France has invoked emergency powers to sweep aside EU deficit rules and retake control over its economy after the terrorist atrocities in Paris, pledging a massive in increase and security and defence spending whatever the cost.The Telegraph
President Francois Hollande said vital interests of the French nation are at stake and there can be no further justification for narrowly-legalistic deficit rules imposed by Brussels. “The security pact takes precedence over the stability pact. France is at war,” he told the French parliament.
Defence cuts have been cancelled as far out as 2019 as the country prepares to step up its campaign to “eradicate” ISIS, from the Sahel in West Africa, across the Maghreb, to Syria and Iraq.…
France swats aside EU budget rules in rearmament blitz
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
18 comments:
Applied MMT for capitalist purposes is never questionable Tom. But anything remotely socially useful will just make us Zimbabwe and have hyperinflation... It gets even worse when you ramp up on military spending WHILE cutting down on social spending, investment, etc.
Oh, humanity.
I,
Probably 1/4th of humanity are in the warrior class... they are not going away... always have been there, always will be....
You are not in that class imo... probably in the intelligensia imo... (ie too intelligent....)
Matt humans are not made for prolonged fighting or even aggression, the amount of war veterans who do not have problems after being in service for prolonged periods with some serious level of military activity (not staying isolated within camps) without problems is very low. We don't have claws or are specially letal predators, most persons under combat do NOT shoot to kill. Very few persons are capable of killing others in face to face combat without regretting.
Yes, some loose Neanderthal genes and a few psychopaths, some macho posturing due to testosterone but not much else. Not denying we can resort to violence, but is not out 'natural' state, and there is nothing natural about war, which is also why even powerless populations are never on board with it and have to be forced, or are pushed through extreme manipulation and harsh conditions to it.
Unfortunately modern wars have become so impersonal that this myth of 'warrior' class can be used to wage war for dubious purposes, when people had to fight face to face the appetite for combat was way low because they knew what it implied. Now it's just like a videogame for most in the military machine except frontline troops (and that's why boots on the ground are highly unpopular).
Matt,
You don't watch MacGyver, the smart geeks always win.
What passes for the warrior class these days anyway? I see mostly spectacled kids with consoles or balding middle aged men with combat fatigues at the gun club.
I come from a mining and steel community, I've seen plenty of proper tough guys. They drag massive lumps of steel around all week and duke it out for fun on a Saturday night. Knock each other down and sometimes buy a drink afterwards. They are not killers.
Most killing has little to do with aggressive natural instinct. Most killers are the weakest amongst us, seeking to get revenge because they don't have any power and can't get respect. They are certainly not "warriors", they are the ones who sneak up unsuspected and slip away before they get seen.
Even front line infantry avoid direct confrontation. Their job is to find the enemy and call in the artillery, most close firefights only break out because the other guys are hiding too cleverly. You think snipers are warrior heroes? I'd ask them direct to their face if they thought they were a hero and I think I know what the reply would be....No! Even the actual American sniper guy admitted he was damaged goods.
BTW: If anyone wants to know my "warrior" type,
Back in the day, I was the short, mouthy one that shirts up and goes down with one punch.
Now I'm just called outspoken.
Guys here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Social_Cycle
Got this from Tom here years ago I think it is 100% spot on... comes from ancient eastern vedas and imo also congruent with what Paul taught the first Christians in the Greek Scriptures...
Warriors gotta war... looks like the west is going to get together at least long enough to let them really open up a can on ISIS....
Matt,
I couldn't give two hoots if brainwashed, extreme, fundamentalist, physcho's get exploded into a hundred pieces or vaporised. They are idealist nut jobs beyond redemption.
Most of the Syrian opposition are members of Sunni tribes, in villages, caught in an anarchic war zone and defending their families. They would also prefer to live in an Islamic state rather than a secular state. Exactly how many (mostly) decent US Christians would behave in the same situation.
How the West and Russa pick and choose who is killed means everything. So called moderates can be reasoned with and are capable of negotiation. Assads regime can and will talk to reach a negotiated settlement, they are not the biggest problem.
You really want to stop this slaughter? Turkey, Israel, Saudis and Gulf states need to be publically reprimanded and sidelined. Once they are out of the picture. Give a choice to the belligerents.... Come to the table or face the consequences. The West have to respect peoples democratic desire to live in an Islamist state.
Matt,
My wife is Indian and I now live in Asia, this law of social cycle is a very Indian thing. They have a caste system, which helps to maintain a rigid social structure.
Basically, if you are born into a certain caste you are expected to stay in it, it's a social control thing. My mother in law is born Chettiar which is referred to as the acquisitor class. She is actually good with money, but believe me she can fight like a demon too. The rub is, if you are born an untouchable you might be expected to clean toilets all your life.
