various interests are served by them. As far as the biggest losers, I would think that they would be the people on the wrong end of the weapons, provided that the weapons worked. :)
War has always been a racket. The first such racket that I learned about was when certain Senators in ancient Rome became involved in investing in certain businesses that produced badly needed things for war such as swords, shields, and food. They would make secret investments in these businesses and then begin making inflammatory speeches in the Senate designed to convince the rest of the Senate to declare war on some other people living more or less nearby, such as elsewhere in Europe. The Senate would declare war, the troops would pack up to leave, the management of the army would purchase huge amounts of swords, shields, and food from a certain supplier (in which our lucky Senator friend had made a huge investment), then go marching off to war. Rome generally won such wars, and the lucky Senator was then able to build a large villa for himself on the pleasure island of Capri.
I am sure the same process was carried out over and over again through all human history before and after the Roman Empire, but this was the first such process that I learned about in my school years.
Another great example closer to my American home is our early American wars. "In 1800 Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours and his family immigrated to the United States from France. Pierre's son, Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, was a French-American chemist and industrialist who was impressed by the quality of American gunpowder used for hunting guns and pistols. In 1802, Éleuthère began building a gunpowder mill on the Brandywine River near Wilmington, Delaware, using equipment and capital raised in France. The mill, which he named Eleutherian Mills, began operating in 1803." [the previous quote was obtained by doing a Google Advanced Search for these 5 words - dupont 1800 france america gunpowder, and then copying the text returned to me by Google AI] The Dupont family business sold gunpowder to the US Department of War and made a huge fortune quickly as the US went to war more and more often.
When the Civil War broke out in the USA, some war businesses sold spoiled meat and other inferior foods to the military of both sides. They had a captive customer and took as much advantage of it as possible.
The USA's military is far larger now, and its wars have turned into a racket and possibly the biggest of all business in the US. The businesses that sell things to the military are still delivering lower than top quality goods to the military. It is all a racket and individual soldiers are the biggest losers.
Thanks Bill. Yes, the racket is an old one, and various interests are served by them. As far as the biggest losers, I would think that they would be the people on the wrong end of the weapons, provided that the weapons worked. :)