I was looking for the answer,
Did we win the battle over Government purchase of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth bombers?
I found this ballad to the F-35. Love it! I have to share it before answering the question.
http://www.straightgoods.ca/2012/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=348
The answer?
This CBC Report, March 18, suggests that we can’t stop to celebrate for too long!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/f-35-s-french-rival-pitches-canadianized-fighter-jet-1.2577234
Dassault Aviation of France is making an aggressive bid to sideline the F-35 and to sell its own jet fighter to Canada, offering to transfer technology, create jobs and share billions of dollars in business if Canada buys its Rafale fighter to replace its outdated fleet of CF-18s.
Think of what gets starved if an economy is invested in war. Use the American example:
http://useconomy.about.com/od/usfederalbudget/p/military_budget.htm
U.S. Military Budget
By Kimberly Amadeo, January 17, 2014
The U.S. military budget is $612.4 billion for FY 2014. This includes $91.9 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) to pay for the War in Afghanistan, and $520.5 billion to maintain the Department of Defense. It does not include Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs or the State Department. (Source: House Appropriations Committee, FY 2014 Graphs) . . .
Military spending is second only to Social Security ($860 billion). It’s greater than Medicare ($524 billion), Medicaid ($304 billion), or the interest payment on the debt ($233). It’s also more than the three next largest departments combined: Health and Human Services ($78.3 billion), Education ($71.2 billion) and Housing and Urban Development ($33.1 billion).
The military budget alone doesn’t capture all defense-related spending. Many other departments support the military, and you have to know where to look. The total is $771.1 billion when you add: Veterans Administration ($63.2 billion), the State Department ($26.9 billion), Homeland Security ($39.3 billion), the National Nuclear Security Administration ($11.2 billion from the Energy Department), Military Construction ($9.8 billion) and the FBI ($8.3 billion from the Justice Department).
You can see in the CBC article the SAME THING happening in Canada, as has happened in the U.S.:
The war industry promises JOBS. They lobby the politicians hard, with lots of $$$.
Production plants are built. The Politician becomes dependent upon the production plants. Once the jobs are created IN THAT INDUSTRY, the politicians must continue to support spending on war – – or risk unemployment in their district. (Think what would happen if the plant was for the production of an innovative “truly green” technology.)
Tax-payers get fleeced.
The war industry vacuums up investment dollars – – starving good, clean, opportunities for investment.
It’s really citizens who pay because we are the only ones who purchase “war” – with tax dollars.
The public interest is drained.
The double tragedy: it is because the war industry gets access to the public purse that they are so profitable. Canadians who have saved for retirement then find themselves invested in war, because investment portfolios (including CPP Investment Board) look for good returns.
The economy becomes dependent upon the waging of war (very easy to see from the American experience, think: Iraq War). There is a huge financial incentive to make war.
WHAT TO DO ?
We have entered a new era. People see through things. War is not waged between the citizens of different nations. It is waged by the elites in the power structures.
- Learn the name Dassault Aviation of France, just like we learned Lockheed Martin of the U.S.A.
- Mount the steeds . . . and charge! Let’s find creative ways to send these guys packing.
- Refuse to elect any Party that supports this monstrous investment in war.
- The war industry specifically targets poor neighbourhoods to recruit young people to go to war. Every time you speak up against inequality, you help re-distribution of wealth. Be vocal about the income gap: why is it widening? why do the CEO’s of Health Districts, the Presidents and Vice-Presidents of Universities, the CEO’s of corporations receive ridiculous compensation? There was a time when they did not.
- Think and act globally about inequality, but do the same locally.
- Peace flourishes when there is Justice.