By Ken Larson
The U.S. has spent $Trillions on warfare, incursion and weapons development at many times the rate of any other country. We have sacrificed young soldiers lives reacting globally to perceived security threats while fostering mammoth Military Industrial Complex (MIC) profiteering.
We have become too environmentally imperiled to continue competing military industrial complexes at today’s levels.
___________________________________________________________________________
The 5 largest weapons production and services companies are experiencing the best years in their respective histories.
Many Americans do not know the number of locations in which we have a military presence today, since in many instances we are not informed when we invade a new country. For well over two decades, the US has reacted to the 911 tragedy by creating a behemoth machine that:
Knows Only Killing
Has Little Understanding of Foreign Cultural Factors in Nation Building
Spawns New Versions of Our Old Enemies
Creates a Dangerous Outgrowth of Technology in the Military Industrial Complex and Then Exports It for Profit
Defies Financial Control With Dire Consequences for the Nation’s Economic Future
Economic competitors like China on the world stage have invested enormous amounts in networks involving prudent infrastructure, financial investment and relationship building while avoiding warfare.
China is quickly growing into the world’s most extensive commercial empire. The scale and scope of the “Belt and Road” initiative is staggering.
Estimates vary, but over $300 billion have already been spent, and China plans to spend $1 trillion more in the next decade or so.
Unlike the United States and Europe, China uses aid, trade, and foreign direct investment strategically to build goodwill, expand its political sway, and secure the natural resources it needs to grow.
A Change Must be Brought About in the Following Manner:
Facing geopolitical and economic realities, stopping war interventions and investing in relationships within and without our country by offering mutual collaboration.
Ceasing to dwell on threat by building long term infrastructure, education and international development. The threats will melt away.
Investing for the long term at the stock holder, company and national levels based on a strategy dealing with both present day and long term challenges in education, communication and society value transitions from threat scenarios to cooperative, peaceful ventures.
Electing a Congress and an Administration that knows how to strike a balance between long and short term actions and letting them know what we think regularly by communicating with them.
Knowing that most cultures and societies in upheaval today are watching our national model and choosing whether to support it, ignore it or attack it
The Cost in Dollars and Human Suffering to Our Volunteer Military and Its Veterans Involves Profiteering Among Federal Contractors
The massive backlog in veteran’s services recently highlighted in the press and in Congress reveals a dire necessity for simplification, communication and efficiency in processes, systems and government service contracting in DOD and the Veterans Administration as well as better management of federal government contractors.
The news media, the auditors and the average American are pointing the finger at the President and the Head of the VA. One cannot ignore the accountability aspects of these individuals.
However, the real root causes lie in the massive volume of war veterans returning from our pointless incursions in the Middle East over the last decade, coupled with the historical lack of integration in process and systems work conducted between the Department of Defense and the VA with poorly managed contractors taking home millions on systems specifications that change like the wind blows.
The present state of the economy and the needs of our servicemen will not allow the aforementioned to continue. Government agencies are now hard pressed to insure the most “Bang for the Buck”. It is in the long term interests of the politician, the DOD, the VA and astute contractors to assist in that endeavor.
The only way to achieve such an objective is through sound technical, cost and schedule contract definition via an iterative process of baseline management and control.
Government civil servants must be trained to report systemic poor service up the line in lieu of hiding bad news from superiors or developing workarounds. This must be an expectation built into their job description and they must be rewarded and promoted for meeting that requirement just as they are for the other requirements of their jobs.
The first whistle to be blown must be to the boss when the service issue occurs, not to the press a year from the occurrence.
Strategic and Economic Trends In Warfare Cannot and Will Not Continue
The debt is too great a burden for generations.
It is too risky in terms of technology that falls into enemy hands, either through the “Internet of Things” or by blunders in export management and battlefield events.
It will be replaced by domestic and foreign relations programs that emphasize global human progress and economic development in lieu of threats. The result will rely on uplifting, cooperative efforts among nations in lieu of killing. Our competition on the world stage has recognized this fact and is proceeding accordingly.
The globe has become too small to operate the Military Industrial Machine and the resources that have fueled it will be redirected. There simply is no other way.
Our returning soldiers and those who have served before, as well as future generations will rely on our leadership in bringing about the necessary transition from a world at war to a world at peace. The time is now – not later.
What Can We Learn From People Who Are Different From Us?
Comments