Jacqueline Marcus: Connect the Dots, War Economy = Great Depression

BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY
by Jacqueline Marcus

We don't have to be economists to know that when most of the nation's treasury is going to support an indefensible and indefinable war for the last nine years, something's going to give. The dam broke. We're sinking. Today's The New York Times reports that unemployment rose to 17.5%, but not a word about the largest war budget in the history of this nation and how it's contributing to economic despair and unemployment. Not a word. Worse still: very little on how the war is driving soldiers off the deep end: suicide, violence. The media focus has been on the general theme of America and Violence. Meanwhile, no one wants to point to the Pentagon Elephant in the room: This unending occupation that, of course, (wink-wink) has nothing to do with oil or drug investments in Iraq's oil and Afghanistan's poppy fields, is unleashing a horrific domino effect on the enlisted soldiers and on the economy. Few are growing super rich while millions of Americans are falling in the abyss of a Great Depression.

The ruthless robbery of the U.S. treasury for the Few at the expense of the Many is beyond unconscionable. While these robbers of our treasury are having lavish parties on private islands, millions of children in this country are starving. There are no words to describe the shocking arrogance on the part of the war profiteering and Wall St. thieves who didn't honestly earn this vast amount of billions and billions of dollars: they out-and-out stole it from the public treasury, compliments of the Bush and Obama Administrations.

Anna Quindlen argues in her Newsweek article, "Did the President Keep His Promises?" that we should be skeptical about the way government works. If so, our expectations for change would not be so high. In other words, it's not Obama's fault that he hasn't changed the business-as-usual operations in D.C., nor should he be blamed for helping the super rich much more than the average, working American. Ah! It's the SYSTEM! The Process!

That's called "bad faith," and it makes for a lousy excuse: According to Quindlen, blame it on the process of checks & balances, which slows progress down to a near halt. That's true when the President and Congressional members decide to provide milk money for starving children in our country, but when Wall Street called, it took only ONE day for President Obama and Congress to act. It took one week to deliver an $800 billion check to the super rich, directly AFTER George W. Bush delivered a $700 billion check to Wall Street tycoons before he left office. As Newsweek reported in the same issue ("Rules of the Jungle: Wall Street bonuses won't go quietly"), most of those billions are going for bonuses.

There's certainly no waiting when it comes to the $10 billion a month for defense contractors, for a war that is increasing poverty here and abroad. The President used to understand, before he started playing golf with the super rich, the link between wars and poverty: bombing people increases despair, poverty, violence, AND terrorism. The nation was shocked over the Fort Hood Rampage. Try going to Afghanistan where killings are a daily occurrence; it happens Every Single Day in Afghanistan -- not to mention bombs exploding everywhere.

Bottom line: There are no excuses for President Obama. He chose the Bush war policies instead of fulfilling his campaign promises, and, like Bush, this War Economy will make him EXTREMELY unpopular. Regarding Quindlen's excuses on why Obama can't change the 200 detainee problem at Gitmo: Sorry, not buying it: if the President REALLY wanted to close Gitmo, he could ask Constitutional lawyer Professor Jonathan Turley for the solution instead of relying on Republican advisors.

Rather than spending billions of dollars for the proliferation of war in Afghanistan that demoralizes soldiers (killing human beings), that clearly has increased terrorism in the region, he should bring the troops home and put those billions of dollars to work through the help of our soldiers. Our soldiers would not be committing suicide or killing each other if they were learning new skills, helping to build schools, homes, and re-foresting our national parks for our country. It's not complicated. That, too, is an excuse.

BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY

Jacqueline Marcus' book of poems, Close to the Shore, was published by Michigan State University Press. She is a regular contributor to Buzzflash.com. Her new collection of poems, Summer Rains, is under consideration for publication at MSUP. She taught philosophy at Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, California, and is the editor of http://www.ForPoetry.com. She is currently promoting green technologies (solar & wind) on the island of Maui. www.GoSolarMaui.com. Joiemarcus@hotmail.com.