People inherit some basic capabilities then they adapt to their environment. Warriors can be good accountants and accountants will go all Kung Fu on us all at some stage in their lives. It's too simplistic.
It’s the likes of President Francois Hollande (i.e. the PC political centre ground) which has been pushing for the Islamisation of Europe over the last twenty years.
If these PC sickos had an ounce of honesty they’d admit they’ve made a huge mistake, apologise to the relatives of the 129 killed, and resign from their posts. But you won’t hear any apologies from them. The politically correct are far too arrogant for that.
No Ralph instead they are NOW going to play warriors. ...
Just the day before Obama said and I quote "we have ISIS contained!" these lefties look like idiots.
Big iron is NOW on the way but a bunch of our kids are dead in Paris.
Carlos that's the same thing where I can be convinced to go help at a soup kitchen. ..
Ill go and help for a time but ill never really understand them and what is going on there.
We can help in the other areas but its not our true nature..
France has embraced MMT: Military Monetary Theory
Quoting that article wiki: Examples of people in our society with the warrior mentality include: policemen, firemen, soldiers, professional athletes, skilled carpenters and tradesmen, etc.
Soldiers are just one of the examples, neither is the population evenly distributed amongst those stereotypes (even if we accept that division, which is obviously a extreme simplification), probably like 80% of the population falls within the 'labourers' stereotype.
Amongst the examples provided you see there is no scarcity of professions, even on the 'combat' oriented or those who may 'war' there is plenty of diversity and jobs: most of those warriors can and are directed towards security and enforcement institutions which do not require foreign aggression, crime provides a lot of jobs, as does surveillance of your own population (lol). Damn in USA there has been a parallel economy built around the sale of guns, police, private security, FBI, crime, legal system. More action and jobs that they can dream to provide with minor conflicts.
I'm not saying we shouldn't have a military, or that time to time there is no other option than war, but the notion that we must periodically ignite wars to keep a segment of the population busy is ridiculous. Military types have a job to keep being well trained (specially officers and NCO which are the backbone of any good army) and maintain a level of readiness, but 'war' is not a natural state desired for most people as demonstrated by facts, the human body and psyche are not made for that. The fact is that of the more than ~150 nations in the world most of them can pass generations peacefully and no one is missing a war to keep some hillbilly busy, there are no popular jingoist movements around the world except when under period of heavy economic heavy stress.
This remind me of the jingoist movements of the XIX and XX century, all derived from one condition: depressed economies due to hard-money economics, instead of fixing that, because people is gullible, the angst was directed towards exogroups, which is always the easy way out for tribal humans. Nothing has changed in that regard, is just harder to pull this shit out as the population is more sensible and afraid of risks (hence "we want war! but hey, just drop some bombs here and there or use some drones, no boots on the ground!", which has popularized the widespread belief than wars can be won with drones, bombing and some SOF here and there, I agree with Matt that this is a failed strategy).
As for MMT, Military Monetary Theory, unfortunately is not the first time neither will be the last, this 'novel' economic theory has been widely practised in the past (most notably during 30's-40's of the last century, but more recently in the last decade were the US doubled military spending - and keeps hasn't really reduced the budget that much).
Don't forget that the military as an employer of last resource has been used often during history, all funded by applied MMT. There is no Nigeria or Zimbabwe when it comes to funding wars, ironically. People is gullible and loves to let their reptilian brain in charge, it's economic, doesn't require "burning" much glucose and ingesting high quantities of energy. Contrary to the cognitive effort and desire to challenge your own belief-system, something most people is incapable of, as it requires a big effort and energy spent, and above everything else, the majority is lazy.
I, right but you'll see them rationalize it .... they'll say "well this is war...." like somehow that condition somehow makes it acceptable to "borrow from the Chinese" or something....
Yeah but they still do it, it's a curious phenomenon. When pushed to the extreme they will use OMF for it, like Lincoln with Greenbacks (literally printing money to fund war efforts). And Lincoln himself was a goldbug!
It's one of the odd occasions where all the stupid memes about "printing money" can be short-circuited and ignored even by the more afraid hard-money crowd. I guess the possibility of defeat and even death is stronger than worrying about whatever moral rationalization about avoiding OMF (overt monetary financing).
"like Lincoln with Greenbacks (literally printing money to fund war efforts). And Lincoln himself was a goldbug!"
And Lincoln knew he could combat inflation with taxation. That is to say, he understood the basics of Lerner's functional finance.
I imo they dont ignore it.... they do it anyway...
Gulf War 1 I remember US Senator Sam Nunn on tv saying we were going to have to borrow the munnie from the Japanese (back then nowadays its the Chinese... who ever we are currently running the biggest CAD with...) and fight the war anyway....
So they dont ignore it they just proceed uncomfortable in their falsely named knowledge. ..
I vaguely remember claims that invading Iraq would pay for itself...
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