"The Definition of Insanity?"

"The Definition of Insanity?"

by Bill Bonner

"Everybody knows that the boat is leaking,

Everybody knows the captain lied.

Everybody got this broken feeling,

Like their father or their dog just died.

Everybody talking to their pockets,

Everybody wants a box of chocolates,

And a long-stemmed rose.

Everybody knows."

– "Everybody Knows," by Leonard Cohen

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – "Politics. Politics. Politics. Surprise, surprise… Congress has found a way to keep spending money it doesn’t have on “investments” we don’t need. Here’s Politico: "The Senate passed a stopgap spending bill Thursday afternoon that would prevent a government shutdown come midnight and punt the funding cliff into early December."

This week, we’ve looked at how politics took over the COVID-19 debate; at this stage, neither real health issues nor “The Science” have much to do with it. We saw, too, how the debt ceiling fight is another example of pure politics.

With perhaps one lonely exception – Democrat senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia – no one seems to care about the nation’s finances… or whether the “investments” will really pay off (everybody knows they won’t). Here’s Senator Manchin: "I can’t support $3.5 trillion more in spending when we have already spent $5.4 trillion since last March. At some point, all of us, regardless of party, must ask the simple question – how much is enough?

What I have made clear to the President and Democratic leaders is that spending trillions more on new and expanded government programs, when we can’t even pay for the essential social programs, like Social Security and Medicare, is the definition of fiscal insanity."

The definition of insanity? Not exactly. It makes perfect sense.

Real Agenda: Politics is the dishonest way to get your box of chocolates. You just take it from someone else… and call it “government.” There’s nothing insane about it. It’s just theft. Everybody knows it. Ultimately, both parties have more in common with each other than with the public. They both want more power and money. They aim to get it from you. The battle between Republicans and Democrats is just a way of determining what gets taken from whom… and into whose pockets go the stolen goods.

The Democrats’ big-spending initiatives – $1.2 trillion for infrastructure… $3.5 trillion (most likely ballooning to $5.5 trillion over 10 years) for “human infrastructure” – are just ways to pay off left-leaning cronies, the rich, Democratic campaign donors, apparatchiks, nomenclatura, and other unworthies. This transfer of wealth is the real agenda of both parties. Not health. Not finance. Nor even national security.

How to Get a Raise in Washington: If any proof of that accusation were needed, we have the latest Pentagon budget as an illustration. Rather than concern itself with protecting the nation, the generals are mostly just “talking to their pockets.” Of all the government’s Elite Insiders, the Pentagon, perhaps more than any other government agency, has been corrupted by too much power and too much money for way too long.

Stumbling over its expensive weapons… led by incompetents… blinded by politics… larded up with excess of every kind – the Pentagon is probably more of a source of danger to the nation than of security. Its most recent enemy had no air force, no navy, no tanks, no military academies, no artillery support, almost no logistical support… It was nothing more than a bunch of ill-trained “insurgents” riding in the back of Toyota pick-up trucks, spending maybe a penny for every $100 U.S. forces spent.

Nevertheless, the Pentagon waged a costly war for two decades… and still managed to lose… Then it went to Congress and got a raise! Here’s The New York Times last month with the details: "Instead, the Democratic-controlled Congress is on track to increase the military budget by roughly $24 billion more than what President Biden had requested, after over a dozen moderate Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee joined Republicans in pushing through a measure to substantially raise the cost of the annual defense policy bill.

The amendment, spearheaded by Representative Mike D. Rogers of Alabama, the top Republican on the committee, would bring the total military spending budget to $740 billion, with nearly half of the additional funding earmarked to procure new ships, aircraft, and combat vehicles as well as pouring money into the development of emerging technologies and new military laboratories."

Big Winners: Giving more money to the Pentagon – is that the definition of insanity? Not at all. America lost the war… but the military/industrial/elite complex – backed by both Republicans and Democrats – came out way ahead. Richer sinecures for the generals. More profits for the “defense suppliers.” More campaign funds for the politicians who back the Pentagon.

But wait. We can still rely on our military when the real fighting starts, right? Wrong. Tune in on Monday… Our friend Byron King, former aide to the United States Chief of Naval Operations, explains why the U.S. will lose the next war."

- www.rogueeconomics.com

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Leonard Cohen, "Everybody Knows"