THE AGGRESSOR STATE
Some time ago for whatever reason, the comments section on another
article had a thread on aggressor states and how they destroyed themselves in
the end as their “business model” of warfare ran out of enemies. Or weakened themselves by overextending their
warfare. Or went broke. Really all the same thing. Resources grew the state, through warfare or
other means, and then resources gave out.
Are states that grow through aggression any worse as far as destroying
themselves than any other state? That
question might have some pertinence as the American Empire looks to be
battering itself to death on one middle eastern conflict after another. Not necessarily through blood. We aren’t Britain or France wiping out an
entire generation in the trenches. You
throw fifteen or twenty K at some schmuck per MONTH ( I don’t even make that in
a year ) and there will probably be a line at the contractors recruiting office
( actually, probably a pretty rational method of economics as you avoid all the
hidden costs from infrastructure to retirement of an enlarged military. Train ‘em on Uncle Obammy’s dime for one
tour, those that survive combat become contractors. Rather than constantly going through green
troops you keep all the experienced folks.
A rich nations version of a tribe where all males train from birth as
warriors ). But in treasure, I’m sure a
good case can be made that all that conflict is breaking the already glued and
duct taped piggy bank.
*
You say, ah shucks Jim, give it a rest, the US has been overspending on
the military since 1939 or 1940 ( when the draft was started. FDR drafted folks while we were not in war,
then, to rub a little bit of salt into their wounds, as if it wasn’t enough he
stole all their gold and then instantly devalued the Greenbacks that replaced
it, when Pearl Harbor conveniently came along he extended their terms of
service involuntarily. Far worse than
the fiasco with Bush Jr. ) and we keep hearing about how it will wipe us out
financially. Stop crying wolf. To which I respond, true. It is sustainable until it suddenly isn’t. But it isn’t like it is much of a secret that
our surpluses were used up, then our credit, followed by our good faith and now
only counterfeiting is paying the bills.
It can’t come as a surprise when it suddenly doesn’t work like it used
to ( our economy would have crashed and burned at Peak Oil just like the
Soviet’s did except that Kissinger, despite his myriad sins in other endeavors,
was our savior with getting the Saudi’s to accept a PetroDollar ). If the US has led the globe in Premier
Aggressor State status ( Russia might have been in the lead, but we had the
title to ourselves for twenty-five years ), and we have survived this long
being broke and our colonies not paying our way, at least not as far as in the
style we are accustomed to, does this make a case for or against the logic of
being an aggressor state? Next article,
a short incomplete history of aggressor states.
END
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You probably won't learn anything from this James, since you've long since figured all this stuff out. But your readers will probably find the below Q&A on frugal living to be of some use. Below are a few tidbits from the article. I found his views on getting a college degree in today's world interesting, since most educated contemporaries would never say such a thing, even though it's mostly true.
ReplyDelete“Spending money is painful for me. The danger is not that I'll spend too much, but that I'll spend too little, and unnecessarily reduce my quality of life and health.”
“For most of the 1990's I didn't own a car, and there were probably some years when I bought two CD's and had one restaurant meal.”
“If I were 18 years old and starting college today, I would probably do what most young people are doing: get massive loans with no way to ever pay them back, and hope for the debts to be canceled by the zombie apocalypse. But that's not what I recommend. I recommend not going to college at all unless you can do it without debt, and maybe not even then. A college degree and a college education are less useful now than they've ever been. The main thing you learn is how to think and act like an educated person, something you already know if your parents are educated, and you can learn it just by hanging around a large campus and sitting in on giant lecture hall classes.”
http://ranprieur.com/me/retireFAQ.html
Most can learn frugality from others as mine is probably a bit too severe.
DeleteI don't feel that your plan is too severe James, considering that the alternative is working for someone that you hate, doing something you hate for 40+ hours a week out of your preciously short life. (That's the misanthropist within me speaking here ;) ) The one major point that stuck with me from that “how to live without a salary” book by that Long fellow, was to think in terms of when you buy something, how many hours being stuck at your crappy job did it take to pay for that Item?
DeleteThe only thing that I don't think that most can abide by is the doing without a vehicle part. I don't think that there are very many places left that are so affordable, that the average poor person can afford them, and yet they are also within biking distance of plenty of jobs. You hit the jackpot with Elko, but as always there is a trade off, and in this case it comes in the form of 20K people within 5 miles distance. That's why I made it a point to get 15 miles outside of Elko ( And that's still probably too close) so I had to sacrifice the bicycle option.
I'm hoping to find a work from home type of situation. LeapForce, Lionbridge, Appen Butler Hill, are all legitimate online companies. You work for them as a search engine analyzer. You enter a keyword search, and see how relevant it is to what you entered, and report your findings, and they pay you around $13.00 to $15.00 an hour to do so. And no, I'm not affiliated with any of these companies in any way. But I am seriously considering this option, and thought that others here might be interested in knowing that such places do exist. What could be better than earning income from the comfort of your own homestead, and no longer having to deal with your fellow man (Again, the misanthropist within me ;) )
Telephone mystery shoppers, and online surveys are other ways to make money. But these pay even less, so they're only practical for the homesteader that already has their preps in place, and only need a little pocket money.
When I moved here, I could lie to myself and say 16k people wasn't God awful bad. Then it jumped to 18, then 20 ( hopefully here it stays as the mines are not hiring ). 25% jump and I feel I'm now in a suburb of Reno or some such craphole. I guess if the mob is 25% bigger, you are still dead, but I still hate it. I hadn't heard of the online options for work. That is great info to have and hopefully someone else can use it.
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Delete“Then it jumped to 18, then 20 ( hopefully here it stays as the mines are not hiring )”
Well that's good to know Jim, and I hope that you're right?
“I hadn't heard of the online options for work. That is great info to have and hopefully someone else can use it. “
A lot of them are scams James, but the 3 above are legit. The biggest hurdle for me is that the tests to get on at any of them are hours worth of studying, and I haven't yet got up the motivation to give it a go. I hear that the contract is around 6 months, and they can pretty much let you go or not renew it for any reason they choose. I don't really like the sound of that, but I dislike the idea of reporting to work at a brick and mortar establishment even less.
Well, b&m stores have two things going for them at least. A smidge of state law protection for workers, and the fact some are almost mom and pops. Far less corporate asshattery. Relitively speaking of course.
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