5 ms·

Or "99% of US Congressmen own shares in the military–industrial(–congressional) complex, so we need any excuse to funnel $trillions over there"

ghotli 14y ago
Man if that's true it really ruined my day. Do you have proof?
- patdennis 14y ago
  It's not true. If it was nearly that simple, it would be a lot easier to fix.
  - quaunaut 14y ago
    Dingdingding. It's more that military contractors have jobs in literally every district in the country, which makes anything done against them 'hurting jobs', etc. There's a lot of money funneled in that direction, but it isn't because of cronyism or anything- just pure hard corporate strategy choices.
  - cpeterso 14y ago
    But who would fix that problem? Congress?
    - patdennis 14y ago
      We're talking about changing fundamental aspects of our society, not patching some code. It would require a massive cultural shift, on a number of levels.
- joering2 14y ago
  Kevin, we are not in Kansans (or Memphis) anymore! Top 100 Defense Contractors (most privately owned) 2007: [1] Further, histories like the one with Chertoff [2] makes U.S. politics really a dirty place: spend trillions of scared US tax payers' money on frying them with cancer in the name of fight on terror with Al Qaeda (quick hint: while we fight them here in US (and of course spend most of your tax money on it), we ally with them somewhere else at the same time [3]). [1] http://www.govexec.com/magazine/2007/08/top-100-defense-contractors/25084/ http://www.govexec.com/magazine/2007/08/top-100-defense-cont... [2] http://gawker.com/5437499/why-is-michael-chertoff-so-excited-about-full+body-scanners http://gawker.com/5437499/why-is-michael-chertoff-so-excited... [3] http://www.redstate.com/streiff/2011/03/27/us-allies-with-al-qaeda-in-libya/ http://www.redstate.com/streiff/2011/03/27/us-allies-with-al...
- chimi 14y ago
  Do you need proof? If so you can watch the 60 minutes expose on their insider trading: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7388130n/ http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7388130n/ They don't just do this in the military industrial complex, they do it across the board, making decisions that benefit their portfolios and constructing their portfolios so their decisions get benefits from laws being passed. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/11/15/ethically-challenged-congress-needs-law-or-code-banning-insider-trading.html http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/11/15/ethically-c... http://www.professorbainbridge.com/professorbainbridgecom/2010/05/congressional-insider-trading-bill-stalls.html http://www.professorbainbridge.com/professorbainbridgecom/20...
  - pavel_lishin 14y ago
    > Do you need proof? Yes. What kind of a question is this?
Dylan16807 14y ago
I wish they kept dumping more and more money into NASA instead of just directly into the military.
- nandemo 14y ago
  NASA is part of the military-industrial complex. See the first link joering2 posted. If you look at the top 10 defense contractors you'll find that several of them are also Nasa contractors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NASA_contractors http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NASA_contractors
  - Dylan16807 14y ago
    That's my point, I want as much of the "let's fund the military-industrial complex" money as possible to go to NASA. Right now they're struggling on funding.
    - jonhohle 14y ago
      It seems like NASA is always "struggling" to get funding, when in reality, there have been very few years when their budget wasn't higher than the previous year[0], even when taking inflation into account. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA
      - deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
      - nitrogen 14y ago
        And yet there are still science programs canceled half way through development.

ghotli 14y ago

Man if that's true it really ruined my day. Do you have proof?

patdennis 14y ago
It's not true. If it was nearly that simple, it would be a lot easier to fix.
- quaunaut 14y ago
  Dingdingding. It's more that military contractors have jobs in literally every district in the country, which makes anything done against them 'hurting jobs', etc. There's a lot of money funneled in that direction, but it isn't because of cronyism or anything- just pure hard corporate strategy choices.
- cpeterso 14y ago
  But who would fix that problem? Congress?
  - patdennis 14y ago
    We're talking about changing fundamental aspects of our society, not patching some code. It would require a massive cultural shift, on a number of levels.
joering2 14y ago
Kevin, we are not in Kansans (or Memphis) anymore! Top 100 Defense Contractors (most privately owned) 2007: [1] Further, histories like the one with Chertoff [2] makes U.S. politics really a dirty place: spend trillions of scared US tax payers' money on frying them with cancer in the name of fight on terror with Al Qaeda (quick hint: while we fight them here in US (and of course spend most of your tax money on it), we ally with them somewhere else at the same time [3]). [1] http://www.govexec.com/magazine/2007/08/top-100-defense-contractors/25084/ http://www.govexec.com/magazine/2007/08/top-100-defense-cont... [2] http://gawker.com/5437499/why-is-michael-chertoff-so-excited-about-full+body-scanners http://gawker.com/5437499/why-is-michael-chertoff-so-excited... [3] http://www.redstate.com/streiff/2011/03/27/us-allies-with-al-qaeda-in-libya/ http://www.redstate.com/streiff/2011/03/27/us-allies-with-al...
chimi 14y ago
Do you need proof? If so you can watch the 60 minutes expose on their insider trading: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7388130n/ http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7388130n/ They don't just do this in the military industrial complex, they do it across the board, making decisions that benefit their portfolios and constructing their portfolios so their decisions get benefits from laws being passed. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/11/15/ethically-challenged-congress-needs-law-or-code-banning-insider-trading.html http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/11/15/ethically-c... http://www.professorbainbridge.com/professorbainbridgecom/2010/05/congressional-insider-trading-bill-stalls.html http://www.professorbainbridge.com/professorbainbridgecom/20...
- pavel_lishin 14y ago
  > Do you need proof? Yes. What kind of a question is this?

Dylan16807 14y ago

I wish they kept dumping more and more money into NASA instead of just directly into the military.

nandemo 14y ago
NASA is part of the military-industrial complex. See the first link joering2 posted. If you look at the top 10 defense contractors you'll find that several of them are also Nasa contractors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NASA_contractors http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NASA_contractors
- Dylan16807 14y ago
  That's my point, I want as much of the "let's fund the military-industrial complex" money as possible to go to NASA. Right now they're struggling on funding.
  - jonhohle 14y ago
    It seems like NASA is always "struggling" to get funding, when in reality, there have been very few years when their budget wasn't higher than the previous year[0], even when taking inflation into account. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
    - nitrogen 14y ago
      And yet there are still science programs canceled half way through development.