The Eternal Meal Ticket of War

When you dismantle your own economy from within by forsaking domestic workers, their livelihoods, and their quality of life, when push comes to shove revenue must come from somewhere.  Now this revenue is selective into whose hands it arrives.  On a television news program a reporter was interviewing a pilot at one of many small airports which have been revitalized in the name of American defense, national security, or commerce.  North Carolina springs to mindwith her newly burgeoning aviation industry.  (If you can't remember we have tried supersonic flight before.)  This highly energetic pilot proclaimed how many billions of dollars these small airports are bringing to local communities.  Let me clarify, and this is in the shadow of "fake news."  If one looked at the facts of this blanket statement, we would find these billions of dollars only are flowing to a specific few.  The people living around the airfield, those contending with the emissions of these aircraft, will not benefit from these billions of dollars.  Instead their health, serenity, and probable happiness are being unknowingly sacrificed for the desires of a few.  This is the American economy today.  America has become an oligarchy, and the "American Dream," the potential and opportunity for social and economic advancement, has become lessened.  The idea of or philosophy of America's "Free Market" exists no more.  This has been true for decades, and as always politics determines who makes it and who doesn't.  Someone says whether or not you become successful in America's system.  You may develop a great product, build a brick and mortar store, and train a productive team, but if the higher ups on the totem pole say, "No," you won't succeed.  That is because they control the system of commerce through finance, regulation, legislation, supply, and advertising.  The internet has countered this constricted opportunity to a certain degree, but as anyone can see tech conglomerates have assumed control as corporate monopolies.  In the 80's America saw fit to break up unwieldy corporate conglomerates like the Bell telephone system and Microsoft, but that regulation systematically has been dismantled in "The Swamp" at late night hoe downs paid for by corporate lobbyists.  Today we are suffering the consequences.  It's business as usual for America, and those in the country club largely control who prospers.  We are in the midst of a backlash, and they are using technology as their vehicle.  That technology simply is the freedom (or was once) of the internet.  With Net Neutrality, a small group of internet elites control the flow of data.  The novelty of such an immediate network of information still is addictively appealing, but with the emergence of "Fake News" largely utilized by Donald Trump, the virginity of the World Wide Web has been exploited like so many other American resources.  Conservation it would seem is not of high value to the elite few.  Instead they just continue to exploit until the well runs dry.  America cannot survive, and this approach must be changed.  The problem has become we are too ignorant to solve our own problems.  Once the job of Washington was to manage the country.  That meant administering vast swaths of agencies, civil employees, regulators, and the like.  Donald Trump created the "Boob Board," a group of sycophants unqualified and unable to manage an agency or bureau.  Instead they just pander to the President with no thought, ability, or skill to implement an honest business or leadership acumen.  Literally we are up "Schitt Creek" without a paddle searching for answers amid a gaping chasm of darkness.  The usual switch hitters have become extinct, and we have neglected to train a new generation of competent civil employees.  In full tribal warfare we are fighting each other rather than focusing on what and how we can fix our system.  Largely that means eliminating Trump's boobs and restocking the pond with quality fish.  In the pinch we just play the war card, and Washington becomes an endless meal ticket of gourmet treats for the defense industry, a part of the elite few.