classical_hero
In whom I trust
I have heard this term being used many times, but what does it mean?
What is the "military-idustrial complex"?
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Hygro
soundcloud.com/hygro/
Fun fact:
the original speech was meant to be the "Military-industrial-Congressional complex"
the original speech was meant to be the "Military-industrial-Congressional complex"
The idea behind what Ike was talking about is that the military and industry created a co-dependent relationship where both were serving the interests of each other, and both came to neglect the interests of the public as a whole. In this case, both were conspiring to cost the taxpayer as much as they possibly could, regardless of what they meant for the military capability of the nation.
Military officers would serve a career in the military, and then they would get a second career with the military contractors they helped while in uniform.
Both the military and the contractors would collaborate to work on Congress to convince Congress to spend much more money than necessary to equip the military. Many military projects are subcontracted to almost every state in the nation for the purpose of getting as many members of Congress as possible on board to fund the programs, regardless of whether the program was a good one or a needed one. And at the same time constant mergers and cooperative deals between contractors meant that there were ever less chances for competitive bidding on equipment. Add in a procurement payments system that gives incentives for bad management and high costs, and the taxpayer is really getting screwed over.
Military officers would serve a career in the military, and then they would get a second career with the military contractors they helped while in uniform.
Both the military and the contractors would collaborate to work on Congress to convince Congress to spend much more money than necessary to equip the military. Many military projects are subcontracted to almost every state in the nation for the purpose of getting as many members of Congress as possible on board to fund the programs, regardless of whether the program was a good one or a needed one. And at the same time constant mergers and cooperative deals between contractors meant that there were ever less chances for competitive bidding on equipment. Add in a procurement payments system that gives incentives for bad management and high costs, and the taxpayer is really getting screwed over.
ywhtptgtfo
Emperor
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And people like Dick Cheney is part of this military-industrial complex. In fact, pro-war politicians tend to connected to or part of this complex.
Goodfella
Showing results for
It's something Smeagol warned us about on his last day in office (see above). It's also what made a lot of areas around these parts. Langley, Reston, Tyson's, Pentagon, and some other areas in Northern Virginia wouldn't amount to much without the presence of dozens of defense contractors.
CavLancer
This aint fertilizer
Its the folks who turn a profit by manufacturing military equipment. If you have a war and don't lose you stand to make a lot of money, and that's dangerous. Now war has supporters. Vietnam protesters made this case. Iirc Nixon ran against the war. As soon as he got in he started blathering about peace with payoffs, I mean honor. Peace with honor, yeah that was it, through buying lots of bombs and bombing them to the negotiating table.
There was a point to it however. You have to cover your retreat so you have to...
1) Make more $ on bombs.
2) Convince the South that they can defend themselves.
3) Damage the North so severely that they can't come and crush the South while your retreating forces are still in it.
4) Convince all the grieving widows and orphans that their loved ones died for a reason even though they didn't.
5) Nationalism, nobody likes to get beat.
I never did get the military part of the military industrial complex. Military people don't want war, they die in it, except of course the generals. The generals all came from first lieutenants, some faster than others, but at one time or another they all had their asses on the line if a war started.
There was a point to it however. You have to cover your retreat so you have to...
1) Make more $ on bombs.
2) Convince the South that they can defend themselves.
3) Damage the North so severely that they can't come and crush the South while your retreating forces are still in it.
4) Convince all the grieving widows and orphans that their loved ones died for a reason even though they didn't.
5) Nationalism, nobody likes to get beat.
I never did get the military part of the military industrial complex. Military people don't want war, they die in it, except of course the generals. The generals all came from first lieutenants, some faster than others, but at one time or another they all had their asses on the line if a war started.
madviking
north american scum
the obsolescence of the guns vs butter dichotomy
Formaldehyde
Both Fair And Balanced
The term probably is incomprehensible to people living in most foreign countries. They just can't imagine that sane adults who were elected to the presidency or Congress, or who ran multi-billion-dollar corporations, would deliberately exaggerate the state of affairs in the world, and thereby drastically increase the risk of a nuclear annihilation, simply in order to get richer than they already were.
But even though it was uttered by a prominent and highly-decorated general who was in direct charge of the European theater during WWII, and who eventually became president as a Republican, it is still denied by so many conservatives.
Link to video.
But even though it was uttered by a prominent and highly-decorated general who was in direct charge of the European theater during WWII, and who eventually became president as a Republican, it is still denied by so many conservatives.
Link to video.
amadeus
Apply directly to the forehead
It's the only part of Eisenhower's farewell address anyone remembers.
you've got to be careful. It can become a workfare program that rightwingers don't mind as much.
Tahuti
Writing Deity
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It is a natural outcome of democracy: People elect those who can attract the most attention, which is paid for by lobbying money. The lobbying culture can never be ended without ending liberal democracy itself.
Gary Childress
Student for and of life
Thank you Formaldehyde for digging up the original speech!
I think Ike nails it pretty well. It's the existence of a permanent arms industry of relatively staggering proportions. There may always be military industry in peacetime and probably always has been to some degree (as a cottage industry or something) at least to keep peacetime armies nominally equipped but never on the scale that the late 19th and 20th centuries have witnessed.
One aspect of the MIC is that it seems to seek its own preservation. Jobs but mostly incredible profits are at stake. People who make enormous profit off of an industry will often do drastic things to keep that profit coming whether the industry is really needed or not. Buying tanks and weapons is not an ideal use of a society's resources. It would be far better to spend that money on health care, education or infrastructure, for example.
Sometimes I wonder if the "Cold War" wasn't something that the arms industries in both the US, Europe and Soviet Block "created" or else "needed" in order to justify their own existences. After WW2 most of the large nations on earth had created enormous industrial institutions around military production to create all the weaponry for the war. When the war ended there wasn't as much need for them but nevertheless they were there and had enormous profits and influence built up off the war with which to influence those in power.
Some things, once they are created are hard to get rid of.
Perfection
The Great Head.
An abhorrent system of corruption between congress, defense contractors, and the US Military that involves the wasteful spending of billions upon billions of US tax dollars.
